Instant gratification backfires long-term

We are a society built upon the desire to instantly satisfy our needs and wants. I like to think of us as a bunch of Veruca Salts from the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." She demands a golden-egg-laying goose from her father, a relatively unreasonable request, which he denies, and she throws a tantrum.

We all sing our own personal renditions of her demand "Don't care how, I want it now!" We each want our needs and desires to be satisfied right away. But unlike the chocolate factory, life does not have a special scale that determines a bad egg from a good egg, and so here we all are. Society conditions us to be selfish, instantly-gratified people, but hopefully without the little girl temper tantrums.

Economic repercussions

Everyone needs a loan now and then. Many students can gain access to education only through a loan - a buy-now, pay-later approach. On an individual basis, this type of instant gratification makes sense. Students will be held accountable for repayment later and, in the meantime, are making a valuable investment in their lives. However, when the American government - the government of the largest economy in the world - uses a buy-now, pay-later approach, the only thing that is invested in is a political future for a politician, regardless of what party they are from.

Maybe you have heard of that ominous, amorphous thing called the "National debt." It is the accumulation of money we owe because our government borrows now but never wants to pay back later. All those plans to "stimulate the economy," basically pouring money into the economy through government programs, are unreasonable spending policies that don't get paid off once the economy is thoroughly "stimulated." What politician would get elected if his campaign speech included: "Well, now that we're through that recession, time to raise taxes and cut back on spending so that we eliminate the debt." That would be the economically responsible thing to do, but no one would vote for that.    

Ecological repercussions

From an ecological perspective, many of us employ a mentality of consume now, worry later. By instantly gratifying our needs through consumption of energy or resources, we may reach a point in our lifetimes when it is no longer possible to live the way we do. The amount of fossil fuel in the world is a set amount that we are only depleting. Think about the phrase itself - fossil fuel. It was created by a process that takes place through millions of years. It's not like we can use up our fossil fuels and have a magic supply whipped up the next day, not unless someone invents an "Instant Fossilizer." We will not be able to sustain this consumption and also sustain our lives. The use of resources in a way that is not future-thinking will result in the destruction of our instantly gratified consuming lifestyles.  

Personal repercussions

Sometimes gratifying decisions only affect our personal well-being, or only ours and those close to us. How instantly gratifying would it be to kiss that really attractive girl at the party? She looks great, you're having a great conversation, that kiss would be so sweet. Oh wait, you have a girlfriend at a different party, waiting for you to join up with her. But this girl...

We've all encountered situations like this during relationships. Some charming new person comes along and all of a sudden we're confused about our relationship, our willpower and our views on polyamory. In a situation like this, if we give in and satisfy that instantly gratifying urge, in the short term, the benefits might be great. In the long run, we might lose that current relationship, feel like a jerk and end up proportionately less happy than pre-kiss. Obviously this example is just one of a myriad of instant-gratification scenarios we face all the time, but they all follow the same formula. Some of them are less heavy. How many times have you thought (because I know I have): "Hmm, I don't want to do dishes. I'll do them later." Ever notice how dishes become a thousand times harder to do the next day? Like the food super-glued itself to the dish? Yet in that moment you told yourself you'd do them the next day, you were instantly gratified.

Here is my attempt to capture gratification in a universally applicable, psuedo-mathematical formula.

The formula of instant gratification: Desire for something now plus fulfillment now equals long-term neutral or negative result. Alternatively, the formula for delayed gratification: Desire for something now plus the delay of that in order to accomplish something more important equals long-term positive outcome.

Maybe we should all try to be less like Veruca Salt and more like Charlie.