I find it hard to believe that we have less time. That’s a fixed idea, something many people have convinced themselves of. The opposite is true. There are all sorts of technologies that have taken the work off many people’s hands – think of the washing machine, the fridge (no more preserving food), the supermarket (no longer having to tend a vegetable garden yourself); socks are no longer darned, personal conversations are no longer held, and people no longer do things together, yet they can spend hours on WhatsApp and the internet. This is a personal choice, partly imposed by the media and retailers, and has nothing to do with an actual lack of time.
Many of our ancestors walked for hours to work, worked 12 hours a day, and then walked back home to work in the vegetable garden. I think it’s more likely that all the luxury and temptations have gone to the average person’s head. First with the advent of television, then gaming, and now the internet. We can safely say that a lot of time is wasted hanging about and waiting for something of interest to appear on the screen.
The average person has a severe lack of skills and can barely read or write anymore, and on top of that we now have AI, which completely numbs the brain.
Are these micro-dramas the solution for the truly stressed individual? I think they would be better off using that brief pause to rest and do nothing for a while.
It’s strange that you don’t see the negative side of this. Nothing but anti-social people staring at their screens, unable to interact socially with one another or strike up a conversation.