Most of you know that I live out on the edge of civilization, tucked away in a little ranching community called Paradise Valley, Nevada. My grown daughter and I raise beef cattle, as well as ranch and performance horses. Before moving here 32 years ago to marry and raise a family, I worked in media. I grew up in a Los Angeles suburb and studied marketing and media management in college and then spent the better part of a decade managing cable television systems, and promoting and selling major cable and satellite television programs and events. I was not only part of the generation that developed and sold the idea of “what you want, when you want it” when it came to information and entertainment; but, I was part of the team that researched it and wrote it. I heartily pushed for a 24 hour news cycle, and greater bandwidth systems to deliver the massive amount and diversity of content that we “enjoy” today.
Back in the early 1980s when I joined the workforce, one could only imagine the kind of technological progress we would make over the next 40+ years. Cellular communications, personal computing, satellite communication and global positioning systems were either exclusively military applications or in their infancy. I don’t think that many of us back then could have possibly imagined where these developing technologies would take us within our own lifetimes.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the “what you want, when you want it “ mentality has not only caught on; but, has become a way of life. Today, if you live within a reasonably populated area, everything from food delivery, entertainment, information, personal services and even dating and intimacy are available anytime at the touch of a phone screen.
Back in 1982, I was hired as part of a marketing team tasked with creating and implementing an effective marketing strategy to sell cable television services to neighborhoods in entertainment savvy Los Angeles. Prior to this, cable television had largely been confined to use in geographic areas without good over-the-air television. We had to convince people of a couple of fundamental new concepts. 1. That they should be willing to pay for television, and 2. That they needed more than the 15 or so channels of free TV currently available over the air.
The owners of our cable tv system had just invested hundreds of millions of dollars into physical cable and fiber infrastructure all over Los Angeles and had made certain assumptions about the public’s interest in purchasing its products. Their first marketing team had failed to convince the public of its value and by the time I came on board, our company risked insolvency over low sales numbers and negative cash flow.
I did not initially get much face time with our owners; but, desperate times called for listening to everyone on the team and at one particularly difficult meeting, I made the suggestion that we engage the services of an audience testing firm that I had interned for during college. Their expertise was testing everything from commercial pitches, to TV pilots and motion picture ideas. ASI’s founder was a brilliant guy and their qualitative research methods and results were impressive. Our company’s owners and executives bought the idea and I then spent countless hours working with ASI querying consumers who lived in our service area about what was most important to them socially as well as TV and entertainment wise, and finally narrowed down their most frequent responses to a couple things.
Time was their most valuable resource and making the most of it was their highest priority. From there, I wrote hundreds of pitch lines to try out and we finally narrowed it down to one that I initially thought of as a crass throw away. “What you want, when you want it” became our mantra and I sold that insidious line along with accompanying brochures, mailers, freeway billboards, radio and tv ads to my bosses as an effective way to market the emerging technology of 40-120 channel paid cable and satellite tv services to consumers who had previously been completely satisfied with lives not dominated by tv and media. When I think about where that silly ad phrase has taken us over the past 40 years, it chills me to the bone.
I don’t for a moment believe that I’m the monster who single handedly ushered in the era of instant gratification; but, I do think that I and many other well meaning free marketeers unconsciously helped it along.
The truth is that the easy availability of almost everything, along with far more consumer product choices than we need, has turned us into a society that hates delayed gratification (if we understand the concept anymore at all), and entitled, spoiled brats.
I think about what I do as a rancher/beef producer within the food production chain today and lament that most people have a complete disconnect from where their food actually comes from. When procuring the necessities of life becomes too easy, we naturally begin to devalue those that produce those things, deliver those things or ensure the safety and reliability of those things. The essentials become a “given”, and we simply use them without thinking.
So, where does that leave us today? Sadly, I believe that we are now so far from the day when we “let the genie out of the bottle” that most of America and first world countries are too far removed from the difference between what we really need and what we want to push ourselves back toward a more balanced approach to living.
As concepts like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and frankenfoods become more of a staple in our world, and we as human beings become less necessary to manufacturing and industry, I certainly hope that all of us remember the lessons and unintended consequences of the original “tech revolution” and ask ourselves the fundamental questions of IS MORE AND FASTER REALLY BETTER? and JUST BECAUSE WE CAN DO IT, SHOULD WE?
Are we really moving forward or are we dancing above the tipping point between a world where we are nothing but powerless drones and a world where our humanity, creativity, faith and hard work continue to be needed, valued and respected? I sure hope that we still have a choice about which direction we move in…
Kris Stewart is a rancher in Paradise Valley, NV