Tim Kreider scoffs at it:
Notice it isn’t generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the I.C.U. or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are; what those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted. Dead on their feet. It’s almost always people whose lamented busyness is purely self-imposed: work and obligations they’ve taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they’ve “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They’re busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they’re addicted to busyness and dread what they might have to face in its absence.
J. Bryan Lowder thinks it isn't that simple:
Instead of offering realistic solutions like, say, the institution of a Spanish-style siesta for everyone into the workday afternoon, he glibly praises his ability to beg off work for an entire day dedicated to “chilled pink minty cocktails” or, better yet, to decamp completely to an “undisclosed location” (according to an author bio, a country house somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay), as if these were steps we all could take if only we were brave enough to do so.
Owen Hatherley wonders why automation hasn't helped us work less. Video via Barbara King who notes:
We all have them: Days when we just want to take it down a notch, even as others around us burst with energy. David, alpha-male chimpanzee at Fongoli in Senegal, had a morning like that recently. While other males vocalized (pant-hooted) with gusto, a perfectly hale and hearty David … just couldn't be bothered, as this video bit shows.
