Where Did the Time Go?

Compared to 100 years ago, most of us have a lot more leisure time. We can fill our non-working hours with exciting activities, quality family time, TV watching, or even learning a new skill.?So with all of this time at our disposable, why is it so #%$*ing hard to actually sit down and do something, even if it’s something we enjoy?

The reason is both simple and complex:?we are breaking up our free time into tiny chunks instead of enjoying longer, uninterrupted periods.?We’re cutting our time up into tiny pieces, which researchers have dubbed?time confetti. But why is this party sounding term actually bad for us?

Partly, it has to do with technology and what is known as the?autonomy paradox. New tech can save us a ton of time, but it can also keep us relentlessly connected to our devices. As Organization Studies scholar Dr. Melissa Mazmanian discovered, “knowledge professionals using mobile email devices to manage their communication were enacting a norm of continual connectivity and accessibility that produced a number of contradictory outcomes.”

Many of us have experienced these negative outcomes: increased anxiety, burnout, loss of patience, and less energy.?On top of that, we’re destroying our leisure time which helps recharge our batteries by turning it into confetti.?If we have an hour to enjoy a book, we’re no longer reading for an hour but reading, then checking an email, then reading, then responding to a text, then reading, then checking a Twitter notification. All those interruptions may only last 15-20 seconds each, but it’s not the overall time that’s detrimental to our brains but the?constant switching back and forth. It can take a while to get back into the initial task: for example, you may have to reread a paragraph or a whole page because you were thinking about a tweet or what funny gif to send to your friend; and this constant switching is also taxing on the brain:?instead of feeling rejuvenated from our down time we actually feel more exhausted.

So trying keeping your devices off or away from you during your leisure time.?You’ll be more focused and enjoy whatever it is you decide to do more.?And hey, if you decide to practise your public speaking, you’ll get a whole lot more out of it!