Study Links Too Much Free Time To Lower Sense of Wellbeing (theguardian.com) 107
Research shows there is a 'sweet spot' and subjective wellbeing drops off after about five hours. The Guardian: The lesson of Goldilocks, that one can have too much of a good thing, even when it comes to the size of a chair, has applied in fields from astrobiology to economics. Now, it seems it may even govern our free time. Researchers have found that while levels of subjective wellbeing initially rise as free time increases, the trend does not necessarily hold for very high levels of leisure. "The sweet spot is a moderate amount of free time," said Dr Marissa Sharif, a co-author of the study from the University of Pennsylvania. "We found that having too much time was associated with lower subjective wellbeing due to a lacking sense of productivity and purpose."
Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Sharif and colleagues reported how they analysed results from two large-scale surveys, involving a combined total of more than 35,000 participants. One was the American Time Use Survey, which was carried out between 2012 and 2013 and asked participants what they had done in the past 24 hours. After crowdsourcing opinions on which activities would be equated with leisure time and then calculating this time for participants, the team found that while subjective wellbeing rose with the amount of free time up to about two hours, it began to drop once it exceeded five hours. Meanwhile data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce, carried out between 1992 and 2008, revealed that beyond a certain point, having more free time was no longer linked to greater subjective wellbeing, but it did not dip -- possibly because few of the participants reported having more than five hours of free time a day.
Writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Sharif and colleagues reported how they analysed results from two large-scale surveys, involving a combined total of more than 35,000 participants. One was the American Time Use Survey, which was carried out between 2012 and 2013 and asked participants what they had done in the past 24 hours. After crowdsourcing opinions on which activities would be equated with leisure time and then calculating this time for participants, the team found that while subjective wellbeing rose with the amount of free time up to about two hours, it began to drop once it exceeded five hours. Meanwhile data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce, carried out between 1992 and 2008, revealed that beyond a certain point, having more free time was no longer linked to greater subjective wellbeing, but it did not dip -- possibly because few of the participants reported having more than five hours of free time a day.
Idle hands are the devil's plaything (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
I think your point is that certain extremely greedy people will never have enough money?
But I think we have to do something about increased productivity. My alternative perspective (recently revised and somewhat updated) about how to keep the idle hands involved in an economy where there is no work they actually have to perform:
https://wt.social/post/the-fut... [wt.social] (Couch Potatoes of the World, Unite! You have nothing to lose but your free time!
Re: (Score:2)
*sigh*
s/time!/time!\)/
(Or do I need to escape the bangs, too?)
Actually my point (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Hmm... I would say that the worst of them don't believe in "wasting" leisure time because they never stop wanting more wealth.
However, now you reminded me of the phrenologists. I hope the OCEAN model is better.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Idle hands are the devil's plaything (Score:2)
People will have to find meaning outside of work. I think this is possible, but it requires good education, e.g. about philosophy and natural laws.
Re: (Score:2)
Many quite normal people do, even without too much worry about philosophy or religion, but did you look at my couch potatoes joke? If so, I'm curious about your reaction.
Me? Maybe I'm looking in the wrong books? (But trying to push for 200 this year.)
Re: (Score:2)
now get back to work peasant.
Yes, that was pretty much my first thought. Caveat lector.
Also, everybody is different. Some people are very good at finding things they both like to do and that give them satisfaction. Others suck at it.
Re: (Score:3)
work.
in an automated world will not exist
I used to think that too (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
correction.
try after the 1850's.
killing jobs.
anybody want to make buggy whips
Re: (Score:2)
I guess you are joking but sustained boredom does actually lead to real mental health problems.
I used to suffer from depression, and one of the ways you get out of it is to build up things to occupy your time with. Depression is a vicious circle, you feel like things won't make you happy or worry that you will fail or embarrass yourself so don't do them, and then the lack of things to do and the rewards that come from achieving things and from social contact make you more depressed.
Which is not to say that
Local minima and other considerations (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Is that really you? %^)
Re: (Score:1)
Naa, this is just a waste of oxygen with an inflated sense of his own importance. These postings are annoying though.
The bosses are going at it HARD, aren't they? (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, there's been a lot of 'oh well, of course everyone really wants to come back to the office' bullshit lately, but this is next-level capitalist propaganda - "You can't really be happy if you aren't slaving away for someone else most of the day".
