While we are talking about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East (and we are not talking about the forgotten ones in Somalia, Syria, Burma), while we are talking about the role of the EU, the advent of AI and other technical and biomedical advances, of the problems of local politics..., while we talk about all this, imperceptibly, progressively but without pause, profound changes are taking place in the shared social convictions, in the basic values and attitudes of our society. It is an extraordinary cultural transformation.
Today we want to draw attention, due to the enormous transformative power of society and our daily lives, to a change that seems small, but has enormous consequences. We are referring to the rise of the value of the immediate, of immediacy. We could define it as valuing excessively (even obsessively) what will happen immediately with disregard for the consequences or impacts in a wider term. An orientation towards the nearest in time and space that feeds back on an urgent need for things to happen immediately. This basic attitude is closely related to impatience and the search for instant gratification and manifests itself in various aspects of life, from the inability to wait for an answer on the phone or in front of the computer or in a queue at the clinic, to to the need for immediate responses in interpersonal communications or impulsive decision-making. It seems irrelevant, but when this behavior is so widespread it has no less social repercussions, as we will see.
It is common for experts who have dealt with this topic to see the origin of this growing appreciation of immediacy in the use of digital technology and in the habits that technological companies wish to promote (attention economy). Immediacy is amplified by digital platforms that offer instant gratification: social media, mobile apps and other media provide immediate feedback and rewards.
Many academics have drawn attention to the relevance of this phenomenon: great references in psychology who have underlined the strong incentives that favor this type of behavior and the individual consequences (dependencies, addictions...). Also benchmarks in sociology and philosophy that have highlighted its social and political effects. It is widely shared that the impact on both individual and social transformation (of all societies) is and will be very profound.
The impacts on health have been studied. Immediacy leads to a constant state of alertness and demand which can lead, in turn, to a feeling of tiredness and a "light dissatisfaction". Sometimes we reach psychological pathologies that are growing today among young people, but which also affect adults. Let's not forget that Spain and Portugal lead the world consumption of anxiolytics, antidepressants and sedatives.
The impact it has on the world of work is less studied, although some jobs associate it with the increase in accidents at work, accidents on the road due to the "need" to use the mobile phone... Some authors associate it with the loss of quality in services that require an interpersonal relationship. This area deserves further research: many human activities based on interpersonal relationship can be affected by an overvaluation of immediacy by discouraging reflection and commitment to time and work and long-term planning.
It also affects sociability and leisure because it reduces human relationship activities that require more time, more listening, more attention... which would perhaps explain the trend towards more individual and isolated leisure. This undermines the ability to develop deep connections with others and undermines traditional values related to patience, the human quality of relationships and reflection.
The policy implications are significant. Immediatism favors citizens' preference for speeches with simple and quick promises, typical of populism, whether from the right or the left; it underestimates the harmful effects of today's decisions on the future (which is a big incentive for public borrowing); it accentuates selfishness and individualism to the detriment of solidarity and the value of the common, making it more difficult to solve collective problems. And we all know that important social problems (migration, inequality, economic progress...) require a lot of time. It is possible that it is also associated with a higher level of aggression that is observed in urban life today (small conflicts between drivers; minor fights between groups of young people; attacks on health workers and school teachers...).
This emerging social attitude must be worked on individually (by each of us) and socially: in families, among groups of friends, in education... and also in social networks. Revaluing interpersonal relationships, prolonged reading, inner life (spiritual and/or religious), art, slowly enjoying nature... these are good starts if they become habits. There is so much at stake that it is important to keep the consequences of immediacy and how to manage it in our social debate.
TRACE AND PEACE, made up of Jordi Alberich, Eugeni Bregolat, Eugeni Gay, Jaume Lanaspa, Juan-José López Burniol, Carles Losada, Josep Lluís Oller, Alfredo Pastor, Xavier Pomés and Víctor Pou
