Chronemics is the study of how we refer to and perceive time. Tom Bruneau has
spent a lifetime investigating how time interacts in communication and culture. As he notes, across
Western society, time is often considered the equivalent of money. The value of speed is highly prized in
some societies. [6] In others, there is a great respect for slowing down and taking a long-term view of time.
When you order a meal at a fast food restaurant, what are your expectations for how long you will have to
wait? When you order a pizza online for delivery, when do you expect it will arrive? If you order cable
service for your home, when do you expect it might be delivered? In the first case, you might measure the
delivery of a hamburger in a matter of seconds or minutes, and perhaps thirty minutes for pizza delivery,
but you may measure the time from your order to working cable in days or even weeks. You may even
have to be at your home from 8 a.m. to noon, waiting for its installation. The expectations vary by context,
and we often grow frustrated in a time-sensitive culture when the delivery does not match our
expectations.