4 minute read
Mental Health
Mental Health BUY NOW - PAY LATER Cost of immediate gratification
MINDSET | MARCUS WHEAN
WE live in a credit society. Most of us can have almost anything we want now; we can have it now and pay for it later.
It is such a positive thing in many ways, especially for important and big purchases like property and vehicles. Big capital assets are out of reach for many to purchase without credit, loans or mortgages. We all rely on credit in some way.
The other side of our credit society is it has made its way into almost every aspect of our economy. We can literally put everything we buy on credit and pay for it later and often at greater cost because of interest than the original purchase price.
Is this a convenient technology that has arisen as a miracle that we’ve all just ‘discovered’ or is it a natural organic consequence of our biological and emotional needs? It is said that people buy out of emotion.
Emotions that are primal and highly influential in terms of motivation. Most are even linked to survival. FOMO (fear of missing out) is a classic example of a primal emotion that drives behaviour.
If we see or perceive everyone else to have, and perceive ourselves as ‘have not’, we are going to be motivated to ‘buy’ out of that emotion because, being social creatures, we do not want to ‘fee’ like we are different or missing out.
The problem with all this is that because we are saturated and bombarded with social media influence. Nowadays, we are almost stuck in a perpetual emotional and motivational loop. Therefore, we are more susceptible to taking up credit and ‘buy now, pay later’ technologies.
The availability of these technologies basically exploits our emotional and social brains. The further problem is that this is highlighting an emerging vulnerability I see every day. That is, people cannot or find it more difficult to delay gratification.
To delay gratification requires the execution of the rational centres of the brain. To exert will if you like with respect to decision making, active planning, and thinking clearly and rationally into the future.
Credit technologies are rife and expanding because more and more people are lacking the ability to delay gratification. It is not the credit industries’ fault. There is a need and so they supply it. Basic economics.
We are all struggling
For us as individual, however, stress, anxiety and depression problems are rising. When we are struggling, immediately gratifying things are appealing and taken up more because we are in pain and crave quick relief.
Immediate gratification need not just apply to credit and purchases. Immediate gratification is things like procrastination and avoidance; eating junk food instead of prepping a healthy meal; lazing on the couch instead of exercise or cleaning the house. It is basically putting of things in favour of quick relief now.
The problem is long term. So, debts rise, problems don’t go away, and intrinsic frustrations and negative emotions like guilt or even shame emerge because we have not been applying ourselves to our lives in favour of the long term and cashing in too many time and too often for short term gains; or rather, short term relief.
Psychologically it also reinforces the negative beliefs we may hold about ourselves in terms of our self-efficacy. That is, if we believe we can’t do things or are not good enough for instance and can develop learned helplessness.
Consequently, self-confidence drops; we feel lousy in ourselves, become more emotionally driven and vulnerable to immediate gratification. When we fail to delay gratification the loop is complete reinforcing the negative self-belief that kicked off the whole thing.
One of my principles for mental fitness and personal growth is discipline. Discipline means to follow. I aim to follow the discipline of delaying gratification wherever possible. Try it yourself.
Try and do the hard thing before the easy thing. Get the chores over and done with. Buy the thing if you still want, but not right there and then. Give yourself time to think; for the emotion to die down. If you still want to buy the thing after that then do it.
The important thing is to have future goals that require focus; goals based on values aligned with personal growth that is important to you. That helps to delay gratification and so no to credit, unnecessary purchases, or temporary stress-relieving behaviours.
Delaying gratification is also so rewarding. I would argue It is essential to self-esteem, personal growth and mental health. Try delaying gratification more. It will be challenging at times, but it will serve to dissolve negative beliefs and instil positive ones. It takes time but that’s the whole point. Give yourself the time.
Why, because you’re worth it and self-worth is not in what we have but how we treat and value ourselves and delaying gratification is a mainstay of self-esteem and personal growth.
Marcus Whelan is a Registered Psychologist and Mental Fitness Coachwith 10+ years’ experience in private practice. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in psychology and education. Visit: www.marcuswhelanpsychology. com.au