Re: The bosses are going at it HARD, aren't they? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No more unusual than retired people doing lite work. Good for the person and good for the SO no longer having their other underfoot.
Re: (Score:3)
Data point- A family member and I were unemployed (at the same time) for a spell.
Modulating our finances to fit with trying to conserve our savings; it ended up being nearly a year before we found work.
And it was wonderful.
Time to explore things fully. Time to actually hang out or help out with other family members/friends. Acquire new skills (which lead to finding a new job).
After that, tried really hard to only do part time work just to have that kind of control over my time. Unfortunately few employers w
Re: (Score:2)
Data point- A family member and I were unemployed (at the same time) for a spell.
Modulating our finances to fit with trying to conserve our savings; it ended up being nearly a year before we found work.
And it was wonderful.
A lot of people inherently do not want to work. If you don't want to work, and it is a wonderful feeling, and you feel fulfilled more by doing less, then you have found your happy place. Do as little as possible. Live your best life.
Some of us like to keep busy, and if we just happen to make money doing it, that shouldn't be a problem. Busy well to do people are not they evil that the People's Republic of Slashdot want to make us out to be.
I suppose the good part for the second group is that it lesse
Re: (Score:2)
I get assigned to things that need to work the first time. I spend an insane amount of my time guiding people these days. 80% of my engineering time is spend pairing, reviewing, correcting, and taking over. I have come to embrace that I add more value from helping others than my own contribution, but I really miss making stuff.
Value added is the goal - and it sounds like what you need is a making hobby if you can squeeze in in. Sometimes technically inclined people like things like 3-d printing or similar stuff, where there''s design and some thought going on.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"You can't really be happy if you aren't slaving away for someone else most of the day"
I've often wondered if these sort of studies were tainted by the fact that it is stressful when you're not sure you'll be able to cover your bills, and that situation typically comes bundled along with being unemployed, or being retired and on a fixed income (while the cost of everything continues to increase).
Personally, if I knew I'd have enough money to keep the lights on and an eviction notice off my door, I'd find plenty of hobbies to keep myself occupied. Not to mention, there's an entire world out t
Re: (Score:2)
"You can't really be happy if you aren't slaving away for someone else most of the day"
I've often wondered if these sort of studies were tainted by the fact that it is stressful when you're not sure you'll be able to cover your bills, and that situation typically comes bundled along with being unemployed, or being retired and on a fixed income (while the cost of everything continues to increase).
Of course, not having enough money to cover expenses is stressful. But that is a whole matter with some different nuances. I worked with a guy making 6 figures back in 1979, and he was always stressed about not having enough money. So there's a whole lot of variables there.
Personally, if I knew I'd have enough money to keep the lights on and an eviction notice off my door, I'd find plenty of hobbies to keep myself occupied. Not to mention, there's an entire world out there which I've actually seen very little of, due to this leisure activity called "vacation" always being perpetually beyond my budget.
I retired pretty early, and yes, hobbies are freaking awesome, and keeps me from annoying the wife as much as I already do. I have a lot. I make telescopes, fly model planes, ham radio, smoke meats, and do live edge woodworking.
But the
Re:The bosses are going at it HARD, aren't they? (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, there's been a lot of 'oh well, of course everyone really wants to come back to the office' bullshit lately, but this is next-level capitalist propaganda - "You can't really be happy if you aren't slaving away for someone else most of the day".
As usual, whiners completely misread the report. Nowhere did this report say anything about "slaving away for someone else". It talked about work in general and in fact stated:
Meanwhile those with empty days should try spending their time with purpose, be it connecting with others or doing something productive.
That doing something productive part could be as simple as mowing the yard, cleaning your car, washing the dishes, volunteering at an animal shelter, or a whole host of other things which accomplish some task not related to getting paid for a job.
This isn't the first, nor last, study to say people should find something to do [quora.com]. Boredom is one of the biggest complaints from retired people [studyfinds.org]. It is the biggest adjustment for most people to work for decades then one day wake up and have nothing to do. Initially, it's great. You don't have to check your emails or work on that project. You can do what you want. But after a while, most people come to realize they need to be doing something with all that time [upenn.edu].
No go about your whining because you lack reading comprehension.
