Beyond Clock Time: The Unstoppable Tempo of Being Busy
Hushed tones. Continuous typing. A thrum of silent activity with an invisible force, pushing your limits of speed and efficiency. Anyone finding this familiar? For me, this all began ten years ago whilst studying my Architecture degree, and I learnt how to combat unreasonable workloads through independent study. Although stressful and exhausting, I kind of enjoyed the late hours in the library, feeding off the satisfaction and smugness of constantly feeling busy. This was the start of my life lesson in the self-management of time, and its key to success and failure in life.
24/7: A Wake-Up Call for Our Non-Stop World is an exhibition which reaches out to those caught up in the wild cycle of never-ending transactions, processes and systems of labour. Its tongue-in-cheek and exhausting analysis of the human condition paints a scary picture of our world today, fuelled by the full-throttle acceleration of time and electronic exchange. Curators Sarah Cook and Jonathan Reekie took their inspiration from Jonathan Crary’s book 24/7 (2013), which argues that sleep is the final remaining human resource, yet to be harboured and sold back to us as commodities.
Coates, M (2016) Self Portrait of Time. (GIF)
As I entered the main space of the exhibition, I encountered a huge projection of a finger laboriously pushing the second hand of a watch. The artwork Self Portrait of Time (2016) is a 12 hour loop of continual duration, by artist Marcus Coates. Its painful representation of the tendency for humans to work around the clock, accurately portrays the dichotomy I wish to explore in this article:
do humans push their development forward, or is the societal norms they are immersed in?
Upon discussing these issues with 24/7 artist Helga Schmid, she expressed her views on the former: “no one can put as much pressure on yourself as you...if you say you never have time to read a book, it’s the decision that you make” (1). Society determines the framework of our time, contracting one to 9-5 working hours and the restriction of set deadlines. But it is down to the individual to how they govern the quality of this time. The increasing tendency to track and publish one’s activity online, from daily exercise and social activity, to weight loss and cigarette consumption, pushes us towards a collective approach to self-discipline. Our actions then become less about the governmental structures of society, and more about social comparison, an innate drive to succeed, and the desire to align oneself with the norms practised by our contemporaries.
In my field of research, this debate naturally flows in the direction of smartphones, which are carefully designed and programmed to absorb one’s attention and maximise efficiency. Benjamin Grosser’s video artwork Order of Magnitude (2019) points its fingers at the tech giant’s obsession with growth and the economy. Fourteen years of clips showing Zuckerberg repeating the words ‘more’, ‘million’ and ‘grow’, alludes to the role social media plays in the magnitude and financial worth of our time online. In his book 24/7, Crary comments that:
‘One of the goals of Google, Facebook...is to normalise and make indispensable...the idea of continuous interface - not literally seamless, but a relatively unbroken engagement with illuminated screens of diverse kinds that unremittingly demand interest and response’ (2)
The pull to this non-stop behaviour is something we are already experiencing, as we find ourselves increasingly unable to daydream and reflect in vacant time.
I recall the time of Cognitive Sensations’ birth, where I sat glued to my laptop in my living-room for 10+ hours a day. Every minute spared was dedicated to endless tasks of funding applications, networking, budget planning and project management. Do I regret my approach to work? No, it got me where I am now. But have I learnt from this experience that this sort of behaviour isn’t long-lasting or good for my relationships? Yes! Having conversations with my boyfriend with my eyes glued to a screen, was a downward spiral for my priorities. And to reinforce Helga’s previous reflections, this was my choice and my choice only. Technology enhanced the momentum of the speed in which I worked, but it certainly wasn’t the cause.
Philosopher Byung-Chul Han wrote a beautifully conceptual book about our relationship with time, work and contemporary life. Continuing Crary’s views around unbroken engagement with electronic interface, Han describes incoming digital information as ‘point time’ (3). Point time does not permit any contemplative lingering. During the time between each bite of information that we receive, we experience a gap in which no sensation takes place, often leaving one with a feeling of emptiness or boredom. Driven by a compulsion to reduce these intervals, we find ourselves plummeting into routines of continuous technological engagement, not just through work, but at times when we are alone. Life then becomes permeated by a sense of ‘hectic rush and nervousness’.
Instead of attributing today’s temporal crisis to the acceleration of our digital society, Han instead links it to this shared false belief that ‘whoever lives twice as fast can enjoy twice as many life possibilities’, and as a result achieve a ‘fulfilled life’. But as Han points out, a fulfilled life cannot be explained on a quantitative basis. Much of my own personal fulfillment was achieved when I began my mornings with a game of backgammon! Ditching the screen and starting my day with creative breakfast inventions and a little light competition with my boyfriend, slowed my life to the tempo I enjoy the most. You have to find stillness in the mad.
Being busy is a stimulant. It’s infectious to those around you, inspiring others to work harder and aim higher. Being busy is admirable. It shows your control and capability, and pushes you forward to achieve your goals. But it can also be a disease, and gnaw away at the slower areas of your life until they become hidden and obsolete. As soon as you feel your priorities shifting, check in and ask yourself; how are you sleeping?; are alcohol and Netflix your only respite?; and when was the last time you just stopped and had time to yourself (and in particular, away from the screen)? These are all essential considerations for a wake-up call in our non stop world.
References
1) Schmid, H (2020) Interviewed by Gabriella Warren-Smith.
2) Crary, J (2014) 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep. Verso Books.
3) Han, B. C (2017)The Scent of Time: A Philosophical Essay on the Art of Lingering. Polity Press.
