Tuesday, March 17 at 2:00 pm
The Death of Leisure
The promise of ever-greater efficiency and technology was that we would all have more and more time to pursue non-work related activities. As automation and, later, digital technologies helped make our jobs easier and faster, we could use all the time we saved and spend it on pursuing the good life. But that's not how it's worked out. Technology did create efficiencies, but the time that opened up seems to have become crammed with even more work. And with that constant busyness, we've become more anxious about the ways in which we want to spend our time, but simply can't. The pursuit of the good life has turned into a waiting game. As soon as the inbox is cleared and the dishes are put away and the report is submitted and laundry is done, only then can we think about what ends to pursue merely for their own sake. But maybe there's a way to think about the good life in this moment. How do we reshape and reconfigure our relationship to the time we have and open it up so we can pursue the things we value?
To listen to the audio of “The Death Of Leisure” on Ideas From The CBC online, please click HERE.