Re:The bosses are going at it HARD, aren't they? (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem still is that working nine to five is normality, whether it's working for some employer or as a self-exploiting self-employed. Many "normal people", for one, just don't learn what to do with large amounts of free time. And then western industrialized societies have no real structures which would give people with "too much" free time on their hands obvious options to organize and do something with it that would be, optimally, sensible, "productive" and fun at the same time. Also, "hobbies" are often seen as unproductive and worthless.
And the study stops right before it would really become interesting, before even trying to find the reasons why ffs people feel that unhealthy need to do stuff they might perceive as 'productive', whether it's good for anything or anyone or not. It'd also obvious that they didn't look into either human history or into ethnology to find out whether they're findings are a "human constant" over time and place or whether they're limited to today's work-centered societies.
And let's face it, most "productivity" spent in nine-to-five jobs is not generally spent to do something worthwhile, but more often than not to help producing stuff the world might be better without, while exhausting resources, harming the environment with exhausts and whatnot and adding to global warming.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem still is that working nine to five is normality, whether it's working for some employer or as a self-exploiting self-employed.
"Self-exploiting self-employed? Seriously?
Is your faith in the path of indolence so strong, so pure, that people who like to work and keep busy are just wrong? They you are right because you are you?
The difference Is I don't think lazy people are wrong. Just that they are lazy. And if accomplishing nothing is a paramount life goal, it is still a goal.
Re: (Score:2)
I mean, there's been a lot of 'oh well, of course everyone really wants to come back to the office' bullshit lately, but this is next-level capitalist propaganda - "You can't really be happy if you aren't slaving away for someone else most of the day".
As usual, whiners completely misread the report. Nowhere did this report say anything about "slaving away for someone else". It talked about work in general and in fact stated:
I reckon he's a member of the People's Republic of Slashdot. That special group who want to seize the means of production, but don't want to work after they seize it.
That doing something productive part could be as simple as mowing the yard, cleaning your car, washing the dishes, volunteering at an animal shelter, or a whole host of other things which accomplish some task not related to getting paid for a job.
This isn't the first, nor last, study to say people should find something to do [quora.com].
I believe that the people who really fall apart in retirement are those who had a mono variant lifestyle. They worked, they came home, they slept and they repeated. Certainly one should never even think about retirement before they know what they are going to do. I've seen some folks not do that, and they are miserable.
I have a lot of hobbie
Re:The bosses are going at it HARD, aren't they? (Score:4, Interesting)
As someone currently unemployed, I can attest to the truth of this. Exactly as the researcher said, it's entiry due to a lack of productive purpose. Had I an unpaid "job" to work on, such as an open-source project I cared about, I would not feel this way.
Man does not live by bread alone, you fucking commie.
Re: (Score:2)
What you don't get is that living in a nine-to-five world in which people are told what to do each day until the retire, people never learn how to do something on their own that would give them the sense of purpose or productiveness the study has found out as the reason for some people not being happy with "too much" free time.
Also, societies hold only limited options for people to get together for such purposes. Moreover, if there are such options, they tend to get belittled as "hobbies", and society (incl
Re: (Score:2)
What you don't get is that living in a nine-to-five world in which people are told what to do each day until the retire, people never learn how to do something on their own that would give them the sense of purpose or productiveness the study has found out as the reason for some people not being happy with "too much" free time.
While it is interesting to believe that people have no other life because someone told them the only things they are allowed to do and that no one learns anything else but that work he was told was the only thing he was allowed to do, that is about as wrong a meme as I've ever seen.
Don't blame mono variant thinking and activity on the Bourgeoisie. If a person has no other interests, it isn't the Capitalist fat cats grinding him under their heels in suppression of the proletariat.
Also, societies hold only limited options for people to get together for such purposes. Moreover, if there are such options, they tend to get belittled as "hobbies", and society (including unemployment agencies) tends to see little value in them.
Two of my hobbies have
Re: (Score:2)
1) Middle management is the second easiest job to automate. (Programmer is the first.) Without people in the office, this quickly becomes more obvious.
2) Corporate office space realtors want to protect their investment. If fewer people have to go to the office, less office space is needed, and rents will have to drop.
