http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap/?smid=fb-share

I thought this was interesting.

Bonus points to the article for it's Communistic takes!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Good read. Thanks for posting, BR.

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-- source

A single guy with no kids and enough money to work or not work is telling us that we are in the "busy" trap? And to back it up he brings up a single, no kids friend who moved to Paris on a whim?
Seems perfectly logical to me.

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He doesn't sound nearly angry enough to hang out with Boyd.

I think most people who use the "i'm so busy" cry would welcome a less-busy schedule. I think many find comfort in having every minute planned out- many of today's younger folks don't know how to be unscheduled, to just go out and play. They need guidance just to be a kid! We're always asking "what do you want to do?" how about nothing!

Thanks for the good read, BR.

Yeah I don't know. The author makes some good points, but misses the mark quite a bit too. I can't go too hard on him because he does concede the best answer is somewhere between the two extremes he describes.

He mentions choices, and how we all make them. This is true, but, they are made in context. Yes I choose to work at my job, but, I also don't have the luxury to get paid to write newspaper articles in seclusion for just a few hours a day. Not many people do. And in the author's utopia where everyone does, there would be no customers to read them.

And yes I chose to get married and have a kid, which, yes, takes up a lot of time. And it requires me to work more hours than I'd like to. But they also provide great companionship, love, support, and sense of accomplishment. The author talks about deathbed regrets - I don't know too many people who, on their deathbed, said they regretted having a family because it took up too much damn time.

One other point - it does strike me as a bit self-important to presume that, because someone isn't spending time with you, that person must not be enjoying himself. When someone tells you she can't hang out with you on a Saturday because she is taking her kid to the pool, maybe she actually enjoys doing that. And maybe she has other ways of enjoying herself for the remaining 14 hours of her day, again without you. Just a little social FYI - when someone says they're too busy to hang out with you, it's not necessarily true. They may just not find you as enjoyable as you find yourself.

Anyway, it is a good read and is likely helpful to people. I've read similar works, but I can't figure out if this author is an introvert or an extrovert. He values time spent socializing with others above all else, like an extrovert, but yet he needs to unplug in secluded places and become "bored" in order to recharge, like an introvert.

That's kind of the unspoken part of the article that unravels the entire argument. He apparently lives for himself with no familial obligations. When I say my weekend is packed, I mean I coach two little league teams, take the kids to visit their great grandma in the nursing home, get a little workout in, give the old lady an afternoon pickle tickle, do some work, etc. I LIKE to do all these things even though they are obligations that fill up my time. So being on the baseball field with my son is my equivalent of his having a fruity drink with his friend.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Sounds like a terrible romantic comedy starring Kathering Heigl and Ryan Reynolds