The topic of entitlement has come up from time to time in my conversations with Melanie McBride. The context that she usually brings to the table is in the realm of education and students. For me, it’s rather interesting as I’ve pondered about the concept of entitlement — especially as we apply it to our present day in different manners. Of course, the way that entitlement is usually referred to these days is in the context of Generation Me and careers.
I find that entitlement is an interesting concept because it is usually tied to the concept of time. Time is considered the most valuable asset — how much we consciously or subconsciously value our time determines how we regard the return on time invested (ROTI, not to be confused with the food item) on a particular activity. How younger generations view time has evolved this way rapidly, especially as to how it relates to education, jobs, and career paths.
Of course, we apply this concept everywhere and all the time in our daily lives — we just refer to it as prioritizing and scheduling. Let us examine a couple of examples more closely:
VIDEO GAMES
Video and computer games often come with a certain learning curve — particularly with the controls varying in different degrees. Whether it may be a handheld controller, a joystick, or the computer keyboard; a user requires time to adapt to the functions of a set of controls.
I have friends who play day after day after day and their ability to win a single player or multiplayer game makes the challenge appear relatively easy. In comparison, a friend of mine consistently refuses to play games on game consoles and often blames the controls for his inability to win a game. Of course he is not even the first person to carry this attitude — many people have not touched video or computer games for a similar reason.
Image credit: The Taybor
However isn’t it logical to require practice before we acquire an actual skill? Of course some would suggest that many games result in the practice of “button-mashing” in order to deliver a win to the user who is most successful at “button-mashing”. Others would point out that response time and the ability to think on your feet is vital to the win. Then again, the evolution from board games has changed into something more than simply rolling the dice and relying on your luck.
The way we interact with games has evolved and pushed forward the development of a whole genre we refer to as casual gaming. Casual gaming is a genre that has increased the ROTI while decreasing the time and skill requirement for a game. Is ROTI a result of this sense of entitlement or a combination of how our daily lives are playing out? Then compare this idea with the initiative to play a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) — a very different view on ROTI.
Image credit: Pablo Bigatti
WEBSITES
We approach websites with a similar attitude — particularly when we arrive at a website with very little context (i.e. we may have just stumbled across it). Most of the time, it’s about relevant content to the user; but the focus can also revolve around how someone uses or navigates the website.
Of course many major websites will have designers, user interaction engineers, and web analysts plus many others looking at how we can improve the “experience” for the user. Why? So that users will find it easier to follow the call to action — buy something, subscribe to an email newsletter, add a friend to the list, send a card, or some other decision that websites would like us to act upon.
User interface comparison – image credit: phempsall
The ever-increasing influx of social media (and media in general) over the past few years has really pushed how we use a website (or view other forms of media) down to a single important point.
It is all about ROTI in the eyes of the user.
Think about it and ask yourself — why do we keep logging into Facebook? Why do we watch videos on YouTube? Why do we continue using twitter? How and why do we share URLs? Why do we continue to buy online from Amazon? Why do we focus our energy on participating in all of these activities. Sure there’s the community factor but if we sort through the different meanings underlying our answers to the questions above, we will arrive at a conclusion that time is the common denominator.
A QUESTION OF BEHAVIOUR
Are there potential consequences or implications for our individual capacity to adapt? There really isn’t a problem with consistently choosing to participate in what is considered as the highest return on time invested (ROTI) — but if we do consistently choose to participate in a high ROTI / LSLT (low skill and low time) requirement — then might there be a decline in the human capacity to adapt and persevere? Don’t we need to learn that practice leads to an increase in skill and flexibility in the way we respond to stimuli?
There have already been numerous articles about instant gratification, the loss of attention span and the inability to read lengthier news pieces. Whether or not there are further consequences has yet to be revealed…
The amusing thing about ROTI is that it can be so subjective yet it wields such a impact on interactive media. Nonetheless, we can identify that ROTI is nothing new — it’s just that the rise of interactive media has paved the way to giving this variable a lot more weight within the greater equation.
So how did you spend the long weekend? Was it well worth the ROTI?
