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14 March 2007>
Fifty years ago articles in popular magazine predicted what the world would be like in the 21st century. Some of the authors’ predictions happened, while others remain fantasy in 2006. Many amenities we take for granted, such as large-scale computing and security screening, were foreseen by few authors, if any.
Almost every one of those articles, however, made the same confident prediction. The authors were in agreement that:
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People are going to have so much leisure time, that one of society’s biggest challenges will be figuring out how to keep citizens occupied |
Optimistic futurists of the 1950s and 60s predicted Americans would enjoy ample hours of leisure by the turn of the century. Computers, satellites, and robotics would remove the tedious and menial aspects of labor and deliver abundant opportunities for rest and recreation.
Those optimists got it partly right: computers spew out data at unimaginable speeds. Satellites cover the globe with a dizzying assortment of messages, and robots assemble everything from cars to computer chips at speeds far exceeding any human.
Yet these and other technological feats have not freed Americans from their labors. Most people remain busier than ever.
First Way Technology Drains Your Time
The technology once predicted to make our lives simpler actually produces the 
opposite effect. Cell phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) with satellite capabilities, voice mail, E-mail, pagers, internet bring the world within our reach. Unfortunately, it also brings the world within our reach without leaving our desk and/or home.
We live in a globally connected society that operates 24/7. This connection easily blurs the boundaries between work and play and between home and the workplace fades into oblivion. Staying connected were anybody can contact us anytime leaves very little privacy or leisure time.
Second Way Technology Drains Your Time
Technology heightens expectations. The increased speed and efficiency of appliances, computers, and other gadgets enable us to accomplish much more than possible in previous decades. But this efficiency also became a two edge sword.
Let’s look at email vs snail mail.
Snail mail communication took longer. You didn’t expect instant reply the moment you mailed a letter. It took several days to arrive… it took time for the recipient to reply… it took several days before you received your response.
Snail mail arrives usually at the same time once a day. Making it more manageable and easier to plan into your day. A lot more effort and time goes into communicating by snail mail.
Email cut down on response time. It no longer takes days but seconds to communicate with some. You can get the information to them quicker. The time it took to snail mail one person, you can now communicate with several people within that time frame.
But email doesn’t arrive at one specific each day. It arrives all day long. People expect you to reply almost instantly. Because you can communicate with more people in a short amount of time, you can receive 100’s of messages a day.
If technological advancement reduced an hour task to 30 minute, what did we do with the extra 30 minutes? Spend time with family and friends, pursue an interest or better yet, just goof off?
No… we took on additional responsibilities and squeezed more activities into already crammed calendars.
| How else can you get normal rational people to think that working harder, faster, and longer, they’ll get everything done. |
The pace of our lives keeps increasing. Over-commitment and busyness have been elevated to socially desirable standards so we will continue to accept this insanity. |
How else can you get normal rational people to think that working harder, faster, and longer, they’ll get everything done. They measure their worth by the number of crossed-of items on our to-do list. Being busy is chic and trendy.
Third Way Technology Drains Your Time
There’s so much new technology introduced, sometimes every three months. You can easily get seduced by the “coolness” and “power” of new technological gadget. That can bring a different set of challenges.
It’s not so much the technology itself but the time necessary to learn the skill. Anytime you adapt or upgrade a technology, you need to devote time to learn how to use it. It will take time and practice before you become proficient with it.
Low tech can be just if not more efficient then the latest gadget. A group of people were asked if they could meet on a
specific date. One of the attendees took out his pencil and pocket calendar and announced he was available for the date while everyone else waited for their palm pilots and laptops to boot up.
Technology used properly can increase the efficiency of your efforts and results. Keep your priorities straight. Make sure any new technology improves your efficiency and worth the necessary time to adapt it into your life style.
 Read the Story behind the sunglass |  "The Time Diva" |
Ann Rusnak, "The Time Diva" developed a system to show busy self employed solo business owners how to gain more time and increase sales working less hours. Receive the FREE eBook "Thinking Outside the Clock" when you sign up for Time Myth Busting Minutes ezine at: SimpleTimeManagement.com
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