Finding Time in a Digital Age – Judy Wajcman

The idea that technology would eventually do enough of our work for us that we would only really be needed for 3 hours a day is laughable. The reading starts of by talking about how technology has in fact led us to put in more effort when completing tasks as opposed to liberating us and giving us our time back. The author states that we live in an acceleration society, and our lives are very fast paced. In essence, this comes down to how we allocate our time. Whilst we may feel free and in control, information and communication technologies actually control us.

Certain aspects of our lives are accelerating. Work, leisure and parenting are accelerated by technology. I know myself that I have constantly felt like the world was moving faster – according to the author, that is because of technological change, the shifts in the nature of work, the composition of families, and patterns in consumption. It is as if there is always somewhere I need to be, something I need to do, or sleep I would love to catch up on. Un yet I am supposed to be surrounded by all this technology that is designed to eliviate a lot of the brunt work. However, we cannot simply shut off the digital technology which has been so well weaved into our lives. It isn’t as simple as that. That being said, there are some resources available which actually help time management like mobile apps which monitor what you’re doing every minute so you can track where your time is being spent.

It is interesting to note that the reading talks about the bur between work and home, and how work from our jobs is increasingly being taken home to be worked on. With an increase in ICT, there will be more ways in which a person can actually access their jobs from home, and work more mobile. However whilst this may be increasing flexibility and versatility, we could be setting ourselves up for more problems in the future.