To see what effect familiar fast food packaging would have, participants were shown several neutral photos and pictures of McDonald’s food either in its original packaging, or unwrapped and sitting on a ceramic plate. Then they rated their happiness. Some people saw beautiful nature photographs before rating their happiness, some didn’t.

Lastly, to measure impatience, participants listened to an aria and reported how long they thought it was—the idea being that people who feel impatient perceive time to be moving more slowly. Before listening, they completed the same task from the second study, where some saw fast food packaging and some didn’t.

Results: All three studies found an association between exposure to fast food and a tendency not to savor experiences. The higher the fast food restaurant concentration in a neighborhood, the less likely its residents were to stop and smell the roses (likely smelling hamburgers instead).

Exposure to fast food images did not affect people’s happiness unless they were given the opportunity to savor beautiful nature pictures, showing “that fast-food symbols reduce savoring but do not dampen happiness.” And in the last study, the opera aria seemed longer to people exposed to fast food pictures, suggesting that they were feeling more impatient than people who didn’t see fast food.

Implications: The ability to appreciate small moments of pleasure has been linked to happiness, and this study shows that exposure to the impatient, ultra-efficient culture of the fast-food industry might dampen that ability. “The impatience activated by exposure to fast food runs counter to mindfully staying in the moment to savor,” the study reads. “Undermining people’s ability to derive pleasure from everyday joys could exert a significant long-term negative effect on people’s experienced happiness.” So, chew slower, I guess.

The study, "Too Impatient to Smell the Roses: Exposure to Fast Food Impedes Happiness," appeared in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.