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Why are Adults so busy?

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Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#421

Post by stepvhen »

Humjob wrote: post #333

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 a…

The very idea that somebody takes half and hour each to exclusively cook and eat three meals a day is absurd for a number of reasons, e.g. leftovers, the act of eating and reading at once, sandwiches, meal planning, skipping lunch, very-american-pre-processed-food, rice cookers, toast, etc.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#422

Post by zigzigzag »

dasboth wrote: post #128
lucaspiller wrote: post #115

I'm going to go against the norm: I recently bought my first car (I'm nearly 30) and am amazed how much time it saves and freedom it gives me. I've always lived in European cities with good public transport, but even here having a car is worthwhile. Instead of taking a train and bus 30+ minutes to work, I leave when I want and know it will take me around 15 minutes to get there. Maybe I'm weird, but I find driving a…

> I find driving a lot more relaxing than public transport +1 from me. Public transport in London is a nightmare during rush hour, I'd happily trade that for an equivalent drive. Probably wouldn't be (much?) more expensive either.

I'm the other way around. The city I live in has a lot of trams. Driving in the city is unpleasant because I don't drive much, so my confidence on the road is low, and complex intersections and road layouts with frequent trams can be kind of scary. It's much lower stress and more pleasant to just hop on a tram and tune out for a bit until it's time to get off or change.

The tube during rush hour is a special kind of hell. People do it because driving through London at those times is pointless, you'd never arrive. Lesson learned the hard way.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#423

Post by beachstartup »

brightball wrote: post #262
sapphireblue wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also wonder how we manage to stay busy given that most home tasks (dishwashing, laundry, cleaning (roombas) and even cooking - see multicooker devices) are already automated, with "doing laundry" meaning merely loading and unloading the washing machine. I think you have a good point about idle time being gadgeted away. Also I think there is a tremendous potential in automation of physical labor (including remaining…

Doing laundry is still the most time consuming task because it's done sequentially. If there's any build up at all it throw it in the wash, wait, move it to the drier, wait, unload, fold and put away. Multiple loads means a multi hour time commitment to being on stand by to transfer and continue the process. The programmer in me actually has resorted to throwing everything in the car and driving to a laundry mat if I…

laundry is the only thing i outsource and it's worth every penny, because it's shared machines and everyone knows how incredibly miserable that is when things don't go perfectly right, which is to say, all the time.

i am considering replacing my (unused, broken) dishwasher with a small combo washer dryer and continue doing dishes and cleaning by hand. i think that would be the optimal setup in terms of time and effort and money spent.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#424

Post by gluggymug »

branchless wrote: post #70
jdimov10 wrote: post #13

The article doesn't really answer the question. It says adults are busy because they have too much stuff to do (duh..) But "why" is still a good question, and it remains unanswered. The answer is that, as we grow up, we tend to develop the belief that our well-being needs to be justified somehow. In other words, we start to believe that we are not by default worthy of living a good, joyful, care-free, abundant life..…

Try explaining rent to kids. We have to pay to exist? We have to pay how much? And they are right! I don't have a problem doing nothing. I don't care what others think. But I have to work far more than necessary because of the labour skiming rentiers. They are living off my back. Edit: landlords of HN unite to downvote!

Easy. "Kids, it's time you started paying me rent. Got no money? No problem. I got a lot of chores: cleaning the house, dishwashing, laundry, cooking, etc. Mummy and Daddy are off to catch some Pokemon or whatever."

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#425

Post by ashark »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #287
ktRolster wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not bad, but I've also taken up watching Youtube for hours every night. The key is to not overwhelm yourself and to do something towards your goal. For example, don't try to set up the entire blog in one night, instead do a micro-portion, "oh, I better start downloading the webserver before I watch youtube." Or even, "oh, I better plug my server in and turn it on." The key is to do something every night, and cut it i…

I tried to do it all last night: got it installed, db set up, and even a certificate. It didn't feel that overwhelming, and it started to be kind of fun after a while, but something went wrong somewhere just shy of it actually working. I'll try it again sometime.

This could be the story of just about any tech-related project I try to undertake on weekends and evenings. I've found I'm happier just paying money to make some of the problems I was trying to solve go away, giving up on a bunch of others, and just focusing my effort on the handful that remain—which still tend to linger for months or years with many stops and starts before being finished.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#426

Post by afghanPower »

toyg wrote: post #407
dennisgorelik wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my kids will have opportunities I never even dreamed of On another hand your kids are more spoiled with the wealth they were born into and potentially may have lower drive than you have. Hard to tell how they would turn out.

> your kids are more spoiled with the wealth they were born into An afghan (?) proverb I barely remember went something like this: "The king's father grew up in a tent; he worked hard, built his house, and led the people well. The king lived in a house but remembered the tent he was born in; he worked hard, built his palace, and led the people well. The king's children were born in a palace; they have never seen a te…

My dad always used to tell us this. I am so happy you reminded me of this proverb ;)

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#427

Post by jdimov10 »

eitally wrote: post #379
jdimov10 wrote: post #13

The article doesn't really answer the question. It says adults are busy because they have too much stuff to do (duh..) But "why" is still a good question, and it remains unanswered. The answer is that, as we grow up, we tend to develop the belief that our well-being needs to be justified somehow. In other words, we start to believe that we are not by default worthy of living a good, joyful, care-free, abundant life..…

I think reading The Little Prince should be required approximately every five years from college graduation until end of life. It's far too easy to fall into a "daily grind", where one operates in a zombie-like mode executing a lot of minute tasks that are mostly devoid of any legitimate impact.

Reading The Little Prince every five years has indeed been my routine (since high school). Glad I'm not the only one :)

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#428

Post by branchless »

gluggymug wrote: post #424
branchless wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try explaining rent to kids. We have to pay to exist? We have to pay how much? And they are right! I don't have a problem doing nothing. I don't care what others think. But I have to work far more than necessary because of the labour skiming rentiers. They are living off my back. Edit: landlords of HN unite to downvote!

Easy. "Kids, it's time you started paying me rent. Got no money? No problem. I got a lot of chores: cleaning the house, dishwashing, laundry, cooking, etc. Mummy and Daddy are off to catch some Pokemon or whatever."

Nope, totally wrong. The service you deliver to your children will far outweigh that rendered by them, at least in their youth. Inverse for renter / landlord.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#429

Post by branchless »

randomdata wrote: post #393
branchless wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a very simple analogy that in no way reflects the real world complexity of fiat money and limited land supply.

You're right. If we're explaining this to adults, it is even simpler: Create something of value and you can exchange it for things other people have created of value.

and the landlord creates nothing

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#430

Post by randomdata »

branchless wrote: post #429
randomdata wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right. If we're explaining this to adults, it is even simpler: Create something of value and you can exchange it for things other people have created of value.

and the landlord creates nothing

The landlord either created the house, or the landlord created someone else of value and traded it for the house that someone else created. Houses don't appear out of thin air.
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