always feel busy

In developed countries, a large number of survey participants said they were so overburdened with work that they sacrificed their time with family and friends. But perhaps most of the busiest people didn't take part in the survey: according to a 2014 study, one of the main reasons people turn down surveys is... they feel they are too busy.

You might think the explanation is simple: we feel much busier these days because we have more work to do. But you are wrong. The number of hours worked – paid or unpaid – has not increased in recent decades, at least in Europe or North America. Today's parents who worry about not spending enough time with their children are spending far more time than previous generations.

Moreover, the data also shows that people who say they are very busy are generally wrong.

Why is that? Part of the answer is economics. As the economy improves, and the incomes of the affluent increase, time becomes more valuable: every hour means more, so we feel more pressure to fill it with more jobs. But busyness is also the result of the kind of work we commonly do. In the previous era, occupations – predominantly farming or manufacturing – were more physically demanding; but still there is a limit. You cannot harvest your fields prematurely; You can't produce more products if the ingredients are no longer available.