Why people need boolean logic as in "Keynes was right OR wrong" ?
Contrary to computer science you can be right AND wrong.
How did we get so busy?
81–90 of 148 posts
Re: How did we get so busy?
#82I was surprised that the author did not include the Puritan American work ethic as a possible explanation. That is, the idea that work = virtue.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Came here to post this. I think this is the key bit: It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence. There was an…
As someone who works a 40 hr/week job and a 20 hr/week job, (and the extra hours associated with learning various things that apply to each) while also having 3 kids, sometimes people are actually busy. I coach little league, too.
I feel your pain, especially when people say that others pretend to be busy for various reasons. They must single. I'm the father of a single infant and co founder of a startup, with no family nearby to support us. Choosing to be busy or not sounds like a nice choice to have.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#84Of course they blame men. Never mind blaming misguided feminism, pushing women to endlessly new heights of perfectionism, elitism and competition both within and across their fairer sex. And strangely its not OK that the man knows how to relax, minimizes extraneous work and does a sufficient job... Hits a nerve for me if you can't tell.
It's interesting that despite the authors conclusions that women are busy because of men not taking on equal responsibilities, this is the only discussion of gender in the thread at the moment. I suspect that many who commented on the post did not bother to read the article.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#85How did we get we busy? (or did we?) Average American watches 5 hours of TV per day: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watch... . Perhaps people spend more time at work then they used to, but while not at work they spend way less time working on things like mowing the lawn, cooking, washing clothes, ETC. Women blaming men for them being too busy need to weight their options IMO. If you are too bu…
Or, you know, male significant others could take up an equal amount of responsibility in the household.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#86Am I naive to believe that we're on a good way of fulfilling Kenyes's prediction and that it's all thanks to capitalism? The world is a much better place today than it was 100 years ago.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#87We do have a lot more leisure, but it is distributed at the tails of our lifespan, the times of lowest productivity. We sure don't start full-time work at the age that kids on the farm do. And even a century ago, most kids outside of big cities did live on a farm. On the other side of a career, many of us will spend a decade or two in retirement and good health. But inbetween... well, the typical young upper-middle-c…
> We do have a lot more leisure, but it is distributed at the tails of our lifespan, the times of lowest productivity.
That's fine, for retirement. But this viewpoint presupposes that kids' education is not productive, if not immediately and directly, but eventually and indirectly (eventually as adults, indirectly as productive members of society, which is more than being trained to do some specific job). Kids spend, what, 10-13 years on elementary and high school (and equivalents). And that is not even counting the ones who go into higher education.
Supposedly, this elementary education is necessary in order to be productive in a lot of modern jobs, and in order to be a productive member of modern society - society is certainly more complex than when your whole society consisted of your family's farm and neighbouring farms and a nearby village.
The only thing which might be said is unproductive with kids' childhood is the long summer breaks. Which is, perhaps ironically, a remnant of the past where kids needed to productive on their family's farm in the peak season (though I have for that matter gone to elementary school with the kids of farmers, who needed to be excused from school for some days because they needed to herd their sheep down from their gracing areas).
Re: How did we get so busy?
#88http://idler.co.uk/
It is possible to make a business out of being idle, although I suspect Tom and Victoria are quite busy really.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#89"Suppose that a Walmart clerk and a hedge-fund manager both decide to take the afternoon off to attend their kids’ baseball game. For the clerk, a half-day’s forfeited pay could come to less than forty dollars. For the hedge-fund manager, an afternoon’s worth of lost trades may cost millions, which is a lot to give up to watch little Billy strike out looking."
This is bullshit. If you are working at Walmart you can't just take the day off on a whim nor would you because you can't afford it.
This quote from the article pulled me out of whatever fantasy bullshit land the authors are writing from.
People are busy because they want meaning in their lives. Doing things gives you a sense of purpose.
Re: How did we get so busy?
#90Hi, I've been a lurker here for some time now. I rarely ever comment on stories because, well, I have better things to do. But now, I really need to broaden my perspective. I just don't get it. *Disclaimer : I am young (23), broke but happy. This past year, I spent four months in Asia travelling. I rock-climbed for a while, tried bungee, canyon swing, diving, trekking and the motorcycle. I was able to afford all that…
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