Author Topic: New Yorker article- worth a read  (Read 3347 times)

narwhale

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New Yorker article- worth a read
« on: June 05, 2014, 07:26:37 AM »

sheepstache

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Re: New Yorker article- worth a read
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2014, 09:26:42 AM »
A lot of the observations I've had myself or read and agreed with elsewhere.    I liked seeing them all in one place.  Mostly I subscribe to the "yuppie kvetching" theory, and definitely the related idea that busyness=prestige, but I liked the ideas about the opportunity cost of leisure being greater for higher incomes and the "compulsion"  to multi-task our consumption (use your Dr. Dre beats to listen to itunes while on a run with your jogging stroller on the way to Starbucks...) though I wish it had gone into more detail about how and why that compulsion arose.  I also liked the insight that someone thinking about things they have to do is not actually busier than someone who's not yet they feel more harried.

In terms of the structure of the article I thought the Keynes stuff was out of place.  That the length of the workday still hasn't fallen below 8 hours has a much deeper root in culture and work ethic and global economics than the trendy lifestyle stuff the rest of the article is about.  I do understand they were trying to connect the ideas, but four pages wasn't long enough.  Lest I seem critical, I do want to congratulate it on being 3 pages longer than most articles that try to tackle similarly broad topics these days.

Personally, I'm often super confused when people talk about people being "busier than ever these days."  First of all because it's usually spoken by someone 50 or under and so they really have no conception of what adult life was like earlier than the past 30 years so I don't know what they think they're comparing it to.  And secondly . . . well, I dunno, I'm just super confused.  Granted I don't have kids and I can see how that would fill your every waking moment.  But even still, doing things doesn't seem to be what's bothering these people so much as thinking about all the things they think they should be doing but aren't.  But the awareness that there are more possible uses of our time than there are hours in the day is hardly a new condition for humans.

I guess I should feel sad that labor movements and technology have brought us to the point where we have to work so little and we don't appreciate it, but I think that's too shallow a view.  (And, again, false historicism--we have no idea if this is a new attitude.)  This is just a reflection of human nature.  The fact that people "feel busy" isn't necessarily a problem that needs to be addressed.

lizzzi

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Re: New Yorker article- worth a read
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2014, 08:31:31 PM »
The article just made me all the more determined to lead a simple, non-busy, non-crazy life, with lots of focus on loved ones, nature, and creativity. One of my brothers said once that he did not like to be over-booked, because he wanted time in his life  "to just be." I always liked that phrase:  "To just be."

AccidentalMiser

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Re: New Yorker article- worth a read
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2014, 08:44:49 PM »
To me, the author entirely missed the point of what Keynes was driving at and, more tellingly, seems to be truly and fully baffled by the world as she finds it.

People with "busy disease" don't see an escape.  It never occurs to them that all their ills could be cured if they would just STOP.

I've got more to say about this, but it's late.  Maybe tomorrow.