Why being too busy makes us feel so good

Posted on April 2, 2014

One man says he works 72 hours a week because everyone else at his office does; he’s thinking about cutting back on sleep so he can be more productive. A woman says the last time she had a moment for herself was when she went for her annual mammogram. Another says she has decided that life is too hectic to have kids - ever.

Somewhere around the end of the 20th century, busyness became not just a way of life but a badge of honor. And life, sociologists say, became an exhausting everydayathon. People now tell pollsters that they’re too busy to register to vote, too busy to date, to make friends outside the office, to take a vacation, to sleep, to have sex. As for multitasking, one 2012 survey found that 38 million Americans shop on their smartphones while sitting on the toilet. And another found that the compulsion to multitask was making us as stupid as if we were stoned.

Even as neuroscience is beginning to show that at our most idle, our brains are most open to inspiration and creativity - and history proves that great works of art, philosophy and invention were created during leisure time - we resist taking time off.

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Category(s):Obsessions & Compulsions (OCD)

Source material from Washington Post