Have you ever watched people waiting in line? Next time you stand behind someone, anticipating your turn to be served, observe this curious social phenomenon I call “wait-mode.” Wait-mode is an altered state of consciousness characterized by a glazed-over, vacant facial expression, and accompanied by an inert posture firmly planted on a place in line. Your feet shuffle forward and your body moves up one painful spot at a time. And you do this mechanically.
Notice the zombie-like state of humans in wait-mode. See how they stare blankly ahead, even while their children ask them questions or “misbehave.” And cognizant that you are in wait-mode, those keeping you waiting–clerks, salespeople, professionals, and slow motorists–do not care because they know that your altered state has reduced you to a zombie. It does not matter to them because, in this zombie-like state, you are a non-entity.
Every once in a while, you snap out of wait-mode to experience some impatience and discomfort, only to be reminded by the gatekeeper, that your turn will be “soon.” Placated by this simple pleasantry, you return comfortably to wait-mode.
By age 60, we spend approximately six years of our lives waiting in checkout lines, at doctor’s offices, in traffic jams, and more. The social conditioning leading up to wait-mode is profound. Children do not go into this zombie-like state of consciousness as readily as we would like them to. They spend most of their childhood just learning how to wait for things. School is the perfect training camp for this social phenomenon. Recess line-ups are mere grocery checkout simulations without the added baggage. The school bus scene is a traffic jam simulator given the involvement of a vehicle. Waiting to see the Principal is preparation enough for your later encounter with any highly paid professional who will keep you flipping through outdated popular magazines to help pass the time.
The tenets of effective time management remind us that we have a myriad of options while we wait; strike up a conversation, read a book, scroll through our phone, plan ahead, or do physical exercise. Yet somehow, we slip into wait-mode as a preference, seemingly unaware of the infinitely more stimulating alternatives. This is because of the effective ingrained social conditioning we underwent during our formative years.
Wait-mode is a vast and multi-faceted topic, too broad an issue to cover in one short piece. So I am preparing another article to continue the discussion. But you will have to wait for it.
*This article was originally published in QAAL’s Linking for Learning Newsletter, Vol. 16, No. 2, Winter 1999.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Lim on Unsplash