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The Time-Pressure Paradox

Of all the contradictions, paradoxes, and commonplaces Wajcman tackles in this book, she labels the central one as "The Time-Pressure Paradox." Citing a number of studies since the 1960s, Wajcman explains how research participants have increasingly reported feeling more hurried and generally busier with each new decade. However, other studies have shown that leisure time has dramatically increased for the working class over the past fifty years. To understand why life feels subjectively busier than ever before despite objective evidence that suggests differently, Wajcman devotes much of the book to looking at both the distribution and quality of time in the digital age.

Some of Wajcman's examples seem like common sense while others struck this reader as new and profound. For example, households with two working parents plus children report experiencing the most time deficiencies. Baby boomer parents, she suggests, are over-parenting in an attempt to either make up for a perception of their own parents' faults or to take advantage of the increased consumer emphasis on children's development and leisure. I'd put these examples in the former category; they’re important to note, but they feel like roads well-travelled elsewhere (a quick Amazon search will reveal a whole industry of books dedicated to the time crunch of modern parenting).

More interesting is Wajcman's discussion of time coordination. People are increasingly working odd hours, and more people are telecommuting from home. In these conditions, there's not necessarily a problem with a quantity of leisure time; the problem is synching one's leisure time with other people. So we turn to our cell phones, our instant messages, and Facetimes to try and coordinate with other people's schedules. Merely trying to meet up becomes exhausting and adds to one's sense of "not enough time." Our electronic devices take the easy blame of this frustration since they're the objects we're using when experiencing the frustration. However, the real problem resides in much deeper socioeconomic factors.

Wajcman's book is so dense with examples that this back and forth between well-established examples and more revelatory ones was a common occurrence, at least for this reader. However, Wajcman's deeper point is one that resonates. She writes, "The discourse of acceleration tends to skim over and conceal the extent to which the pace of modern life depends on one’s resources and the choices they make possible" (2015, 58). In short, the hurriedness of life is not experienced equally by everyone. On this point, Wajcman opens up a wealth of future exploration.

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Bibliography

Blair, Kristine L., Radhika Gajjala, and Christine Tulley, eds. 2008. Webbing Cyberfeminist Practice: Communities, Pedagogies, and Social Action. New York: Hampton Press.

Manovich, Lev. 2002. The Language of New Media. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Wajcman, Judy. 2015. Pressed For Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism. Chicago: U of Chicago Press.

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The New Intimacy

"Whereas traditional marriages were bound by economic and practical conventions, these egalitarian relationships are cemented by talk, relying on participants' willigness to continue because of their mutual pleasure therein . . . Keeping in touch while physically apart is undoubtedly a marker of intimacy. The ability to be communicatively present with mobile devices may even enhance closesness at a distance . . . Connecting with significant others, even via short calls or texts (phatic communication), can play a role in sustaining and deepening intimate relationships. Rather than conveying specific information, in many cases the call or text itself may be constitutive of the relationship" (2015, 149).

ICTs do not impinge upon or steal private time in any straightforward way. Instead, they extend and reconfigure the time frames of those spaces, making possible new kinds of emotional proximity that are less anchored in shared time and geography. For young people, the so-called digital natives, omnipresent communication devices and social media stream seamlessly into the natural rhythms of daily life" (2015, 153).

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There's an App for That

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Methodology

The subtitle of Wajcman's book is "The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism," though it could just as accurately be "How the Common Assumptions are All Wrong." Every one of the book's seven chapters follows a similar pattern of first acknowledging popular commonplaces about time and technology. Sometimes she points out specific theorists who have espoused these beliefs, and other times she seems to be referencing the general doxa of our age. Then, she proceeds to show the contradictions in these commonplaces and the lack of careful thinking and important nuance that forms them. To be clear, there's nothing particularly unique about this method; after all, the lit review to critique method is itself a commonplace of most academic writing. However, here, that method works in tandem with the book's themes to intensify the familiar writing patterns.

