How Being Busy Became a Status Symbol
“If time is a luxury, why don’t we flaunt it?”
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On our How to Keep Time podcast last year, co-host Becca Rashid shared an anecdote that has long stuck with me. “I was having lunch with a friend last weekend who was trying to organize a birthday party for her colleague,” she began. “And, typical story, she said she was having trouble gathering everyone because everyone was too busy and it was impossible to get them to commit.”
The unforgettable part is this: One person in the group apparently said that she couldn’t make it because “she had to go to Crate & Barrel at 7 p.m. on a Friday.” (Co-host Ian Bogost’s response—“She had a flatware appointment?”—never fails to make me chuckle.) The anecdote is equal parts amusing and concerning: What has modern life come to if shopping for dishes must be scheduled in the same way that work meetings are? Today’s newsletter explores the many different meanings of “I’m so busy,” and what we miss when our focus is on being busy above all else.
On Being Busy
How to Be Less Busy and More Happy
By Arthur C. Brooks
If you feel too rushed even to read this, then your life could use a change.
‘Ugh, I’m So Busy’: A Status Symbol for Our Time
By Joe Pinsker
Once, long ago, being richer meant working less. (From 2017)
Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out
By Derek Thompson
Too much aloneness is creating a crisis of social fitness.
Still Curious?
- Overwhelmed? Just say “No.” The science of how to stop saying yes to everything—and be happier
- The status symbol of looking busy: If time is a luxury, why don’t we flaunt it?
Other Diversions
- A chess formula is taking over the world.
- The art of putting on airs
- Something weird is happening with Caesar salads.
P.S.
Feeling too busy to read? Here are five books that’ll easily fit into your schedule.
— Isabel
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