Instant Gratification

Has social media (more specifically Twitter) conditioned us to the notion of instant gratification? Let's see ... when was the last time you found yourself using Twitter, simply because the 'regular news sources' were too slow? I'll admit, I found myself doing that just two nights ago when President Obama was about to address the nation. My question is this ... does it really matter whether you hear the news right now? It's not like the facts are going to change a couple of hours from now ... what happened, happened and eventually everyone will hear it. 

A Professor of mine once said that the most important lesson any University/College student can learn, is how to embrace delayed gratification. The process of acquiring a degree takes an average of 4 years ... yet when you are in the trenches, writing exams, putting together presentations and submitting reports ... the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be a lifetime away. Eventually though, it will come. 

To what extent has social media influenced your need for instant gratification? Perhaps even the proliferation of mobile devices and the ubiquity of information has added to this need? When was the last time you waited patiently for something and tried to soak in as much of the waiting experience as possible? 

Wile E. Coyote (pictured on the left) certainly is persistent ... but would things have been different for him, had he been patient?