Early, Late, Who Cares?

I'm late. This post is a little late, I should say; allow me to get a little metacognizant with this blog for a second to explain. Technically, this blog post is due at 10:00am this morning, a due date set by my English teacher, as this is technically an assignment for my English class. Despite the fact that I'm starting this the morning of its due date, I'm not really concerned, not really feeling the pressure. For one thing, it's 8:48 and one hour and twelve minutes is more than enough time to write a quality post, but on a deeper level, dates really don't mean much anymore. The concept of being early, late, or right on time seems to be losing value by the day in our society.

A lot of what I observe with regard to dates and deadlines comes from the way I follow new music; I think it's very exciting to anticipate an album's release and look forward to the day of its release for weeks in advance. At least I did, until these predetermined release days became completely arbitrary and irrelevant. Take alternative rock giants Arcade Fire for example: they're 2010 release The Suburbs won a Grammy for Album of the Year, making it understandable that a considerable number of people would be looking forward to this year's follow up Reflektor. As a religious follower of Pitchfork (a music oriented internet publication), I kept myself pretty informed with when the album would be released, by what means, and how I'd be able to get my hands on it, as did many other music fans. But a few days before the highly anticipated October 29 release date, Pitchfork posts this little article, essentially offering the album to the public for a limited to time before its actual release. As much as I was excited to hear one of my favorite bands' new music, I was a little annoyed with the idea that a band (aided largely by the media) could build up so much hype around a particular release date only to casually undermine it a few days early.

This isn't a confined case either. Many other albums this year have foregone their predetermined release date, choosing to put their music out a few days early, regardless of the hype and anticipation surrounding their original date. Even the US government seems to be holding less and less of a regard for dates and deadlines. The most recent government shutdown fiasco was averted, but not until the very last minute, proving that the eleventh hour is becoming more and more popular as well. What do albums coming out early and governments passing legislature late have in common? They both show a blatant disregard for the concept of "on time."

Is this really all that bad though? As frustrating as it may be for time oriented people who put a lot of stock in dates, how negative are the effects of this emerging trend? While some people might take offense to the implications this may have on a person's character, it could be a trend that proves beneficial. If nothing else, it keeps people on their toes; when you can't trust dates and deadlines, you're forced into a greater sense of awareness for the unpredictable. The government shutdown really was as interesting as it should've been to people until the very last minute (when failure seemed tangible), and bands who put out music early might just be looking for fans devoted enough to latch onto their music at any time or place. Timeliness is dying. Maybe it's already dead, maybe it'll be dead by tomorrow, but the point is, it doesn't matter.