3) Whole industries are built around commuter culture. Car companies and petrochemical companies, obviously. But also fast food; without a long commute you'll just make your own coffee and br
Re: (Score:2)
I mean, there's been a lot of 'oh well, of course everyone really wants to come back to the office' bullshit lately, but this is next-level capitalist propaganda - "You can't really be happy if you aren't slaving away for someone else most of the day".
Good heavens. And to think I was recently labeled "troll" on a post where I noted that a lot of people simply do not want to work. And on this topic, I'm proven correct.
The people I've been dealing/working with lately are really excited to get back. And despite the slashdot propaganda, they enjoy working and yeah - making money.
I think some of the people who are all pissed off about this are being fed propaganda of their own, like if you make money and you work hard, you are evil, and if you don't, you
Arguing from fictional evidence (Score:5, Interesting)
They sure seem to be relying an awful lot on asking people to imagine how they would feel about certain amounts of free time. Which isn't strong evidence about how they would actually feel in the event. I know I can certainly imagine a lot of people failing to fully conceive of how they might find new and enjoyable ways to use free time that they don't currently have -- although no-one surveyed me for a study on that, so don't expect "Study links limited imagination to silly answers on surveys" as a headline any time soon.
Re: (Score:3)
There's one small problem. Getting people to do surveys...of any kind. We ignore them. We block them. We hang-up on them. Is it any wonder the quality is going to suffer.
Re: (Score:2)
Well then maybe they should pay people for their time and guarantee that the info given will be 100% anonymous.
Re: (Score:2)
Do you like beans? Do you like George Wendt? Would you like to eat beans with George Wendt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
>Do you like beans?
No
>Do you like George Wendt?
Who?
>Would you like to eat beans with George Wendt?
I don't know. Do they taste good together?
Re: (Score:2)
>Do you like beans? No
>Do you like George Wendt? Who?
>Would you like to eat beans with George Wendt? I don't know. Do they taste good together?
George Wendt is "Norm" from the Comedy "Cheers"
I'd eat lunch with him.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, it wasn't that long ago when I would occasionally receive surveys in the mail and they'd stick a dollar in with the survey. I could have ignored the survey and pocketed the money, but instead I did the survey! I felt like if they were going to compensate me even with a measly dollar, that was better than just wasting my time. The
Studies show (Score:5, Insightful)
Too much free time, and the plebs will discover how shitty their jobs are.
Alternatively, spend some time writing open source apps, or supporting existing one, write documentation, or other support activities.
That being said, just because you have free time, doesn't mean you have treat it as something wrong.
Re: (Score:2)
Too much free time, and the plebs will discover how shitty their jobs are.
Yep. Up next, study links free thought to lower sense of wellbeing.
Obviously if people would just stop thinking about how bad their life are, they would feel more happy. Ignorance is bliss!
Re: (Score:2)
Too much free time, and the plebs will discover how shitty their jobs are.
Yep. Up next, study links free thought to lower sense of wellbeing.
Obviously if people would just stop thinking about how bad their life are, they would feel more happy. Ignorance is bliss!
Other than clinical depression, people are roughly about as happy as they want to be.
Re: (Score:2)
Too much free time, and the plebs will discover how shitty their jobs are.
Having had to work 50+ hours for the last several weeks, I already know how shitty it is, although it's a LOT better than what a lot of people have. My problem is that I have more interests I'd like to pursue than I have time available, even if I were unemployed and independently wealthy. I'm not complaining about that, but these kinds of surveys don't ever seem to find the people like me that could keep their entire day filled wit
Re: (Score:2)
Too much free time, and the plebs will discover how shitty their jobs are.
Having had to work 50+ hours for the last several weeks, I already know how shitty it is, although it's a LOT better than what a lot of people have. My problem is that I have more interests I'd like to pursue than I have time available, even if I were unemployed and independently wealthy. I'm not complaining about that, but these kinds of surveys don't ever seem to find the people like me that could keep their entire day filled with fun stuff to do and never suffer from boredom.
They also don't ask people what it does to their mental state knowing they'll be on the treadmill until they die because there's no chance of being able to retire.
Previous shit job, managers expected 50 hours a week from everyone, every week.
No documentation of this on any corporate site.
I wondered if they realized there was a whole position not being paid for every week, for every 4 workers.
I was told to show up at work at a certain time as a salaried employee. I told them what time I'd be leaving.
I didn't care much about their pointless meetings and scheduled "work related" activities, since they took about 8-10 hours a week out of my work.
