Here in the West, a lifestyle of unnecessary spending has been deliberately cultivated and nurtured in the public by big business. Companies in all kinds of industries have a huge stake in the public’s penchant to be careless with their money. They will seek to encourage the public’s habit of casual or non-essential spending whenever they can.
It's not even only in the West. It's a worldwide issue! Heck, I've even spent RM20 on a simple meal just so it can 'motivate' me to work more. That Starbucks coffee that you need every morning? Yeah, it's an indulgence and not essential (a simple coffee will do the same work... so why do you need Starbucks?).
I even have a friend who used to go to karaoke (which is very expensive) every weekend for months on end just so she can prep herself for the following work days.
The ultimate tool for corporations to sustain a culture of this sort is to develop the 40-hour workweek as the normal lifestyle. Under these working conditions people have to build a life in the evenings and on weekends.
lol, what does this say about people who work more than 40 hours a week? I work evenings, nights and even weekends forgawdssake. It's no wonder that I'm as stressed up as I am now. Damn, I'm probably going to die young :\
The eight-hour workday developed during the industrial revolution in Britain in the 19th century, as a respite for factory workers who were being exploited with 14- or 16-hour workdays.
As technologies and methods advanced, workers in all industries became able to produce much more value in a shorter amount of time. You’d think this would lead to shorter workdays.
But the 8-hour workday is too profitable for big business, not because of the amount of work people get done in eight hours (the average office worker gets less than three hours of actual work done in 8 hours) but because it makes for such a purchase-happy public. Keeping free time scarce means people pay a lot more for convenience, gratification, and any other relief they can buy. It keeps them watching television, and its commercials. It keeps them unambitious outside of work.
This is very true for me. If I work less hours, I'll use my time for more gaming, as well as getting several online degrees (on courses that I'm actually interested in) and learn several languages that I want to learn. I would even get the long-needed exercise lol.
I’ve only been back at work for a few days, but already I’m noticing that the more wholesome activities are quickly dropping out of my life: walking, exercising, reading, meditating, and extra writing.The one conspicuous similarity between these activities is that they cost little or no money, but they take time.
Suddenly I have a lot more money and a lot less time, which means I have a lot more in common with the typical working North American than I did a few months ago. While I was abroad I wouldn’t have thought twice about spending the day wandering through a national park or reading my book on the beach for a few hours. Now that kind of stuff feels like it’s out of the question. Doing either one would take most of one of my precious weekend days!
This hits the point right on! I used to read a lot and write too (my blog for example), but now, I'm just rushing for one deadlines after another... and I'm supposed to be a postgrad student who is supposed to be working on her thesis lol :P
-More comments soon, my break time is up lol-
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