This is my purchasing pattern but it has nothing to do with instant gratification. I use Amazon because I will purchase something when I remember to. “Oh yeah, I need dog food, but it’s 10 p.m.”. Then an hour later I remember “I need socks.” Seriously, what store is going to carry dog food and socks? Amazon fixes this problem without me having to spend an hour driving to two different stores, finding parking, finding the article in the store the next day IF I happen to remember. I order it inside of 3 minutes and I can safely forget about it. I postulate that many folks are discovering this convenience as well. You make it sound like people who go to the store are morally more virtuous based on a lot of speculation. I would point out that going to the store and seeing and touching things you have no intention of buying are nothing but exercising the lust of the eyes for material things. So maybe buying online is more morally virtuous.
I also buy from Amazon because when you go to a brick-n-mortar store, unless you have done a great deal of research (online?) or you have personal knowledge about what you’re buying, you have zero basis for comparing products. You have no idea which ones are quality and which ones are garbage. With everything on Amazon there are customer reviews which help you assess the quality and in many cases suggest a superior alternative. It’s not perfect, but it’s considerably better than standing in the store in front of 10 different brands and not knowing anything. So that is another set of reasons why I (and likely others) use Amazon.
Finally, Amazon takes a number of payment options. I pay with a Debit Card (i.e. digital cash) and I’m sure many others do as well. So your hypothesis, I think, fails in a number of ways.
Your post rankled me because it paints people who have completely rational reasons for shopping online as opposed to going to a store as agents of moral decay. This is, I believe, shallow logic.
Sorry I rankled you.
I started my post with:
On-line purchasing is ALSO an outgrowth of instant gratification, and touch screen access [caps added].
“Also”, in addition to Amazon’s growth due to superior product availability and purchasing convenience.
You as a cognizant and responsible purchaser (debit card) were not my focus.
My focus was the smart phone addict, ‘trained’ by leftists to ‘deserve’ everything now, and who avoid payment by using credit. These probably do qualify as agents of moral decay.
Does my hypothesis still fail?
PS I also order from Amazon. Use the evil PayPal so my card is not in many merchants’ systems, and my address is right there for shipping. I pay it off each month.