Has Technology Ruined your Patience?

The BBC News today, stated than a report by Ofcom has concluded that the UK is one of the world's most advanced countries in terms of digital communications. Putting the UK as the second highest texting nation in the world, with the volume of outgoing messages estimated to be 83 billion in the year. However, has this shift towards a virtual and cyber existence, had any affects on our characters at all? Fifteen years ago, if I wanted to speak to a friend, I would pick up the phone and call their home line. If I needed to get in touch with a relative abroad, a letter was usually the most cost effective solution. Both of these methods required an element of patience; if they were not at home you had to wait for their return, and with a letter, well, waiting was just the name of the game! However in today’s modern world, instant reply is customary, and for anyone who fails to adhere to the expected “rapid response”, a dim light can often be cast upon one’s character.

It was only the other day that I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, who was slightly perturbed by the length of time it was taking his friend to reply to his texts. He could not understand why it would take her in excess of an hour to respond. In his attempts to convey his frustration, he likened it to a face-to-face conversation, suggesting that if you asked someone a question, you would not expect them to stare blankly at you for an hour, before providing a response. Although the thought was quite humorous, he did have a valid point. I have lost track of the amount of times I have become incensed by what I perceived to be an inadequate response time. Noting, quite repentantly, that it takes me a mere two minutes before I loose my rag! In an attempt to save face and prove that I am not in isolation with my shocking lack of patience, I decided to ask a few friends for their take on communication etiquette.

Whilst I expected my findings to show our obsession with the instantaneous, I was shocked to find out the extent, to which our lust for snappy responses was affecting our lives. A whopping 50% of people I spoke to, said that it had caused an argument with their other half, whilst 10% of BlackBerry users admitted deleting contacts from their messenger (BBM) because they were dissatisfied with the way in which they responded. However according to the respondents, the most irritating thing a person can do is take to long to respond on Instant messenger; be it MSN, Facebook chat or AOL. I can identify with this totally, as I have had the experience of both being removed and removing contacts from my BBM. I can also relate to the intolerant tapping of fingers on the keyboard, whilst your Facebook chat screen, turns from a green dot to a partial grey one. I can also, sadly, remember sending knocking ‘emoticons’ via MSN, and there were some shameful moments of idiocy, when I actually physically tapped the screen to push them to hurry up!

The reactions of myself and my friends, whilst also signalling a severe lack of patience, also highlights how dependent we have become on constant communication over the years. It is so bad now, that we have got to the stage where we document our every move and share It with the world. We Tweet, Beebo, Facebook, MSN, BBM, text, email and blog. However what is really sad, is that we seem to have lost the intimacy of conversation that can only come via face to face, or telephone conversation. Whilst I enjoy living in a virtual world, I can’t help but look back through nostalgia covered glasses, to a time where I had my privacy. I miss the days where I could walk 100 meters without the compelling urge to check my phone. I miss the days when I could disappear from my house and remain relatively illusive. I miss the days when my friends and I used to organise nights out over the phone, not via Facebook threads. However what I miss most of all is the patient temperament that I used to have, before it was tested by technology. Join my campaign and let’s try and bring some patience back! These are from a variety of ‘You Know You’re Living in the 2000’s ’ – that I pulled from the web – 1.You read most of your news online 2.You realise that kids can only tell time on digital clocks 3.You can pause and rewind live television 4.You Google everything and anything 5.You accidentally enter your password on the microwave. 6.You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. 7.You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3 8.You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you. 10.Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses. 11.You go home after long days at work you still answer the phone in a business manner. 12.You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line. 13.You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies. 14.You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news. 15.Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job. 16.You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home. 17.Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the screen. 18.Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.. 19.You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee. 20.You start tilting your head sideways to smile. 21.You're reading this and nodding and laughing. 22.Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message. 23.You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list. 24.You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.