Lauren Denton
I had a conversation with Kate, my 14-year-old, the other day about the Pinterest quizzes she likes to take.
On the way to school one morning, she told me about one she’d done recently: “Who is Your Celebrity Doppelganger?” There were other quizzes too, like “What Kind of Dog Would You Be” and “Which Harry Potter Character Are You?”
I told her about how I used to do quizzes like those, and that they came in my monthly Teen or Sassy magazine. When I was young, those magazines were really the only ways we teens and preteens (that was the OG term, before “tween” caught on) had to keep up with our favorite celebrities and what was trendy in fashion, pop-culture and skincare. And to get all this knowledge and insight, we had to wait, checking the mailbox daily when we knew it was close to the time when we’d receive that next once-a-month issue.
We also had to wait for our entertainment. If we didn’t catch a movie in the theater — or even if we did and just wanted to watch it again — we had to wait for the VHS tape to appear on the shelves of Blockbuster or Movie Gallery. Keeping up with our favorite TV shows meant waiting a week between episodes, and waiting months before the next season began in the fall. Who (of a certain age) doesn’t remember having to wait the whole long summer for season 5 of “Friends” to find out what happened after Ross accidentally said Rachel’s name at the altar?
And we were OK with not knowing some things — not necessarily by choice, but because we just didn’t know any other way. We were years away from Google, so if we couldn’t remember the name of that actor who played that role in that movie, and no one else around us knew either, we just shrugged our shoulders and moved on.
But these days? We hardly have to wait for anything, whether it’s entertainment, knowledge or household goods. Even when a movie is still in the theater, we can usually find it streaming online to watch from the comfort of our couch. If we love a particular TV show, we can binge a whole season in a weekend if we want — no more waiting weeks or months. We don’t even have to sit through commercials if we don’t want to! And if we want a new pair of shoes or a pack of Sharpies or a load of groceries, we just open our computer, tap a few keys and presto, it shows up on our doorstep, sometimes on the same day.
Kate can pop online and take a fun quiz or look up news about Taylor and Travis. No waiting for a monthly magazine to get all the scoop. I can open my laptop and find out what’s going on with the Royal Family, what pillow I should be using to keep from waking up with a sore neck or who played the part of the cute kid in that great movie. If I need a new pair of tennis shoes, I have them shipped to my doorstep in two days rather than going store to store, trying to find the right shoe.
So yes, things are a lot more convenient than they were 25 years ago — or for that matter, even 5 years ago. But sometimes I wonder if we’ve lost something important, even as we’ve gained all this time- and energy-saving convenience. Is the glow of immediate satisfaction worth whatever it is we may have lost?
I keep thinking about anticipation, and about how there’s something good about wanting a thing badly and not getting it right away. Don’t we teach our kids that? They really want that [insert: toy/leggings/water bottle/whatever], but we tell them, “Sorry, not today.” And we withstand the ensuing tears or heavy sighs because we know it’s good for them.
No matter how old we are, the world we live in tells us if we want something bad enough, we should have it. Not only that, we owe it to ourselves to go out and get it. The great vacation, the bigger house, the fancy car. That influencer-trendy wrinkle cream that’s way more expensive than it should be. The upgraded internet service, because heaven forbid we have to wait 5 seconds for a website to load. We want all the bells and whistles, and we want them now.
I’m not saying we need to go back to pre-internet days or watch a TV show one episode at a time or never treat ourselves to something new, fun or helpful. I’m honestly not even sure what I’m trying to say — I’m aiming my words directly at myself as much as anyone else, which makes me want to tread lightly. But I’m curious what it would feel like if we aim to be satisfied with a little less. If we’re OK with things going a little slower.
Lord knows I’m not going to start sitting through TV commercials again, but maybe I can make myself slow down and wait a bit before clicking that “Buy Now” button. Maybe I can choose not to go directly to Google to find out that actor’s name, but instead try to dredge it out of that far recess deep in my brain.
Will it make a difference? Will we feel more satisfied for having made ourselves wait? I don’t know, but it might be worth trying.
When I’m not writing about my family and our ordinary life, I write novels, go to the grocery store, and vacuum dog hair. You can find my books in stores, online, and locally at Little Professor Bookshop. You can reach me by email at Lauren@LaurenKDenton.com, visit my website LaurenKDenton.com, or find me on Instagram @LaurenKDentonBooks or
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