In "The Contest," one of the most famous episodes of "Seinfeld," the foursome of Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer wager a contest among one another to see who can refrain from masturbating the longest. The contest hinges on the respective honesty and discipline of each contestant; naturally Kramer is the first to go, having given into temptation after seeing his attractive neighbor (across the street) strut across her apartment naked.
When Kramer inquires if Jerry has lost yet, he frames the question by asking if Jerry was still the "master of your domain." The term would go on to be adopted by the popular lexicon as an expression, which refers to one’s ability to control their urges; after all, is there a single greater example of discipline than refraining from an activity that only you would know you had done?
Although it is never made clear who won the contest within the context of the episode, each entrant gradually relents when confronted with titillating scenarios. When thinking about this episode, it’s critical to keep a few things in mind, one of them being that this contest only lasts for a few days. Secondly, when this episode aired in 1992, there was no such thing as an iPhone and it could take up to five minutes for your AOL to even start up. The contest began because George glimpsed a lone copy of Glamour on his mother’s table and couldn’t help himself; it’s difficult to imagine any of those characters participating honestly had they been able to access porn from their cellphones.
We’re talking about "The Contest" because it speaks to the difficulty of self-discipline and denying instant gratification. As college students in the 21st century, this is a particularly pertinent issue. We all have long-term projects to undertake and several chapters to read in our textbooks. However, we also have Facebook feeds to check as well as instantaneous access to more hours of Netflix than what is humanly reasonable. Why do work which’ll pay off in a few weeks when we could be quoting "Archer" after 22 minutes?
No one at the Alligator is a neuroscience major, but we know enough about the brain to understand it is wired to respond favorably to good feelings and instant gratification. In 2015, it is easier than ever to do anything BUT academic pursuits: Xbox Live is only the press of a home button away, and we can tell ourselves all we want that John Oliver’s weekly monologues are a fulfilling source of education on pressing social issues. If you were to walk through any one of our libraries, we can guarantee you would glimpse several students checking the number of likes on their profile picture rather than reading chapters four through six of whatever textbook was assigned that week. As convenient as it is for cantankerous old people to deride us for multitasking, it kind of, sort of, isn’t our fault; our brains have been conditioned to pursue instant satisfaction at any given moment.
Becoming the "master of your domain" has always been an arduous task, but we’d venture to say it is harder for us than it ever was for our parents. We’re not claiming we have the answers (although consciously choosing to put your damn phone down would probably help), but it is vital, as men and women desensitized to the sheer wonders of technology, we remain committed to becoming disciplined individuals who can accomplish one task at a time WITHOUT having to resort to Google for help.