I'm reminded of Lev Manovich's work, The Language of New Media, where Manovich argues that cultural changes are taking place so quickly, there's a risk that nobody will stop and document them. Therefore, he slows down to sketch out the digital forms of communication that have already become cultural commonplaces. Similarly, Wajcman seems concerned that our current popular thinking on the relationship between time and technology has become so entrenched that a careful deconstruction is needed to see it more accurately. Therefore, in a marriage of method and message, she deaccelerates to bring needed nuance and force the reader's own thinking to not quickly adopt a flawed commonplace.

Some of these commonplaces have already been well critiqued in other work, but they are important foundation for Wajcman to build upon. Her argument does not rest on simple technological determinism. Though she often considers new ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies), she rejects the idea that they are bound and destined to alter culture in seemingly predetermined ways. She also echoes the popular scholarly sentiment that we can neither embrace technology as an unquestioned good nor view it as inevitably leading human society into some post-singularity dystopia. Even though she argues that digital devices have altered human conception and control over time, her message is ultimately one of nuanced optimism. Wajcman believes these devices "can be actively appropriated and recruited as an ally in our quest for time control" (2015, 11).

Appropriated, yes, but not entirely on human terms. Throughout the book, Wajcman follows in the path of Bruno Latour (and others interested in the rhetorical agency and power of nonhuman actors) to analyze technology from two competing, yet intersecting, perspectives. On one hand, our ICTs are created by people in specific historical/cultural contexts; therefore, human assumptions, politics, and desires about time are always reflected in their designs. At the same time, technologies contain their own "scripts" or programs that both restrict and delegate the possibilities that humans can imagine for their use. Therefore, Wajcman argues that any analysis must acknowledge how materiality and sociality both shape human interaction with technology and the subsequent sense of time acceleration and hurriedness that comes with that use.

Finally, Wajcman's main concern seems to be how these commonplaces (technology is ruining us, we have less free time than ever before, household appliances have made domestic work easier, etc.) are often offered with little evidence or are assumed to affect every person in the same way. Wajcman suggests, "We can best advance our understanding of the dynamics of acceleration through scholarship that is specific, empirical, and located in concrete social settings where those effects can be most clearly observed . . . the unheroic sites of ordinary life" (2015, 22). Therefore, the book is filled with empirical studies (both Wajcman's own and others) to achieve that localized nuance that will hopefully shatter the simplicity of the commonplaces. Throughout the book, Wajcman admits we all feel harried for time, but do we all experience that feeling the exact same way? Only empirical research can answer this question, and these studies add a richness to the book that is missing in many other approaches to the topic.

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Doing Domestic Time

As a scholar working in ICTs, I often fall victim to working with a far too narrow definition of technology. Wajcman calls out this tendency early in the book when she asks why an object like a baby bottle isn't as robustly analyzed as, say, email and the internet. After all, baby bottles fundamentally transformed one aspect of child rearing (especially for women) and allowed parents to take more control of their time. However, Wajcman suggests that the fact that women's lives were mostly transformed by this object may be the reason a baby bottle doesn't make its way into graduate school discussion of technology. Wajcman writes, "The impact technologies are perceived to have on time largely depends on who is using them, and in what context" (2015, 30). It seems the daily grind of so-called "women’s work" often doesn't make the scholarly cut in studies of time.

Chapter five of the book is completely devoted to correcting these oversights by focusing on household technologies and the disproportionate feeling of time scarcity between men and women. Like the other chapters, Wajcman begins with another contradiction. With all these new household appliances designed to save time, why do people feel more busy and overwhelmed at home than ever before? The answers are illuminating. For one example, more domestic technology (washing machines, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, etc.) may technically save time, but they also end up elevating the base expectations of household order (an expectation that still falls primarily under a woman's purview). Thus, a washing machine will lead to more work because the ease of use will actually increase the number of loads someone does (usually filling in the wait time between cycles with yet more household work). This might seem like a small example, but it's only one of many that Wajcman offers.

