Pixabay.com
Pixabay.com

Patience is becoming incredibly rare in modern society, and technology is to blame.

A survey that looked at 2,000 British adults found that most people are incredibly impatient in almost every aspect of their life. Furthermore, those surveyed said they believed the dominance of digital technology like smartphones, TVs and smartwatches are to blame for their growing lack of patience.

Those surveyed responded saying they get angry after waiting only 16 seconds for a web page to load and after 25 seconds of waiting at a traffic light. In addition, 38% of respondents had lost their patience while trying to take notes and keep up with a speaker during a class or work meeting.

Tea, which is a popular leisure time activity in Britain, was even found to have traces of frustration. Respondents said it would incite anger in themselves if the kettle took over 28 seconds to boil.

The study, commissioned by stationary supply company BIC, found it takes only 22 seconds for people to get people annoyed if a TV or show didn’t start streaming quickly enough, and 18 seconds for the to lose their cool if they can’t find a pen when they need one.

Waiting in line seemed to especially annoy respondents, with 45% admitting they had lost their temper after waiting an “excessive” amount of time. When a dead phone is on the charger, people said that 11 minutes was “too long” to have it turn back on.

Despite all of this, the one thing people were willing to wait for was mail.

“Our research highlighted that we’re happy waiting just 2.8 days for an online grocery order to arrive, and 3.7 for a cherished handwritten bit of mail,” comments Jo Hollins, head of marketing & category management at BIC U.K. and Ireland, in a statement. “Thanks to technology, modern life moves faster than ever but it also seems we’re still willing to wait that little bit longer for a good old-fashioned handwritten letter – an extra day in fact.”

Much of this impatience can probably be traced back to the convenience and instant gratification of the internet, researchers believe.

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