Why you and I are so busy?
“Busyness is now the social norm that people feel they must conform to, Burnett says, or risk being outcasts.”
– Brigid Schulte, Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time
Selina Wang in a blogger for Huffington post and Lori Deschene, author and founder of Tiny Buddha, discuss how the frenzy of productiveness is a safe haven where we are so busy that there is no time to question the motives of what we are doing, or to wonder what to do with a moment of reprieve. Filling up every second gives us a sense of security that we are being successful and working towards something, someday, somewhere where we could finally slow down and be free. Yet, that something – as important as it is – always seems to ruin our free moment.
Lori points out that most of us are fiercely defensive of our busyness. We have processes to streamline, goals to accomplish, promotions to earn, debt to eliminate, exercise regimes to master, dreams to chase — and hopefully along the way, people to help and inspire. We multitask, even when it means not truly being present in an activity we enjoy, and may be even feel guilty for blocks of unplanned time in our schedules. We look for productivity hacks and apps, join forums to discuss ways to get more things done; and when we do aim to simplify our lives, even that undertaking involves a lengthy to-do list.
Analysts at McKinsey, a top-rated consultancy firm, say that in the corporate world, a ‘perennial time-scarcity problem’ afflicts executives all over the globe, and the matter has only grown more acute in recent years. Such emotions are more pronounced among working parents.
The Economist writes that the plethora of available goods and limitless possibilities provided by the Internet has only made time feel more crunched, as the struggle to choose what to buy or watch or eat or do raises the opportunity cost of leisure (i.e., choosing one thing comes at the expense of choosing another) and contributes to feelings of stress. It comments that when we are spoiled for choices on how we utilise our time, it is only natural to crave more of it. And pleasures always feel fleeting.
Time, ultimately, is a strange and slippery resource, easily traded, visible only when it passes and often most highly valued when it is gone. No one has ever complained of having too much of it. Selina quips that even though humans are living longer than before, each day that we live seems to go by faster and faster.
Our perspective
In his 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,” the great economist John Maynard Keynes looking one hundred years in the future, at how technology would affect his grandchildren, foresaw a society with 15 hours workweek and more leisure, which would allow people to be more fully human.
Eighty five years later, an abundance of leisure and 3 hours workday has not materialised as Keynes envisioned. Despite wondrous technological advances, we are busier than ever. Work has become more efficient, yet we remain overwhelmed. What went wrong?
In a survey conducted by Horizon Poll in New Zealand, it was revealed that most people believe technology is saving them time but more than 75 per cent (77.5%) of people feel busier, with more than 40 per cent (42.5%) feeling significantly or overwhelmingly busier. The survey found that those who reported saving the most time from technology – 9.2 per cent said more than 15 hours a week – were more likely to be busier.
As time-saving from technology increased, so did the preference to exercise and keep healthy. Professor Paul Spoonley of Massey University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences said this indicated demands on our time were increasing, despite our ability to complete tasks faster. He says, “Technology saves time on many tasks but it also creates new tasks, and many feel that they need to check something online or to answer a text. It feels busy.” Social media commentator Simon Young adds: “Technology has automated a lot of things for us, but it still requires our attention. And that’s what is keeping us busy.”
So the irony is, the technology we employed to give us more time has ended up taking more of our time.
It’s a deliberate personal choice and decision. We can all change our time management practices but fail to committedly prioritise and execute it.
Gazing through the crystal ball
- Make a beginning in time management; in our networked economy, a lack of discipline in compartmentalising for all things in a day, including a call time with a friend on a particular day will be very stressful. Earlier the beginning the better, school years are the best time to start management of time.
- In this 24×7 hyper connected world, the biggest source of stress is the ability to do all the things at all times, but we must use this ability to our own good – do things at our convenience. Develop your own routine about what is convenient to you in managing the connected world. Make people appreciate your schedules and working habits/ethics/practices and live by them.
- Of course, only sincere and effective people can control the demands on them and, therefore, become good at their work (at home and workplace).
- Etiquettes, i.e., what is appropriate socially and culturally, are set in a context. For instance, the etiquette of visiting a neighbour in rural and urban settings may actually be very different. Similarly, the etiquettes of communication using mobile phones compared to communication using letters and landline phones must be different. Define your own code of using mobile phones, emails, messaging systems etc.
- Use the unparalleled power of ‘all in a palm’ to your advantage and develop a larger routine for your various activities/tasks/needs such as communication, entertainment, work, reading, newspapers, banking, travel, searches. Grow to be a master rather than a servant of technological advances.