Overall, Wajcman's attention to gender related differences in the experience of time will likely be a part of the book that many readers will gravitate towards. The different experiences and effects of technology on gender are both well-documented and still being explored. Blair's, Gajjala's, and Tulley's Webbing Cyberfeminist Practice remains an excellent collection on the subject. Wajcman impressively echoes and expands these conversations with her focus on the temporal aspects of gendered technology use. Also, like the multi-disciplinarity in the aforementioned collection, Wajcman's thinking on this subject could be relevant to the fields of sociology, gender studies, cultural studies, rhetorical theory, and more. On this subject especially, Wajcman's book proves its broad appeal. After all, I bet all those fields could offer quite insightful and relevant treatises on a baby bottle.

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Meme Wisdom

meme with the text: not sure if i have free time or just forgetting everything meme with the text: if you enjoy wasting time is that time really wasted? meme with the text: regret wasting time on the internet; continue wasting time on the internet meme with the text: if time is money are atms time machines?
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The Ol' 9 to 5 Grind

Chapter four of Wajcman's book investigates the many common assumptions about the constantly connected worker and his or her connection to time, distraction, and busyness. Again, Wajcman uses empirical study to find the deeper nuance behind the general cultural narrative. This chapter was particularly interesting for me, as I was in my office multitasking while writing this very section. The text you see on this page was written while I: received and responded to three emails, made a Facebook update that received four "likes," and had a short conversation with one of my colleagues. None of these "distractions" really bothered me. A critic might suggest that I'm just accustomed to these distractions in my workflow. A critic could suggest I'm being hurt (or made less productive) and I've just accepted it.

Wajcman's study suggests I am in the norm of not being bothered (or hampered) by these "interruptions." According to participants, "it [incoming mediated communication] was positive in the sense that the communication informed workers of their tasks for the day and the progress of matters with which they dealt" (2015, 101). These incoming messages were, in fact, perceived as positive feedback that the workers were on the right track and immersed in their work. What could be easily perceived as distracting is actually an adaptive manner of taking control over time pressure.

This chapter challenges many commonplace arguments about time management in the workplace. Wajcman's book is not specifically geared for pedagogical application. However, as an instructor of Technical Communication and Business Writing, this chapter suggests an area of study and instruction where Wajcman's ideas could have practical classroom application. I'm left curious how students could be taught to multi-task and view interruptions as moments of productivity feedback. Or perhaps students already view their workflows in this manner. In that case, perhaps it's our job as instructors to nourish that view and not try to force alternate methods of time management that may feel more focused but fail under the scrutiny of actual work habits. All this to say, I suspect there are many portions of this book that readers will find pedagogical application for, even if that applicability is not immediately transparent.

Now I’m going to go tweet something.

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Wajcman Bio

Judy Wajcman is the Anthony Giddens Professor of Sociology. She joined the LSE as Head of the Sociology Department in 2009. She was previously Professor of Sociology in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. She has held posts in Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester, Sydney, Tokyo, Vienna, Warwick and Zurich. She was formerly a Centennial Professor at the LSE, a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Women in Business at London Business School. She was President of the Society for Social Studies of Science (2009-2011) and is currently a Research Associate of the Oxford Internet Institute. Her work has been translated into French, German, Greek, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.

Professor Wajcman's scholarly interests encompass the sociology of work and employment, science and technology studies, gender theory, and organizational analysis. Her current research engages with theories about the impact of digital technologies on time poverty and the speeding up of everyday life. She is the 2013 recipient of the CITASA William F. Ogburn Career Achievement Award. CITASA is the Communications and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA). This award recognizes a sustained body of research that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the area of sociology of communications or the sociology of information technology.

From the London School of Economic's Sociology Department Page

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Time Dependant Message

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