Fast food and cultural pursuits

People today read less, take fewer museum trips, and attend fewer concerts. Is that because these activities aren't as fun? The decline in the number and quality of our cultural experiences can be traced, at least in part, to unconscious stimuli that make us live faster. As [Sanford] DeVoe told me, "There are ironic consequences to time-saving devices. Fast food might save us time. But it also leads us away from the activities we might enjoy during the time we save.

Frank Partnoy, Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (New York: Public Affairs, 2012), p. 58