Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital CapitalismThe technologically tethered, iPhone-addicted figure is an image we can easily conjure. Most of us complain that there aren't enough hours in the day and too many e-mails in our thumb-accessible inboxes. This widespread perception that life is faster than it used to be is now ingrained in our culture, and smartphones and the Internet are continually being blamed. But isn't the sole purpose of the smartphone to give us such quick access to people and information that we'll be free to do other things? Isn't technology supposed to make our lives easier? In Pressed for Time, Judy Wajcman explains why we immediately interpret our experiences with digital technology as inexorably accelerating everyday life. She argues that we are not mere hostages to communication devices, and the sense of always being rushed is the result of the priorities and parameters we ourselves set rather than the machines that help us set them. Indeed, being busy and having action-packed lives has become valorized by our productivity driven culture. Wajcman offers a bracing historical perspective, exploring the commodification of clock time, and how the speed of the industrial age became identified with progress. She also delves into the ways time-use differs for diverse groups in modern societies, showing how changes in work patterns, family arrangements, and parenting all affect time stress. Bringing together empirical research on time use and theoretical debates about dramatic digital developments, this accessible and engaging book will leave readers better versed in how to use technology to navigate life's fast lane. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acceleration society activities American Anthony Giddens appliances argues become busyness Cambridge century chapter clock communication compression connectivity consumer consumption contemporary cultural developed digital devices digital technologies domestic technology Donna Haraway e-mail economic electronic employees everyday example experience faster feel gender Gershuny global harriedness Helga Nowotny household housework human ICTs impact increase individual industrial innovation interaction Internet John Urry Judy Wajcman labor leisure less lives London Lucy Suchman machines Manuel Castells means mobile phone modern mothers multitasking nology Oxford pace paradox parents patterns Paul Virilio people’s percent political Polity Press polychronic practices pressure production relationships rhythms robots role routine Ruth Schwartz Cowan saving sense Sherry Turkle shift slow Slow Food smartphones Sociology sociomaterial space spend stress studies tasks tech technical technoscience telephone television temporal timescapes tion twentieth University Press users Virilio women workdays workplace York