Skip to content We have an instant gratification culture. Lately, I’ve found myself engrossed in watching YouTube shorts comparing fast food in terms of value and taste. These brief 20-second clips manage to capture my attention enough to fill my mind with trivial information and propel me to scroll to the next quick morsel of useless facts. In doing so, I satisfy my craving for a quick dopamine fix, but in the process, I squander moments of time that I’ll never reclaim. Delving into fast food comparisons through TikTok-styled entertainment leads me to ponder whether our attraction to fast food and quick video shorts isn’t just an isolated interest, but rather a symptom of a broader issue—our impatience with life and our instant gratification culture.
What’s wrong with fast food?
Commonly, people attribute fast food to quick service, high calorie content, and highly palatable, relatively affordable food choices that serve as attractive alternatives to our overworked, busy schedules. When we need a quick fix to silence those hunger pangs with a Big Mac, it does the job quite well.
Unfortunately, it comes at a cost—not necessarily to our pocketbooks, but to our health and longevity. Fast food is associated with obesity; in fact, if you live near a fast food joint, you are more likely to be obese. On the other hand, a healthy diet decreases the likelihood of diabetes, heart disease, and provides more years to enjoy. Fast food fails to offer any of these benefits.
Yet, we are drawn towards fast food much like mosquitoes are drawn towards bug zappers. Perhaps our penchant for quick, salty, and greasy, subpar meals is symptomatic of a larger issue: our obsession with immediate gratification.
How is Fast Food a Metaphor for our Life
What about our phones? Never before have we had access to such powerful computing in the palm of our hands. Yet, what we often do with it is indulge in short bursts of entertainment, mindlessly scrolling through acquaintances we’d rather not engage with, or endlessly capturing photos of our pets or children when one would suffice. Studies have shown the negative effects of phones, leading to issues such as insomnia, anxiety, and depression. Most concerning, however, is how they make us less tolerant of boredom.
These are quick hits of pleasure, yet they fall short of their potential. Countless times, I’ve squandered the precious hours after putting the kids to sleep, mindlessly watching endless YouTube shorts before turning in for the night. Hours wasted on content that offers little gratification. It served its purpose, providing instant entertainment with minimal effort, but it lacked any enriching substance for the soul.
Check out this article regarding this topic: The Instant Gratification Culture and its Ramifications in the Dot Com Era
Fast Paced Living
In a world where everything moves at a relentless pace, where with a tap on our phones we can watch our favorite shows, listen to our favorite songs, text everyone we know, and access answers to any question imaginable, we truly have everything at our fingertips. There’s no waiting, no effort, no patience required. We get everything we want instantly. Yet, somehow, this immediacy seems to devalue the substance we seek. Perhaps it’s not that the things we desire are inherently cheaper, but rather that the things that come quickly are perceived as cheap.
A simple laugh, a trivial question answered, a tune to fit the mood—these are quests for immediacy, superficial indulgences akin to salty fries for our bodies. They gratify momentarily but lack the essential vitamins for the spirit. What the spirit truly craves is not fast food, but a slow-cooked stew that takes hours to prepare and brew, the result of painstakingly slow cooking. Yet, the final product is so delicious that you yearn for more even when it’s not in front of you. These things don’t arise from TikTok; they are born from hours of prayer and meditation.
However, because of this, we often find it difficult and slow, inadvertently starving our souls with the garbage we continually feed it.
Check out this article: JOY VS HAPPINESS IN THE BIBLE: IS THERE A DIFFERENCE? A BETTER WAY TO DESCRIBE JOY
Conclusion to our instant gratification culture
This is the sign of the times: fast food for a fast existence. One day, we’ll look back and wonder where the time went—not just from an evening of binge-watching Netflix, but in our ripe old age, reminiscing about the past. Decades spent feasting on nothing but simple amusement. I don’t want that. Personally, I want to look back and think, ‘That was time well spent.’ In that case, I better bring out the crockpot and prepare for a slow meal.
