It’s a lazy Saturday afternoon. I’ve decided to add some grease to my arteries, and I’ve got two apps in my phone to help me with that. A difficult hint, but the apps rhyme with “Tomato” and “Piggy”. I get on these apps, and check which ones offering the best discounts. I chose one of them. Another difficult choice to make: what do I eat. Pizza? Thin crust? Thick crust? Hand tossed? Cheese Burst? Wheat thin crust? I am on a diet, so wheat thin crust perhaps, which has wholesome goodness of wheat. I am a vegetarian, so non-veg options are ruled out (easy call). I also need a soft drink to wash the pizza down my throat. Let me order a diet coke (I am on a diet, remember?). They charge Rs. 60 for a Rs. 40 can – should I go and get the coke from downstairs? Chuck it, this app is giving a great discount, so diet coke gets added to the cart.
Thirty minutes in, looks like I am set. I place an order and have to
choose my payment option. AmazonPay? Paytm? Credit Card? Debit Card? Net
Banking? Cash on Delivery, perhaps, because I have trust issues? But wait,
there isn’t any discount on COD. So, I get one of my credit cards out. Just
before I am placing my order, I have this mini guilt trip. I have been trying
to be on a diet and have told everyone about it. People were mildly impressed by
my commitment after six days. I won’t be able to handle the sheer burden of
shattered expectation if I have this pizza. No, I can’t. I decide against pizza
and in my health consciousness, I end up ordering Dal Khichdi. This is
literally a proud moment for me. People who can resist their dire temptations are
elite personalities, and I might become one of them. I have my Dal Khichdi, which
cost around Rs. 150, and mom walks in. She looks a bit mad, and I fake a smile
at her. Apparently, she too had cooked Dal Khichdi for lunch. She asked me how
much I paid for my order, and walked off unimpressed. A decade and a half back
I would have received a flying chappal for this kind of decision.
Welcome to my world, and most of you are a part of it. Together we’re
Generation Overthink (“Gen O”). We’re spoilt for options. Everything is so
convenient for us, and we still fret over the most immaterial of all decisions.
Just like the example quoted above, so many of us waste so much time on simple
tasks like ordering food. It is as if convenience has made our life more
difficult, rather than easy. Paradoxical, isn’t it?
Communication, for example, is more convenient but no less complicated.
Love letters used to be a thing and people used to be patient. They relied on
Indian Postal Service, and used to have patience for breakfast. However, now
you get hurt when she is online and not replying to you. Had an argument with a
person? Delete their number and please block them on WhatsApp. It is more
convenient than discussing issues and sometimes venting out your emotions.
Feeling low? Remove your WhatsApp display picture. More convenient than sharing
your feelings with someone. Wanna date someone? Download an app and left/right
swipe them based on the way they look in a few filtered pictures. Fall in love with
faces, not personalities. Personalities are a little difficult to find.
A friend who had arranged marriage told me that he knew his wife was
the right person for him the first time he met her. I took one and a half month
to decide on the phone that I am using right now. We’re so much better off
right now, that we don’t want to lose this place of convenience. Tomato and
Piggy kids would not know what it is like to walk 10 minutes to your favorite
wada pav shop, and being told that there was nothing left. At least we were
getting lessons in rejections back then. Today, we do not want to initiate our
actions just due to the fear of rejection. Getting things are so easier, that
we dread the day when we would not get something that we want.
The “O” in Gen O isn’t just overthink, it’s also over complicate. But
congratulations, at least life is easier, apparently.
“People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.” – Charles Bukowski
Yours bitterly,
Ashish M
