I came into the world towards the end of all the hype about how computers and other technology would remove the mundane and tedious from our lives. We would be left with a small amount of work to do and an abundance of time for leisure.
Oh, and we’d become a paperless society, too, because we’d get and share all the world’s information on “tubes.” I stopped holding my breath on that one in 1987.
But where’s my leisure? I want my leisure!
I know, I know…I spend more time sitting on my big cheeks than most people. And I puzzle over those around me who are in constant motion and all the time busy, busy, busy. But as a society, where’s all this leisure “they” said we would have?
I was just pondering activities that people used to do in the early 1970s and how Progress has dramatically shortened the amount of time required for those tasks. Progress has in many cases totally eliminated the need to do many tasks.
ATMs and debit cards might be good examples. I remember trips with my dad when he’d go to the bank for cash. We’d drive from home to the bank which was a 20-minute drive, each way. (Oh, and we’d make the trip in a Ford truck with a 390 cubic-inch V8 that, with a good Michigan tailwind, would get a stunning 10 miles to the 75¢ gallon of leaded gasoline). Once at the bank we’d find a place to park. Then we’d get out. Then we’d walk into the bank. We’d go to the glass-topped table to fill out a withdrawal slip. Then we’d get in line. We’d wait a little bit. Then we’d get to the teller who would do some stuff behind the window and then give dad his money.
It seems so archaic and backwards now! Today’s world has all but eliminated the need to even have cash. Now with a debit card we have access to all of our money all the time — we don’t have to anticipate or guess what we’ll need. So that entire 50-minute ritual no longer needs to be undertaken. It’s gone. Poof!
So let’s say we did that once a week: that’s 50 minutes of time available for…? For what? Leisure?
Well, I suppose. In reality I think other “work” sneaks in and eats up that time. It’s subtle and takes place over time and we don’t even realize we’ve saved time on one hand while the other hand is creating more work that craves its own time.
Leisure seems to be a dirty word. We look down our noses with some envy, but mostly disdain, at those countries where workers get what we perceive to be huge amounts of paid time off. How can they compete, we wonder? They must not be very smart or ambitious. But we envy them and their time.
But if some magical new administration made it so for us, would we leisure-ize the time or just fill it with more busy-ness?
Some Type-A personalities thrive on being busy and filling every minute with work. That’s just the way they’re wired I suppose. I’m more of a slow and plodding person I guess. I love my job and get very geeked up over a tech challenge that gets the juices flowing. But I also look forward to those quiet hours at night when I watch some TV, read a book and am at leisure.
I don’t think leisure time, whether it be a few hours at night or a few weeks a year to travel, bake bread, take pictures or get back to nature, is a bad thing. No matter how much we might love (or hate) our jobs and the day-to-day “work” required to stay alive and not be eaten by wolves, it is a necessary evil I think. I mean, in the Garden of Eden do we ever hear about Adam going off to work or Eve toiling for hours picking up Adam’s socks?
Gotta go now, need to move laundry from the washer to the dryer….