One example of modern life is that most of us have a limited amount of time, even though we work less than our parents. In the 19th century, institutions they have campaigned “Eight hours of work, eight hours of rest and eight hours of what we need.” In the 20th century, they he won on their insistence for a few hours. But what happened to all the rest of the time we spent doing “what we want”?
It’s not a cognitive problem: we are stretched for a while. Information from the OECD demonstrations that the average leisure time has decreased since the 1980s. By 2010, the average leisure time in eight of the 13 countries in which data is available. It dropped by 14% in Korea, 11% in Spain, 6% in the Netherlands, 5% in Hungary and 1% in the US.
The number of people living in “chronic poverty” (which the OECD defines as its share of rest and transition is less than 60% of middle-aged people) has risen since 2000 in the 10 countries where the data is available.
One reason for this is that the reduction in working hours each week has decreased. The average number of hours per week is about 40 for full-time people in the OECD since the 1990s. But this alone cannot explain the lack of entertainment.
A learning published by the Resolution Foundation, for example, compares the time-consuming comparisons of the UK population in the 1970s and 2010s. In the 1970’s, working men and women each worked about 6 hours a day, while today men have 5 hours and 23 minutes, and women 4 hours and 47 minutes.
Women are working more paid than in the 1970s and men are more likely to do household chores, but the main difference is that the time when both groups have the time to care for children (which is not the case with this study). Mothers spend more time caring for children than they did in the 1970’s, despite spending a lot of time on paid work. Husbands spend more time caring for children. Which raises the question: who was looking after children in the 1970s?
When I asked this question on Twitter, I was was removed and responses from people who claim to play outside without adult supervision, return to dinner and bedtime. One remembered playing on a construction site; another round trip to the party is harvesting Bucks Fizz for adults.
Changing attitudes between parents at risk can be another matter. We may also think of “child care” differently now. The study asks people to record their “beginnings” throughout the day in 10 minutes. Even in the 1970s, childcare is often a phenomenon that occurs when you do homework or socializing, which now seems to be a chore in itself. A lot of ink has been lost on the pros and cons of “Raising a helicopter”. As a working mother, I think it is also possible that working parents just miss their children and want to consider them when they get the chance.
There is also a very important change. Although we have become increasingly sophisticated, technology now makes it difficult to divide our time between work and drama. As Derek Thompson did written in the Atlantic, “the entertainment industry is in shambles.” If I watch TV and check my work email on my phone, do I retire or work? What if I watch a funny video while sitting at my desk? And as the limits melt, does that make the work better, or does it relax?
For office workers, the epidemic was more disruptive than ever. But working from home also helps people to embrace the time they have been spending: new stocks of value that many employees do not want to give up.
International service organizations have resumed operations for a few hours. In the UK, the Trades Union Congress protested he called a four-day week, we are inside Germany and Austria Some new contracts allow employees to choose fewer hours than higher wages. But the point of the last few decades is that, even when we do less work, it is harder for them to relax.
People often think of complaining that John Maynard Keynes was wrong in 1930 when he was predicted change for a 15-hour work week. But the rich know that it will not be easy. “There is no country and no people, I think, can expect years of happiness and a plethora of fearlessness,” he wrote. “Because we’ve been trained so long to do experiments and not have fun.”
sarah.oconnor@ft.com