You Can't Unlearn Instant

You're not addicted to instant gratification.

You've been conditioned by irreversible infrastructure shifts.

My mom bought us encyclopedias. Heavy volumes, gold-trimmed pages. When I needed information, I walked to the shelf. Found the right letter. Turned pages.

Sometimes the answer wasn't there.

Then I got my first library card. Whole building full of answers. Had to drive there. Wait for the librarian. Sometimes wait for the book.

Then Netscape. Dial-up screeching. Websites loading line by line.

Thirty seconds felt fast.

Then Google. Instant answers. Any question, any time.

Then mobile. Google in my pocket. Answers while walking.

Then AI. Conversations instead of searches. Synthesis instead of links.

Watch what changed: Physical shelves became card catalogs became browser windows became search bars became chat interfaces.

Watch what didn't: I was always trying to know something I didn't yet know.

The container recursively transformed six times. The interface evolved from finding to synthesizing to conversing.

But the core need remained: close the gap between what I know and what I need to know.

We think each new technology fundamentally changes us.

What actually changes is our tolerance for the old technology.

Your grandmother could wait a week for library books. You get anxious waiting three seconds for a page to load.

Not because you're worse at patience.

Because the ratchet moved.

Each tool didn't just improve access. It permanently redefined "acceptable."

The expectation is the one-way door.

You can't unlearn instant.

The tools changed. The urgency to know didn't.

When everything transforms except one thing, you've found what's essential versus what's just current infrastructure.