instant gratification

i've been in a slump the past few days that can only be explained by a mild cold, pms or the fact that i have been without my step-father for approximately three months.  i've been thinking about him a lot lately, and missing him more and more everyday.  i am also constantly worrying about my mother.  i hate the fact that she is alone more often than not.  as a frequent superwoman wannabe, i would give anything to heal those that i love and make everything better in an instant.  perhaps this is me becoming a confused, impatient victim of this "instant gratification" era.  anything can be solved with the simple touch of a button.  have a question?  you can now text cha cha, a service that will answer any question you have in an instant.  i know because i tested it one night among a group of friends.  you can even cite cha cha in a scholarly document, according to them, of course.

i haven't quite jumped on the iphone wagon yet, but i did purchase an itouch last week.  the applications available are slightly overwhelming and made me think:  soon we won't have to think for ourselves anymore, there will be a machine to do it for us.  don't get me wrong...i love google, wikipedia, etc.  finding restaurants in a new city via word of mouth, though, is much more my style (as opposed to urban spoon....another "no effort" program).  i'm sure i

 will get used to these fun new devices soon.  hell, i love my flip video, which is a camcorder that has a usb drive that will flip out with the touch of a button....so fun.  but this iphone thing was just a little frightening to me at first.  i even get annoyed when people try to have text message conversations with me.  what ever happened to the phone call?  maybe i'm old fashioned.  or just lame-0.

is our society too reliant on instant gratification, and if so, does that have an effect on our emotional health?  are new trends in fast-paced electronics a contributor to the rise in divorce rate?  perhaps when things go wrong, people lack the patience, dedication, and effort to make things better over time.  do people seek a fix it button for happiness?  why doesn't cha cha have all the answers?  how do i heal a broken heart? 

i was just on chacha.com to see the questions that have been asked recently.  the list included:  "how do i make girls make out?", "can you milk a fish?", and "how do you say 'i was in spanish' in spanish?".  hahahahaha.  at least it provides for a good laugh!

listen to:  Romeo and Juliet by The Killers..."there's a place for us, you know the movie song, when you gonna realize, it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"