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Why are Adults so busy?

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Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#331

Post by johnward »

patates wrote: post #201
pps43 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> from someone older, who was in the 80s There was the same amount of time, but it was allocated differently. There were phone calls. If somebody calls you on the phone, you stop doing what you're doing and talk to them. Apart from that, time was scheduled in larger chunks, with fever context switches. You watch a movie start to finish, not a bunch of 2 minute Youtube videos. You spend an evening printing photos in t…

What wouldn't I give to have such attention span! I can't even watch a movie these days (months? um, years?). Yesterday I alt-tabbed to chrome and opened HN while hearing the movie that I was in the middle of watching. Yes, I have a PC connected to my TV! What is wrong with me?! I want to be able to read a non-technical book fully and I can't and I'm very unhappy about this whole situation.

I can't do movies either. 2 hours is way too long to focus on a single thing.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#332

Post by wccrawford »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #110
wccrawford wrote: post #93

I've got a different answer. People are "busy" because they fill every waking hour with something to do. If they ever find themselves without something to do, they make something up or change something so it provides some perceived benefit and takes more time. For example, I dated a girl who said she had no free time, despite only working 1 job part time and basically never going out. I eventually found out it was be…

I think there are different types of people. Personally, I always have more things I'd like to do - much more interesting than job, errands, family time, etc. - than time for them. So I wouldn't e.g. go for fresh food to a store every day (other than as a part of the commute, or during lunch break at work), because I need the time for something else (like doing a home automation project, or playing a video game). So…

Oh, I totally understand that. I'm not saying that there aren't people who are legit busy all the time, just that people who aren't will invent ways to end up with no time left and feel like they need more, even though they are deliberately wasting time.

Note that I'm also not saying that people's priorities aren't differently or that any of them are wrong.

To re-use my example, having fresh vegetables every day is awesome, it's just that going to the supermarket for them every single day is a waste of time. Even every other day is a huge improvement and doesn't result in the vegetables being any worse off. That 30-60 minutes saved every second day could have been spent with her son instead, as she clearly desires. But something in her mind kept her in the same cycle, "busy" all the time.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#333

Post by Humjob »

Some of these time claims are comically wrong.

The average man spends nowhere near 90 minutes a day on 'attire and grooming.'

Most people don't work out an hour a day either.

Laundry? No way that's 2 hours per week.

Most people don't cook every meal either. And making a sandwich or pouring a bowl of cereal sure as hell don't take 30 minutes.

Here are some actual statistics that weren't randomly pulled out of my ass and subsequently upvoted on Hacker News:

https://priceonomics.com/how-young-adults-spend-their-time-2...

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#334

Post by johnward »

They only accounted for 40 hours for work. What professional today is only spending 40 hours working and/or increasing their skills related to work? Especially if you are on HN.

2 hours for dependents? I take it that doesn't mean children?

Another thing I will never understand is how so many of my fellow American Males can watch basically every football game during the week. Who has time for that? I don't even have a single friend outside of my family because it's just too time consuming.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#335

Post by slaunchwise »

alvarosm wrote: post #308
patates wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What wouldn't I give to have such attention span! I can't even watch a movie these days (months? um, years?). Yesterday I alt-tabbed to chrome and opened HN while hearing the movie that I was in the middle of watching. Yes, I have a PC connected to my TV! What is wrong with me?! I want to be able to read a non-technical book fully and I can't and I'm very unhappy about this whole situation.

You can't focus on a task probably because they're all rubbish. The movie you're watching is rubbish, the website on your chrome only mildly interesting and HN the usual predictable progressive groupthink. They're all mildly entertaining: not anywhere near interesting. Find something more interesting and it will keep you hooked. Book suggestion btw, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy

Good suggestion!

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#337

Post by makomk »

brightball wrote: post #322
Spoom wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always wondered why someone didn't build a vertical washer-dryer combo, about the size of a fridge, where the clothes in the washer portion at the top simply drop into the dryer portion at the bottom (possibly assisted by a mechanical push) and start the dryer portion automatically. Bonus if you can then push the dry clothes out the side into a waiting basket, but not totally necessary. Perhaps stability is a fa…

The biggest issue with both that and the single drum units another comment mentioned is that if there's more than one load you still have to be on stand by to put it in, so you're only saving time on the transfer of a single load. For the single drum units, you lose the ability to wash 1 load while another is drying. The perk is that you can throw a load in when you leave for work and it will be done when you get bac…

Though, given how... interesting the reliability is on dryers and especially single-drum washer-dryers, it's probably best not to leave them on while you're out if you want your house to be there when you get back.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#338

Post by johnward »

maxsilver wrote: post #298
sqren wrote: post #112

Maybe this should be worded: Why are American adults so busy. I've been living in the US for a couple of years, and have thoroughly enjoyed it, but it occurs to me that life is more "rushed" than I'm used to from Denmark. RE: 1) Have Money The standard work week is 37 hours. I love my job, but this leaves me plenty of time to do other stuff I enjoy. RE: 6) Bills, Bills, Bills Living in the US for a couple of years ta…

>RE6: The banking infrastructure allow consumers to "subscribe" to businesses We have this in the US (almost all businesses have an 'Automatic Bill Pay' or similar) But businesses are very routinely "slightly-corrupt" here, so many don't trust it. Businesses will purposefully withdraw more than they should, and make you fight to get it back. Or will raise prices without telling you. Or will continue to bill you after…

Yep. I have the ability to have most of my bills automatically deducted but I don't trust those institutes enough to allow them to do it. If one of them bills me for an incorrect amount, which happens more often than it should, it could cause me to overdraft or not be able to pay my other bills.

It still takes me about 30 minutes at most to electronically pay every bill that will take it and balance my account.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#339

Post by MoosePirate »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #317
ghaff wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are all-in one units using a single drum. I've never investigated but my understanding is that they're pitched primarily for more space-constrained situations. (Example: http://www.homedepot.com/b/Appliances-Washers-Dryers-All-In-... ) I'm not sure of the tradeoffs. If you have the space, doing laundry while you're in the house for other reasons and transferring manually is the least of the effort.

The problem with those units is that you can't start a new load in the washer before the previous load finishes in the dryer, because there's only one drum. So if you want to run several loads, it takes twice as long.

But you could have two of them in the same area.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#340

Post by losteverything »

FilterSweep wrote: post #207
losteverything wrote: post #76

You stop working you start dying.

Working for another person, or working for yourself? It's possible to be unemployed, and working.

I'm fortunate enough to have access to people who stopped working. All do not need to work for income. Often, after working years, they perish quickly.

Others spend their days in front of tv. This saddens me. Imagine telling the young intern that after you sell your practice you spend your days watching tv. Day in day out.

Or the widow who is always on her couch.

Or the well off retired exec trying to figure out how to spend years and years of days ahead of him.

Being rich and old and not working is a bad formula.

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