Practically speaking, if timesaving devices really saved time, there would be more time available to us now than ever before in history. But, strangely enough, we seem to have less time than even a few years ago. It's really great fun to go someplace where there are no timesaving devices because, when you do, you find that you have lots of time. Elsewhere, you're too busy working to pay for machines to save you time so you won't have to work so hard.
The main problem with this great obsession for Saving Time is very simple: You can't save time. You can only spend it. But you can spend it wisely or foolishly. The (busy person) has practically no time at all, because he's too busy wasting it by trying to save it. And by trying to save every bit of it, he ends up wasting the whole thing.
-- Benjamin Hoff, "The Tao of Pooh"
Love the pic!
ReplyDeleteI remember the 70's when we were told that labor saving devices would provide us with more time for leisure than anything else by the 1990's.
Ooops. Wrong again!
The tighter we cling to life, the more it slips through our fingers, eh?
ReplyDeleteWhat else needs to be said?
ReplyDeleteBRILLIANT!
That which we cling to will continually elude us.
Then there's the business of wasting more time figuring out how these time saving devices actually work - especially if they are strange to you as most things are for me right now while I am on vacation here in the USA!!
ReplyDeleteThe upside is plenty of things to do and see, all time well spent...
Ms Soup
The problem is, as we create time-saving devices, we raise the bar on efficiency. Suddenly things that used to take a week -- like mailing something overseas -- must now take only a few minutes. No rest for the weary!
ReplyDeleteMs. Soup, welcome to the USA, wherever you are! I hope you have a great vacation!
i've been thinking about just this myself, synchronicity.
ReplyDeletei've not been wearing a watch for the past few weeks, i love being without it.