When academics have too much free time... (Score:1)
... they find something to study.
Yeah, und so nu? (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt that I'm an outlier in saying that I enjoy free time but, if all I'm doing is screwing around, I feel guilty. I want to be doing something useful to the rest of society. Of course, I tend to do that even in games, where I want to build community and help people.
Now, perhaps I just have star-spangled eyes but, I feel that most people are going to feel worthless if they're... obviously worthless. We are obliged to contribute to the world. We are obliged to have meaningful lives.
Sitting on a couch, critiquing Baywatch with a 15-pack of Natty in the fridge... err... look, fine, but not for the rest of your worthless life.
Re: Yeah, und so nu? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
That's where everything from hobby's to charitable work come into play. And yes some people do lite work, everything from starting a small business, to working a small amount of hours, not because they need the money, but it exercises the mind, body, and spirit.
Re: (Score:3)
OTOH, there are plenty of lower obligation ways to be busy and productive without indenturing yourself to an employer. I will readily agree that many people would feel worthless and pointless if by free time we mean vegging out on the couch time. But if free time means beautify the neighborhood, volunteer at the library, coach little league, maintain free software, or even help people out on technical fora, then no.
From what I've seen of older people working for mental health reasons, the big boost to well
Re: (Score:1)
I believe one of the primary (if subconscious) objections to things like UBI is everyone having the option to tell an unruly boss to stuff it without risking starvation.
That alone would change the whole work dynamic in profound, systemic ways.
It would literally reshape society.
Re: (Score:2)
There's a lot to that. Even now where hiring is just a bit harder than usual, if you read just a little between the lines, employers are complaining bitterly that they have to actually be polite to employees and that they can't just dump on them at will. OMG it's terrible! They actually have to consider that people might have obligations in life other than working wherever and whenever the boss says! It's really funny to read an interview with a sandwich shop owner where he talks about how much serving cust
Re: (Score:3)
Life IS worthless. Once you realize that, things get better.
It's on you to decide what to do with it. And I have no say in that. If you think that sitting on the couch 'til it fuses with your ass and watching TV all day is the way you want to spend your life, that's your life. Not mine.
I don't want to do that. So I don't do it. But then again, I also don't want to climb on mountains just to climb back down when I'm on top, so I don't do that either, but I still don't go around and tell people they can't cli
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt that I'm an outlier in saying that I enjoy free time but, if all I'm doing is screwing around, I feel guilty.
Guilt has never been a problem for me.
Guilt is when your mental model of yourself conflicts with the behavior of the real-world you.
When you do something that breaks that "model", you tell yourself, "But that's not really me, that's not how I actually behave, I'm not that kind of guy..."
But in reality, you ARE "that kind of guy" and you know it. And that's where the feeling of guilt comes from.
So, if you feel guilty you have choices:
1) Continue the behavior and continue to feel guilty about it, whatever the
What came first? (Score:5, Interesting)
The soft sciences and their silly tautologies. (Score:1)
And the Nobel for outstanding achievements in "Duh-doy" goes to...
Lots of Questions (Score:2)
This reminds me of naive studies into weight and health, where the sickest people tend to have the lowest weight and if you just measure the general population, you find the best health in the "overweight" category. But if you only start with healthy people, the "normal" weight people have better health outcomes.
Without knowing why the people with the most free time have so much free time, it is hard to evaluate this. Maybe they're more likely to be sick, disabled, or incarcerated?
The researchers have so much free time. (Score:2)
Took some 8 years to finish off the study.
Then they were so embarrassed reporting such old data their sense of well being plummeted down. So they concluded goofing off for a long period while pretending to be doing serious grad school work is not really something that improves self esteem.
In praise of idleness (Score:2)
Too much free time is not enough.
Re: (Score:2)
Too much free time is not enough.
Sing it, brother.
No one ever died wishing they'd spent more time in the office.
Really? (Score:2)
Having no friends, goals, or job can be depressing? I did not know that.
Re: (Score:2)
Odd. Buddhists are basically trying to achieve that.
Income accounted for? (Score:2)
Unless they took into account people that were unemployed and didn't wish to be or people who had part time work and would prefer to be in full time work then this survey is null and void.
And it reeks of sucking up to capitalism, probably to please hirers at think tanks etc.
