I’d give the guy credit if I could remember where I read this or heard it. Probably only applies to those of us of a certain age who remember how things were waaay back before the Internet came along and, certainly, the Web.
Back in the old days (as recently as the 1970s), you’d write a letter or a postcard and mail it and figure, at the least, it would take three or four days to arrive. And, then, if the recipient was particularly conscientious, and responded fairly quickly, in a day or so, it would be another three or four days before you got your reply. Call it ten days from message to response. Ten whole days.
Today (drum roll) you send an email or you text a text and what? Are you patient? Do you expect to wait for as many as ten days for a reply? Heck no. In fact, if you don’t hear back in ten minutes, well… An hour, tops. Should you not hear back in 24 hours, oh my, you begin to wonder if your interlocutor is still alive. And when as many as 48 hours have passed you figure either s/he is dead or they wish you were.
From ten days to ten minutes. Max. Expectations. Wow.
UPDATE: By McGeHee, a commenter at Dustbury: “I distinctly remember watching Wile E. Coyote send away for things and receive them seconds later. And that was back in the ’40s!”
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 