Society on speed

Hi,

Remember when you would heat food up in the oven, and wait 20 to 30 minutes for hot food? Now 3 minutes in the microwave passes like an eternity. Why? Because as, Einstein discovered, time is relative. As we get used to faster and faster Internet speeds, we're not gonna wait for 20 seconds while a page loads. More bandwidth! Fewer bytes! The mobile phone has taught us we can have it all, now... Expectation Inflation is infectious. It spreads from category to category. If I don't have to wait for this, why should I wait for that? I don't care if it tastes like cardboard and strangles my heart, give it to me fast!

You can speed time up. Edward de Bono once saved a company a fortune by adjusting people's sense of time while waiting for a lift. The lifts were too slow and faster lifts were too expensive. De Bono installed mirrors in the area, and people would check themselves out, passing the time without noticing. (Hard on the ugly ones.) Southwest Airlines would hire buskers off the street to play in departure lounges when they had long delays due to weather.

Cheers!

Michael Kiely

Email response:


Perhaps in this hustle and bustle world, the only alone time one has is
waiting for your food. And even then this alone time you have to pay for
the pleasure.

Luan

.......

Mike,

Money is a major factor when it comes down to service...

A number of years ago, I like many of our esteemed countrymen worked at
McDonalds. I remember there were so many times when customers would
launch into fits or rage because their $1.75 Cheeseburger took 2 minutes
longer than the promised waiting time of one minute. Here were grown men
and women berating 15 year olds because they didn't have time to wait
for their fast food.

I guess this comes down to your expectations theory. McDonalds is
renowned the world over as "fast food" and when it's not fast, it must
be the little punk kids fault.

However the same person probably wouldn't bat an eyelid when waiting for
their $38 porterhouse steak hits the 20 minute mark.


Luan
...........


I love that example of Edward de bono. Hes the one with 6 hats right?

While I embrace technology whole heartedly- it has made me incredibly
impatient (whilst naturally have incredibly impatient parents who want me to
get a post grad degree now, have kids now, get married now, may as well plan
my funeral now too) - and this creates stress for others.

We are living in such a contradictory world, where we are trying to save and
maintain culture and tradition in some things-yet revolutionise so many
other things. This is possibly why the Western world is so in love with
Japan, which strives to do both in appreciating culture/history and yet
speeds on technology. Also several sister city relationships with japan
assist this Western appreciation.

I hope in the future more people in Australia appreciate/understand other
Asian cultures, which are not marketed as well as Japan is. We are all never
rude, just ignorant of other cultures/sub cultures, within which others act
in - thereby perceiving others as rude. It is only when we purposely act
rude within our own culture'- that we are rude'.

I love your blog.
Jo