The digital age has made many aspects of our lives easier, while also offering fast and convenient access to unlimited content, games, and whatever we want. Digital technology now caters to our craving for instant gratification, which has both upsides and downsides. As the online world shifts towards fast, simple and fun content that is designed to entertain us, what does this mean for our futures?
(Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash)
The Psychology Behind Instant Gratification Platforms
Our demand for instant gratification comes from the brain’s reward system. Every time we enjoy something, whether it’s a funny video or a like on social media, our brain releases dopamine. This neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure and reward, and it creates a feedback loop.
With delayed gratification, the pleasure and positive feelings come after sustained effort. For example, the feeling of pride you get after finishing a hard workout or completing a work project. However, instant gratification delivers the good feelings straight away, often with little to no effort required.
The more we receive instant gratification, the more it can shape our behaviour. Frequently accessing content can make it harder to focus, resist impulses or stick with tasks which don’t provide an immediate payoff. There are fears that attention spans are shrinking due to the way that online platforms are designed to prioritise instant stimulation and satisfaction.
Social Media Platforms
Social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, have become a hugely influential part of modern life. In the UK, around 79% of the population uses some form of social media. Among the 18-25 age group, as much as 99% of the population uses social media every day.
These platforms provide validation for users in the form of likes, comments and shares. However, they’ve changed a lot since they first became popular. They’re no longer just a way to keep in touch with friends and share your recent news. Modern social media focuses on ephemeral content, such as stories, which disappear after 24 hours.
In addition, short videos and funny memes have become the primary focus of these platforms. This type of content increases engagement from users and keep them coming back for more. Each platform is designed to maximise the impact on the reward systems of the users’ brains. That means that each time you log in and see content you like, you’ll be more likely to keep coming back, especially if it’s fresh content each time you log in.
Fast and Simple Online Gaming
Although the gaming industry produces a diverse range of games, there’s an increasing trend towards hyper-casual games, those that can be played with minimal effort or attention. The vast majority of people who play games do so from a mobile device, with an ever-increasing number of mobile players around the world.
Mobile games often deliver fun and excitement in a fast and convenient package, with game rewards built around the brain’s reward centre. Although mobile games are typically free, many feature microtransactions which are built around extracting money from users by exploiting the demand for instant gratification.
A good example of this is how some games will lock users behind time gates, where only a certain number of tasks can be completed within a time frame. Normally, users would have to wait before they can complete more in-game tasks, but there’s an option to pay to remove the waiting time.
Online slots are also designed with the brain’s reward system in mind. For example, Megaways slots, which have fast spin times so players can complete multiple spins within a short space of time. What’s more, these games will play “near misses”, which give the illusion of getting close to a win. This increases the player’s desire to keep spinning.
E-Commerce and Instant Gratification
Instant gratification isn’t just about social media and gaming. In the digital age, we can purchase just about anything we want and normally receive it the next day. Whether it’s a new piece of furniture or the latest gadget, there’s never any need to wait more than a few days for it to arrive, and most consumers will opt for next-day delivery if it’s available.
Thanks to delivery apps, it’s not even necessary to wait until tomorrow for the things you want. There are now lots of delivery apps which offer consumers the option to purchase food and other items from a supermarket and have them delivered right to their door, all within an hour. This offers tremendous convenience, but there are issues with how delivery services treat their employees and the impact that instant shopping has on local businesses.
At the same time, buy-now-pay-later services such as Klarna and Afterpay are ensuring that consumers can get whatever they want without having to worry about the cost. This growing trend has people taking less care of their long term finances in order to receive instant gratification.
