Ian Bogost on Muck Rack

Ian Bogost

St. Louis
As seen in: The Atlantic, Medium, MSN, MSN Ireland, Bloomberg CityLab, HuffPost, MSN Malaysia, MSN Philippines, Yahoo Canada, Aol, Memory Studies and
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Articles

The Cult of Delayed Gratification Is a Lie

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By Ian Bogost
| Süddeutsche Zeitung Verified
Eating a pint of ice cream instead of improving a difficult relationship with your partner is easy. So is scrolling social media instead of completing a cardio workout at the gym. Simple and accessible delights seem like lures that drag you away from a better life, rather than tools to help you achieve a more meaningful one. Seeking gratification, we have been told, feels good in the moment but worse in the long run.
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The Marshmallow Test Is Bunk

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By Ian Bogost
| The Atlantic Verified
Eating a pint of ice cream instead of improving a difficult relationship with your partner is easy. So is scrolling social media instead of completing a cardio workout at the gym. Simple and accessible delights seem like lures that drag you away from a better life, rather than tools to help you achieve a more meaningful one. Seeking gratification, we have been told, feels good in the moment but worse in the long run. But gratification is good—even though it gets a bad rap.
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The Cult of Delayed Gratification Is a Lie

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By Ian Bogost
| Flipboard
The marshmallow test, redone with ten times as many children, found that a four-year-old’s willpower mostly stopped predicting teenage success once family background was taken into account The marshmallow test is one of the most repeated stories in popular psychology. A small child is left alone with a treat and told that waiting will …
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