Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Need for Speed



I have noticed a trend in the younger generation: the need for speed. The younger the person, the more they need the world around them to be fast paced. This was brought to my attention when I went to see the movie Inception with a large group of friends and family members. Those over the age of 40 thought the movie was too fast paced to follow, and my dad claimed that once the movie started giving him a headache he stopped trying to understand it. My sister, who was raised around far more technology than I was, was able to follow the fast plot changes better than I was. It is also apparent that the simpler the form of entertainment, the less a child is drawn to it. My little cousin finds the music of The Beatles to be too slow and repetitive, while my younger sister claims that older movies have “no plot”. New technologies always advertise that they are faster than the trend that came before. The iPad2 advertises that it is faster than the original iPad, and even turns on without the user having to click a button. The iPad2 has a “smart cover” that automatically turns on the iPad when removed, saving the user seconds. This screen is the main advertised difference between the iPad2 and original iPad, causing the iPad2 to cost $100 more than the original iPad: and many people are willing to pay the $100 to quench their thirst for instant gratification. While I tease those with this desire, and those willing to pay $500 for an iPad, I too become impatient waiting a few minutes for my computer to boot. In fact, my impatience has caused me to rarely turn off my computer, and to simply put it on standby. Having the world at our fingertips has its consequences, and the need for speed is only one of them.

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