Nowadays, this feeling gets experienced less and less every passing second. With smartphones being omnipresent in society, there’s really no need to ever have to think about the answer to a question.
Just look it up.
But picture, if you can, the days before smartphones were everywhere… or, if you’re friends with me, picture hanging out with me somewhere and me saying, “No wait, don’t look it up just yet!”
We’ve gotten into a good conversation about this movie or where that basketball player went to college or some thing that happened when we were all in 7th grade together.
If it’s a small group of people, there’s always going to be the one person that can’t possibly imagine a universe wherein they’re expected to wait for more than fifteen milliseconds to know anything. How on God’s Earth could they not look it up? Better question, why would they not look it up?
I’ll tell you why: so they could struggle and feel the unquestionable joy of saying, “The Super!” twenty minutes later, long past the point where anyone gave a shit. The question of course was, “What was the name of that movie with Joe Pesci where he plays basketball in Harlem?” No one knows, except you. Only problem is, your memory isn’t as good as it used to be because you’re no longer 12-years old or you’ve been drinking all night. Or both.
Regardless, you know two things to be true…. The first is that despite your temporary amnesia you do know the name of this movie and the second is that you know you could find it out instantly… but that’s no fucking fun.
So you soldier on, a warrior of an older generation that prefers slower speeds and harder work for the same payoff in reality.
But, when mental lightning does strike and you’re gifted with that freeing of the mental energy you’d been spending on trying to think of that movie… you’ll know you spent your time wisely.
Polar Opposite of this Feeling?: That interim period where your group has moved on to talking about something else and you can’t even contemplate participating because all you can think about is that fucking movie title.
scott spinelli 