Instant Gratification, Will It Benefit You in the Long Run?

The 21st century it seems is all about convenience, however, is this convenience starting to teach us the wrong habits about life. Is this desire for instant gratification leading to a world in which we are unable to defer our present needs, and struggle to focus on goals that are 5 or 10 years ahead? Does seeking instant gratification cost us more than money in the long run?

Technology is a double edge sword.

It is difficult to imagine a world in which we are not all connected. Is this technology causing more issues than it is solving? We live in a world when just about anything we desire can be available with a few clicks and a payment. However, is this convenience creating habits in our mind that subconsciously drive us away from long-term goals to instant gratification? What type of behaviors is this type of instant gratification encouraging? What are your goals for the future? and do you have a clearly defined purpose that you are working towards? Are you trying to fit into a pair of skinny jeans? Want to save for a nice home? Buy that nice car? All such desires require us to delay our current wants to focus on something larger and more meaningful in the future. For instance, we all enjoy eating, however, we try to limit certain types of food to keep our weight down and stay healthy. Imagine if we did not consider the future, and it was all about indulgence. In this setting, it is clear to see what the result will be. The same principle can be applied to most areas of our life. The desire for instant pleasure will have consequences down the track.

One Marshmallow

But what does the research say? does the ability to delay one’s gratification result in a better outcome in life, or is it irrelevant? A famous experiment that tracked how young children performed in a simple challenge showed just how significant the ability to delay gratification can be. The experiment was conducted by W. Mischel in the 1960s. The cohort of 4-year-old children in the experiment had a marshmallow placed on a plate in front of them. They were then told, they could either wait till later in the day and then would be rewarded with 2 marshmallows. They were also told that if they ate the marshmallow straight away then they will not get the second one. As you would expect, most kids jumped in and ate the marshmallow without thinking twice. However, a small number of children chose to wait and were later rewarded with 2 marshmallows. This might not seem like a big deal.

The researchers tracked down those kids in the experiment 10 years later and found that they were performing better both academically and socially. This is in contrast to their peers who decided to gobble the marshmallow down as soon as they saw it.

There is an interesting connection between the need to be content for what we have but at the same time the ambition to achieve your future goal. Contentment for the present allows us to not seek instant gratification for our needs. But at the same time have passion and desire to try and achieve a longer-term goal.
Contentment comes from the ability to feel gratitude, in other words, to be able to look at your life and to see the good things that you have going for you. Sometimes in this day and age, we might not appreciate all the good things that we have. It is much easier to focus on the negatives. However, with gratitude, we can start to appreciate the little things that all add up.

Ambition

This brings us to the next important area, although we need to be content with the present, we must all be ambitious enough to strive to achieve something in the future. Thus contentment does not mean accepting what you have. It means being able to be at ease with the present, and being able to take action to improve your situation. By taking action, we are now talking about action taken now that will have an impact 2 or 5 years if not longer down the track.

The same applies with relationships, short term relationships may seem fun and offer instant pleasure, however, what is the outcome? Guilt feelings, and a lot of wasted time and potential, wouldn’t it be better to think long-term and focus on that right person? No matter how much fun it seems in the present, in the long term we may look back and feel resentment.

Short versus long term perspective

Consider the case of two students working towards completing their course. The first student spends his weekends and nights partying and having a great social life. Happiness for this person is rated as high, dopamine levels bursting at the seams, and the urges of life are indulgently fulfilled. Life is wonderful, and why wouldn’t it be?

In contrast, the second student is in a constant battle of the will. The urge to fulfill instant desires versus resisting and focusing on the longer term. The closest thing to instant gratification is reading another page in the chapter titled Artificial Intelligence with Python. The days are filled with attending lectures, and the nights overflowing with the joy of summarizing another chapter as a mind map.
Happiness is a matter of perspective

If both students are asked about happiness, the first may very well say that life is wonderful. While the second student may have more of a subdued response. However, in the long term, the result of instant happiness by the first student will translate to worse marks in the future. With the real risk of failing the course. While the more focused student who has foregone the immediate pleasure of parties will have a better outlook in the longer term.

Given we all have natural needs and urges, you can now begin to understand the difficulties many adults, let alone the young face when they are confronted with choices of present gratification versus delayed gratification.

But is it one or the other, or can we have a life of instant gratification, but still achieve our goals? Well, funny you should ask. It is a question of balance, of which only you are the real judge. What applies to you does not necessarily apply to me or your friends. The interesting fact however is that this degree of self-control is not something that is part of our personality traits but is something that can be learned and changed. Like most behaviors, however, they turn into habits over time. As we know all habits are notoriously difficult to change, but the important point is, they can be changed. We need to first accept the reality that it will take some work to change the habit, and at times we may fall back into old habit thinking. By being aware of these issues, and taking positive steps to change everyone one can change their outlook.

It’s all well and good you may be asking that I delay my gratification to achieve my ultimate goal, but what guarantee do I have that I will ever get to enjoy it at the end.? This is one of the biggest issues with delayed gratification. No future goal is automatically guaranteed, and all plans for the future depend on our ability to have some trust that we will get to the finishing line.

Seek out your purpose

We all have different goals in life, will use different approaches to achieve those goals. The question we all need to ask ourselves is what will give our life purpose and meaning. In this hectic world that aims to instantly fulfill desires and we need to slow down and spend some time alone to carefully plan our life. We need to ask ourselves those difficult questions. Only once we know what our purpose is we will be able to take steps to achieve our goals, keeping in mind that we need to sacrifice the present to achieve something in the future.