Enough time ... (Score:2)
Some people like to feel productive (Score:3)
Geeks may not be able to relate (Score:2)
Geeks tend to be creative and inquisitive people and will always find ways to keep themselves busy and learning new things. That's not the same for everyone else.
At this point in my life I'm pretty much work optional, thanks to a number of investments I've made while younger. I'm not rich, but I'm well-off don't have to work if I don't feel like it... and I generally don't. I never get bored, and spend most of my day learning new stuff, like designing hardware, working on emulators and microcontrollers,
Re: (Score:2)
It's not my job, though, to make people happy. If they can't find happiness themselves, you may introduce them to things that you think might make them happy, but a "kick in the ass" as you describe it rarely makes someone happy.
Be honest, would it make you happy if I put on my boots to give you a good booting?
I don't feel like it's my position to tell people what I think should make them happy. Who am I to dictate that?
Free time? What even is that? (Score:3)
However, when engaging in productive activities, those with more free time felt similar to those with a moderate amount of free time.
So free time DOES increase your sense of wellbeing. People advocate for free time because they want to be productive on something other than what they get paid for. As in literally producing something that they feel has value to them, rather than just consuming things.
It's the title that's rubbish, really. The study itself shows what we would expect - doing a variety of meaningful things in free time is better than just mindless consumption.
Huh semi-retired here (Score:5, Interesting)
My health issues practically disappeared on my sabbatical, to the point where I decided to make it permanent. It does have issues; it takes much more to become inspired and motivated but health is fine.
Re: (Score:2)
My health issues practically disappeared on my sabbatical, to the point where I decided to make it permanent. It does have issues; it takes much more to become inspired and motivated but health is fine.
Yep, there's been a few times where I've been between jobs for a few months. The only stress came from the apprehension of no income... Fix that and I'm golden.
Personally? Ya, no. (Score:3)
We found that having too much time was associated with lower subjective wellbeing due to a lacking sense of productivity and purpose.
I have *plenty* of free time -- like all of my time, except for required house/yard work and/or repair -- and I feel pretty good. Probably the most annoying part of my day is reading/posting on /. -- and yet, I... just... keep... doing... it... :-)
Maybe it's just me. I mean when people ask me that stupid question (especially at work and employee reviews) "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I always reply "Being hassled less than I am now." My previous manager noted that I wasn't very hassled now and I said, "Ya, but it could always be less..."
Meanwhile data from the National Study of the Changing Workforce, carried out between 1992 and 2008, revealed that beyond a certain point, having more free time was no longer linked to greater subjective wellbeing, but it did not dip -- possibly because few of the participants reported having more than five hours of free time a day.
I imagine there are diminishing returns and/or a limit to "greater subjective wellbeing" from available free time. I mean, how much well being can you have? Like money, after having enough to meet your needs, then wants, etc... having even more only increases your happiness to a point.
Re: (Score:2)
Breaking news (Score:2)
"but it did not dip" (Score:1)
Title is wrong... what a shock.
Title implies it drops--- text says it doesn't drop-- it just stops going higher.
Keep your head down (Score:1)
No shit. (Score:2)
This isn't news. Sigmund Freud ascertained wisely that all humans want to feel loved and competent. You can't feel competent when you're not doing anything at all over longer periods of time.
So yeah, people need purpose and meaning. And that's a notable issue with the robot revolution and a post scarcity economy.
Re: (Score:2)
But I doubt that you'll find any meaning in a menial, dead-end job.
If you want to give people meaning, you have to let them do meaningful things.
Warning, anecdotal evidence ahead (Score:3)
I can totally agree with this. When I get too much free time, I start putting things off for later... after all, I have enough time to do it whenever i want, right?
Problem is, I never really want to.... I start procrastinating even on hobbies, I get stuck on youtube and nothing gets done. My frustration levels rise and I start thinking of myself as a failure.
Fact is, humans are happy when they feel they do something worthwhile. That usually entails doing something they feel helps others. For me that's home improvement so the family has a better home.
Of course having to work more is NOT the easy fix for the problem unless you are actually able to connect work with an advancement of society. Personally I think employers who manage to give you that feeling are probably one in a million but that's my personal cynical experience.
It takes willpower to do good things in your free time if you have too much of it. If you have just enough, a sense of "now or never"will help push you over that edge IMO.
