What “Quality Time” Really Means
Quality time is a gift. But it serves other purposes as well.
We all know that quality time is important. But if you bring it up in conversation, you’ll soon find that people have different ideas about what this concept covers.
For example, is it quality time if you and your family are watching a movie together, and it’s so riveting that you don’t talk throughout it? What if you’re making a meal together?
Are you spending quality time with your friends if you’re having a lively discussion, but you all occasionally check your smartphones?
Cracking Open a Dictionary
The definition of quality time isn’t set in stone. Let’s look at two common approaches to defining it.
According to Merriam-Webster, quality time is ‘time spent giving all of one’s attention to someone who is close (such as one’s child)’. Plenty of other resources mention that you should be giving someone your undivided or full attention — basically, the idea is that you should be 100% focused on the person you’re spending time with.
This makes quality time seem like a tough order to fill. After all, when are we ever fully focused on something? We multitask at work, we put a podcast on when we exercise, we never stop…
