How Much Time do You Actually Have
November 17, 2005 · Print This Article
The September October issue of The Futurist has examines American’s use of time. According to the article the common perception that there just isn’t enough time, isn’t supported by the stats from a national study using time-diaries. Basically the findings show that Americans average 35 hours per week of work time and 35 hours per week of free time. This is much more time than what most Americans perceive.
One of the reasons people feel like they have no time is because of marketing. There are many businesses who make money if you don’t feel like you have enough time. Everything from self-help books to prepared foods to services depend on people who feel like they are too busy.
So where does all the free time go? According to the article, over
half of it is spent watching television. (However, the article notes
that time spent watching television isn’t any higher than it was
in
1990.)
When people say that they don’t have enough time, it says more about
how they spend their time than the actual quantity. After all, no one
really has more time, we all just spend it in different ways. When
people feel like their time is being spent on very valuable things,
they may still run out of time, but there is a completely different
level of fulfillment involved.
The trick to having enough time, is making sure that it is spent on
things that you feel are important. This means setting priorities and
deciding what is actually valuable to you ahead of time.
By spending your free time on things that you feel are truly valuable,
you won’t have actually end up with more time, but you can increase
your satisfaction with how your time is spent.
This funny quote from the article seems to sum up many American’s
feelings about why they don’t have any free time. "Of course I don’t
have any free time, because I spend so much of my time watching TV."
While not able to recall the sources off of the top of my head, I know I’ve read in other sources that the number of working hours has increased over the years. I wonder if this discrepancy is due to a difference in data collection. Perhaps if you limit the statistics to full-time workers then the story is different.