Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISITime rebound, time prosperity, and sustainable consumption (ReZeitKon)
Despite the increasing application of efficient (allegedly) “time saving“ technology in private households and at the workplace, there is increasing evidence that a lot of people in modern societies experience time scarcity. Obviously, the possibility to perform tasks (as sending an email or buying a product online) in less time than before leads to the situation that more tasks are performed in the same amount of time. This leads to a fragmentation, concentration, and simultaneousness of activities in interchange with the permanent accessibility of ICT infrastructures and devices (as Wi-Fi and smartphones), in part complemented by the outsourcing of household services. As a result of this social acceleration, there is less time at individual disposal that is perceived as “free”. This paradoxical phenomenon of subjectively increasing time pressure as a consequence of increasing application of time efficient technology and processes has not been investigated systematically to date.