Time is Moving Faster than Ever Before
This week we read the introduction and chapter 1 of Pressed for Time written by: Judy Wajcman. Chapter 1 was about how we live in a high speed society. The author explained how everything is fast pace now and our technology is designed to help us achieve this glorified “fast pace” which we, as a society, have deemed the most acceptable form of living. By being able to do some things faster, we are then able to do even more things with the time we saved completing the original things. Overall, adding on even more tasks and making our days longer. There is a misconception that technology is supposed to help us lessen our work load by making it easier to complete things, since we are doing them faster, but this leaves more time to complete more things which is actually making us even busier.
I recently watched a video this month, I cannot remember if it was on Facebook or LinkedIn, of a speech given by British-American author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant Simon Sinek. During his speech, Sinek told a story about how after completing a marathon run with his friend, they were given the choice of a free bagel. A table was set up with volunteers handing out free bagels to the runners. The only unfavorable thing about this table, other than generally not liking and/or wanting bagels, was the long line. Sinek said his friend chose not to grab a bagel because of the long line. Sinek went up to the table in front of other runners, suck his hand in a box, pulled out 2 bagels, for both himself and his friend, and walked away. He said that none of the other runners were upset with him, because he did not take too much time getting them, and he did not affect their chance or choice of getting their own bagel by waiting in line or doing just as he did.
A day before I read the introduction and chapter 1 of “Pressed for Time” my friend Armando interviewed me for his Blog “Life at 5:12”. Armando’s blog is devoted to life lessons learned every day of his life and documented through Facebook, Instagram, and a GoPro camera. Every day around 5:12pm, Armando writes down a lesson he has learned or asks someone else a lesson they have learned. In this case, he asked me: “What is a life lesson you have learned?” My response was so similar to what I read in Pressed for Time, that I was both astounded in the correlation and immediately interested in the book. The last paragraph of the introduction in Pressed for Time reads, “Time may appear inherently egalitarian, in that everyone has just twenty-four hours in a day, seven days a week and twelve months a year, and this will remain the case in the epochs to come. However, temporal sovereignty and sufficient leisure time are important indicators of a good life”, and this is the exact point I was trying to make in what I told my friend Armando. (View my quote in the post below)
The focus of my quote was on: time limitation, life quality, time management, and an efficient lifestyle. Technically we all have 24 hours per day, but our efficiency of work is determined during the time we are working while awake. Perhaps a good amount of sleep will propel us towards a stronger ability to work more efficiently while awake having a more rested mind, but I do not consider that time when calculating literal “working” time, because there is no activity, tasks, work, or anything being done while sleeping which is why I negate sleeping time when determining what I consider a “day”. What is an effective “day” of work? There is leisure work, school work, and work-work. After telling Armando what was said in this quote, I further explained how this year had “flown by”. It, seemingly, went by much faster than any other year during my college experience. This is because of how busy I have become with my leisure, school, and work time. This also pertains to my technology use. My leisure time consists of me using my phone to text or to go on apps. I also go on my laptop to watch movies, shows, watch YouTube videos, read articles; the internet leaves endless possibilities. I use my phone and computer for schoolwork and work as well when checking emails, typing notes, writing papers, writing presentations, working on different projects, etc. I even have separate work computers for both my job and my internship. Technology is everywhere, and it keeps us busy. Last year, I did not have my current job nor my internship, and this year, I do. I have been constantly preoccupied with technology even more so over the course of this last year than years prior, due to my maximized technology use at work and at my internship which has been added onto my preexisting technology use. When I wake up in the morning I ask myself, “what and how much can I get done today?”, because I am constantly *pressed for time.
