Do We Really Want Less Work?
What are we gonna do instead?
The American attitude towards work seems to be split nowadays. There are people burning out who think more productivity is the answer, and there are those burning out who think less productivity is the answer (e.g., quiet quitting, 4-day workweek).
I don’t know the answer. I’d say it depends on each person. But I’m very wary of both camps. I can’t think of a single ideological/cultural movement that was less dramatic than intended. We always seem to overshoot!
Overshooting towards being less productive includes quiet quitting and socialism. In both these cases, the idea is to work less. I think that sounds fantastic! But there’s no clear replacement for those hours. What are we going to do instead?
If we want to know what people do with more leisure time, let’s look at the class of people with the most leisure time - the retired. What is the number one activity of retired Americans? Watching television.
The other option is that we all spend even more time on our phones. Each day, most people have around 8 hours not sleeping and not at work. The average American spends 4.5 hours a day on their smartphone. That’s how we choose to spend over half of the free time we already have. More than half of our free time is spent on our phones. Why then do we want more free time?
Of course, it’s an average and I’m sure it’s very skewed by Gen-Z, but that’s not the point. The point is that we look at work as the source of our misery, but we don’t look at the alternative. Maybe free time’s the cause of our misery.
“By doing nothing, men learn to do ill.”
(The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, 318)
Less work sounds awesome, and it can be. But make sure you have something better to do with your time. Otherwise, I think we’re looking at even higher rates of depression and “burnout” in the future.
Until we’ve made good use of the free time we already have, why should we fight to have even more? I love vacation as much as the next person, but the thought of endless vacation sound awful.
Because eventually the lack of busyness stops feeling like a luxury, and becomes a source of misery.
Question of the Day
How happy are you by the second day of your “restful weekend” staying at home watching movies and TikToks all day?
Your friend,
Noah “BigNerd” Sochaczevski