Re: (Score:2)
The key mistake you made is to think of yourself as a failure. Why did you think you're a failure? Because you were told that you are a failure if you don't work 24/7.
Ever thought about breaking that leash in your head?
Re: (Score:2)
Please don't put words in my mouth.
Re: (Score:2)
I've recently retired (like in August) and now I've got all the free time I want.
So each day I try to do something useful, even if it's just the dishes. Or pruning the garden. Or working on a D&D campaign, reading a (rule)book or just going out for lunch or to catch up with a fellow retiree friend.
So far it's pretty enjoyable - especially as I have a good pension so not worried about income.
But there are times when I do wonder "what should I do?"
Re: (Score:2)
> It takes willpower to do good things in your free time if you have too much of it. If you have just enough, a sense of "now or never"will help push you over that edge IMO.
So you're saying you actually feel the need for a whip above you, to actually do something? This sounds insane, and might mean that slavery (9-5 or triangle trade...) is in some way necessary for people to actually do something. Don't really want to believe that...
I feel with most of the post, but would suggest trading "sense of now o
An untapped source (Score:4, Funny)
possibly because few of the participants reported having more than five hours of free time a day.
They should have asked retired people - there are plenty of them!
And they have the free time to spend on completing goofy surveys.
Feels like people don't know how to use it. (Score:1)
People who aren't used to having free time haven't developed these hobbies. They find themselves uncertain of what to do and then feel that they've wasted a whole evening.
Seems that the solution is for everyone to have free timer and to be encouraged to use it for
Talk for yourself (Score:2)
If I get bored, I find plenty of things to occupy my time with.
I don't need an occupation. I need money.
Psychology is bunk.Replication before new nonsense (Score:1)
Psychology is NOT science. It does not advance by the scientific method of testing theories and REPLICATING those tests.
Science journalists should do the world a service by ignoring their nonsense.
Re: (Score:1)
Did you fall out of the 80s or something?
Yes, Freudian psychology was bunk. In fact, it was so bunk, that it was science again. Because we now know, that he was statistically reliably so wrong, that you could get useful predictions out of generally choosing the opposite of his views. ^^
But since the early 90s, psychology has been re-invented and put on a solid foundation of neurology. It's a hard science now.
It just hasn't entered the practicing world yet. Especially in America. Your psychologist around the
Re: (Score:1)
"But since the early 90s, psychology has been re-invented and put on a solid foundation of neurology. It's a hard science now."
Hahahahahaha
Good one.
What a load of deliberately misleading pseudo-scie (Score:1)
nce.
It is *wasted* *ldle* *purpose-less* time that's the problem!
Of course people feel bad, when they achieve nothing in life, and merely vegetate!
That does not mean people should not be free.
It just means people that have been treated as slave robots have lost all sense of independence and when left without commands, will not even be able to start anything on their own. (Aka "There are no jobs! Give us jobs!" syndrome. A sibling of Stockholm syndrome.)
Which is also highly questionable. Because in spare tim
Re: (Score:2)
^Mod this up^
Even now we're seeing it in miniature. Once employers are forced to allow work from home for a bit, they find (to their horror in some cases) that people aren't so willing to return to the cube farm which was always about making bad managers feel important and not about any actual productivity. Now we have proof. The push to move people back is a combination of poor managers who don't know how to gauge employee performance other than how many hours they compress their desk chair with their ass
Loki's Wisdom (Score:1)
Oh come on (Score:2)
It's clearly a reflection of the surrounding societal pressures. In other news, people in interracial relationships in 1950s Alabama would likely report troubles with self-worth (clearly the result of "too much racial tolerance"), as would gays and lesbians in modern Russia ("too many homosexual feelings").
If everyone around you believes in a 10 hour work day, it's natural to question yourself for feeling content with a 5 hour work day. Anyone far from the bell curve of their surroundings in any aspect is g
Horsepoo as usual (Score:2)
Study shows. So what? There is probably an external factor for people who have tons of free time, like maybe they are losers, and if they know it, they have less of a sense of well-being.
Not a Psycologist or Sociologist (Score:2)
duh examples: 3rd generations of wealth (Score:2)
yes, I'm villainizing Paris Hilton and her ilk, the children of leisure
This is bullshit (Score:2)