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Why are Adults so busy?

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Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#71

Post by bryanlarsen »

Jaruzel wrote: post #67
bryanlarsen wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your commute like? Can you arrange things to combine commute and de-stress time? In my experience the best way to de stress is to walk, but that's obviously not feasible for most. It's worth moving to make it possible, in my opinion. Mass transit is pretty awesome too. Even if it takes longer, you can plug in your headphones and zone, netflix and chill, or best of all, take a nap. Biking in urban areas can be…

I'm not sure 'netflix and chill ' is allowed on mass transit to be honest...

I didn't realize that was a euphemism. I guess I'm getting old. It seems obvious in retrospect.

Mass transit would be much more appealing if you could, though!

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#72

Post by douche »

knorker wrote: post #57

Much of this doesn't apply to me, but mostly because I've been implicitly trying to avoid it. I don't do my taxes because I can buy an accountants time, but I can't buy more "time". It's another reason I don't want a huge collection of "stuff". "Stuff" takes your time. I don't have a car for this reason, and I live in a city that doesn't require one. But the article is motivating me to be more explicit about the thin…

This is my single biggest justification for not doing my own laundry. I've run experiments.

If I take my laundry to a laundromat, run it through the washer, move it to the drier, (run it through the drier again because it isn't dry), fold and put it all away, it costs me about $12 in quarters. It also costs me two or three hours of time, where I'm pretty much stuck at the laundromat, unable to do anything really worthwhile.

If I drop the laundry off at the laundromat and have them do it for me, that wash-dry-fold service usually costs about $30. I toss it in a bag, stop at the laundromat on the way to work, then on the way home that night I stop in again and pick up bags of fresh, nicely folded laundry, with all my shirts on hangers. It's so much easier, and trading a little bit of money for time not spent doing something tedious is a big win.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#73

Post by branchless »

amelius wrote: post #18

I'm wondering why, with all the technological progress, we don't have 8 hour work-weeks just yet :)

You will never have it. As productivity increases you will have more disposable income and land prices will rise pushing up rents. See Henry George "On progress and poverty". The more advanced the more poor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_and_Poverty

The current system transfers gains over to land. Silicon valley being a prime example, all on their big salaries with big rents. Zuckerberg and a bunch of land owners got rich, the latter without raising a finger.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#74

Post by gaius »

Jaruzel wrote: post #67
bryanlarsen wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your commute like? Can you arrange things to combine commute and de-stress time? In my experience the best way to de stress is to walk, but that's obviously not feasible for most. It's worth moving to make it possible, in my opinion. Mass transit is pretty awesome too. Even if it takes longer, you can plug in your headphones and zone, netflix and chill, or best of all, take a nap. Biking in urban areas can be…

I'm not sure 'netflix and chill ' is allowed on mass transit to be honest...

You've never gotten the last train out of King's Cross on a Friday night then...

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#75

Post by pharke »

ianai wrote: post #19
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 see it more as people wanting to experience everything they can. Plus, modern life adds on many demands.

> I see it more as people wanting to experience everything they can.

I call this the buffet approach to life. Some people seem to want to cram a tiny bit of every thing onto their plate, nibbling at everything there is to offer. The alternative being a full course dinner with superbly executed dishes that compliment each other. Or you could just eat steak, whatever you prefer.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#77

Post by meric »

allengeorge wrote: post #58
informatimago wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, but does that really matter? If you do your moment stuff, and forget to buy groceries, is that really a problem of not having food for diner? Just skip it, you won't die. Why doing today what can be done tomorrow? Then you only need to do planning on the really important stuff.

Yes - that can be a problem. For example, today may be the only day in the next few days I have time to buy groceries. So, not getting it today is more than "not having food for dinner", it's more like "not having breakfast for the next few days". Aight, so now I just buy breakfast on the go for the next few days, which means I've just spent 3x+ the amount of money I would on breakfast as opposed to just planning ahe…

And that's perfectly OK. Somedays I survive on food from 7-11 (open all the time).

You could also buy food off your neighbour. Since you only care about now, there's no point worrying what they will think in the future.

"I'll give you $10 for that packet of pasta".

What's the difference between $10 in your pocket and theirs?

What is the price of peace and contentment?

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#78

Post by coldtea »

dazc wrote: post #43
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..…

Having grown up in the UK I've always felt guilty about not doing anything in my free time. Partly because everyone else seems to be living such a busy and rewarding existence (or so they would have me believe). Now, living in Spain, I feel it's OK not to do anything. Just sitting in the shade for 6 hours watching the world go by doesn't make me a weirdo, like it does back home.

>Having grown up in the UK I've always felt guilty about not doing anything in my free time. Partly because everyone else seems to be living such a busy and rewarding existence

In the UK? Have you been to Yorkshire?

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#79

Post by fit2rule »

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 this is a wholly narcissistic point of view .. moreso, I believe that the reason adults are so busy is that they realize that none of the luxuries they've gained can be attained without the help of other people working for them and so in order to maintain a fair life, adults work just as hard as others need to - on average - in order to maintain civilized life.

Where civilized life is defined in the regions between childhood and adulthood.

Re: Why are Adults so busy?

#80

Post by coldtea »

Pikago wrote: post #55
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..…

> But "why" is still a good question, and it remains unanswered. Because maintenance takes time and it's not handled by your parents anymore.

And yet people in certain European countries and tons of other parts in the world with different work attitudes can have tons of free time, despite having children et al.
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