Seven days. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes. 604,800 seconds. Those are different ways of counting a week. Although it may seem like a lot of time, is that really enough?
This week in American Studies we discussed our society and how it is time-driven. Our everyday lives are based strictly on schedules and deadlines. Time means everything to our country, and is needed for maximum efficiency. When we waste time, we get behind. And in order to compete with other countries, the American work place must make the most of every second.
However, time does not seem to be such an issue for other countries. I have traveled to a few Central American and Caribbean countries and have noticed this. Whenever we would get in the car to go somewhere, we would ask the driver how long the drive would be, and more often then not, it always took longer than he said. It was not that the driver was purposely lying to me. I honestly think he just didn’t know exactly and didn’t think it would make a difference. In their society, time did not seem to be as significant.
Has our American society become too time-obsessive? Or is this factor necessary to keep us in line and able to compete with other countries?
Brooks, sweet name first of all, secondly, good question. This summer I traveled to Europe and noticed all sorts of different emphasis placed on time. For instance, in Germany, Austria, Holland and Switzerland, time was significant. Trains and buses ran on tight schedules and the culture seemed tighter and more efficient. On the other hand, in Spain, Italy and France, time seemed irrelevant. Trains and buses rarely ran on schedule due to strikes or non importance of such order and stores shut their doors at five o'clock.
ReplyDeleteLast year in my Spanish class we read an article about the "siesta" in Spain. It determined that in order to keep up with the United States, the siesta was being skipped, there simply wasn't time for it.
America's break neck work pace seems to be affecting other countries around the world rather than the opposite. Then again, Spain is one of the weakest financial players in the EU and Germany the strongest.
So to answer your question, We are time obsessive, but successful. And We aren't keeping up, others are trying to match our pace.