time is a social construct
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- čas přidán 16. 06. 2024
- Bonjour !
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SOURCES/RESSOURCES 📚
Giordano Nanni, The colonisation of time, 2012.
Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, 1975.
David Graeber, The Dawn of Everything, 2021.
The article on Summarøy: theoutline.com/post/7647/can-...
Alice in Wonderland is a great work of fiction to challenge one's perception of time.
Other sources are cited throughout the video :)
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TIME STAMPS:
00:00 : Intro
02:53 : Sponsored segment
04:19 : Time, Success, and Power
SOCIALS 👩💻
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I tried living without looking at the clock for a while but it's hard when everyone around you is still bound by it. Stores are open certain times, your friends and family expect to be able to talk or meet you certain times, etc. Stepping away from time therefore in many ways equal stepping out of society.
Not knowing what time it is may be my favourite thing about camping. Wake up with the birds and start a fire as the sun sets.
Not out of society entirely, just this one. There's a lot of stigma regarding alternative lifestyles to those bound by strict time management, "discipline", and capitalism, with the assumption being that one who rejects these notions must punitively and detrimentally embrace being poor, living an agrarian or tribal lifestyle, etc., but that's the power of fear mongering in history for you. There have been plenty of peoples completely left out of the conversation who organize their societies without such a heavy regard for time as it exists today. The gag is, they don't see their way of life as utopian. To them, it just *is* . We do see it as utopian, (another word with deliberately unsavory connotations) however, since it would be a great relief to most, if not all of us, to live without such time constraints compared to how we live currently.
And not to make this about race, but I do find it funny how so many modern examples of societies organized with more leisure, rights, etc., are always coming from the same handful of scandinavian countries as if we should all aspire to live how they do, but just my onion. I feel like too many people look to these nations for unspoken rules on how to live, and what is needed isn't lifestyle advice or structures. If people in our societies within capitalism were given self-sufficient means, they could make their own way without needing to be told how to attune to their natural rhythms, and they could do this without shame, devaluation, and other stigmas attached to existing that way but yeah.
Is this what my friends do when I wait 1 hour for them when we agreed to meet? 😅😅
@@erinskilbrei I wanna be like 'your friends don't mean anything by it' but i can't imagine doing that without reaching out to the person you're gonna meet like "I'm so sorry! I'm gonna be late! I had this thing happen and I won't be able to make it for the time we planned!" Are you saying they just set a time with you and then don't contact you and show up an hour later? That's terrible!
Yes please. The problem I find, is time has the utter inconsiderate rudeness to keep going while I'm trying to have a break from it.
Failing my 12th grade high school year and having to restart has made me realize life is so much more than a schedule. Deep down, I don't care if I get out of college at 27 instead of 24. I don't care if I find love late, I don't care if I'm only 18 and have never kissed anyone. Everything should come naturally. Right now I'm celebrating getting my driver's license. I can travel around freely and discover private time after being raised in a household built on religious gaslighting. My friends circle is better than ever even if everyone is a year younger. I was a mess last year and my report card would've lead to me getting declined by most colleges. I'm trying my best this year and actually for once have a plan for my academical path.
I’m proud of you!
I relate so much with you here given that I'm always insecure about if I am late for college.. most of my friends are younger and everything seems as if I got to rush all the time.. it's positive hearing from you today : )
I'm in about the exact same boat. I think I've adopted this attitude for a couple years now on my journey of self acceptance. I've mostly stopped comparing what I've done or haven't to what others have. I do and pursue things when I feel I want to and when it he's right. I also really do believe that everything should come naturally.
this is a very inspirational and healthy mindset. Good for you
i love this pov❤ i too have had many setbecks during my college years but i this worldview helps me see it as a gift bc ive learned sm along the way that now im way more at peace and can manage my studies way better than that first year, there is always something good out of every deemed “bad setback”
When I took an entire summer off from school. I was completely isolated from time. Because of this my sleep patterns shifted from 9pm all the way to 4am. I would stay up staring at my computer screen watching CZcams and movies. Days became a blur and I became extremely depressed. The point of my story is that time provides some sort of structure to your life. I was not prepared for the structure of time to be pulled out from under me. So I fell into a very unhealthy lifestyle. It's incredibly difficult for me to imagine a world without time because it's so embedded within our society. I like the idea of time no longer governing us, at the same time I'm completely dumbfounded about how that would work.
I wonder if having your screens at night fucks your schedule up more than the fact that you're not sticking to time.
It seems there is also a disconnection to the natural sun and moon cycle at hand here. I tire when the sun sets, but with a screen in front of me that doesn't happen. So around sun down I try to wind down for a natural circadian rhythm. 😊
bruh no you were fully
capable of setting a schedule for urself lol
Maybe the problem doesn’t lie with getting rid of time so much…but actually having no purpose. You see, when you took some time off school you probably didn’t know what to do with your life. You didn’t really have a purpose or structure. Time didn’t provide that structure but school did. I know school is intertwined with time but the point still stands. Trust me…time doesn’t give structure because time isn’t structure. Structure is structure. You can use time to structure but structure isn’t tied to time. The problem also isn’t with staying up until 4am, it’s “wasting” your time with watching CZcams videos and movies all day long. You could’ve easily given yourself a purpose in life, a goal, a dream and structured it yourself without time. I’m telling you this respectfully. And I’m not arguing against time!! Time can be beautiful and so helpful. I believe that nothing is good or bad. Everything has its down sides and up sides!! Use time for you and not against you. Btw. Staying up till 4am isn’t a bad thing, it’s what you’re doing until 4am that decides it’s value to your life 😉
interesting thoughts :)
I've been saying that I hate my life because of how much of it is ruled by others and THEIR schedule. How more healthy and happy I'd be if I could go on My own time. Literally thought I was the only one struggling with time
I just posted this comment under the video but I'll just copy it here because it could help u! : I've long observed that people's faces light up when they say things like 'I literally lost track of how much time was going by, I was so into ____!' or 'I've completely lost track of the date and time on this holiday, it's amazing! I don't even know the day!' This might be more to do with living in the present moment, but its interesting that people say they 'lost track', like tracking time is so normalised and expected. A few years ago I had this realisation and just threw out all my watches and don't check the time. If I really need it I ask someone, usually starts a nice conversation anyway. I eat whenever I feel like it. I haven't set an alarm in ages. Literally, if I don't wake up and miss something I've stopped caring (for the most part). I'm living in my own rhythm.
People are like wait you had lunch at 10:50, how are you going to wait until dinner? and I just say idk I'll have what you call dinner at 4 or 5 and then another meal later, in between, whenever. I'll play it by ear. I actually get stressed when I have minutiously planned days at university jumping between lectures which start at 4:05 on the dot, for example, and they're all like 12 minutes apart. I'm obviously able to show up to things on time and wake up for flights and stuff, but I really like just living in flow. I am not unproductive; I am a good student, I dedicate time to hobbies, and friends- ok, maybe I'm a tiny bit less 'productive' than I would be if I carved out a precise 2 hours and 43 minutes of studying at x time, but I prefer my life this way. I'd give up tracking time, steps, sleep, calories, for a life of flow.
Maybe you will be even happier if the others throw u into an island where u r the only one there. So no one can ever bother u.
I feel the same way. It’s been dictated by others always! They train us from birth for their time
As someone who owns their means of production and runs a business as a sole-proprietor from home where I have a lot of unscheduled and unpaid time, it’s still a challenge psychologically. I’m always struggling to feel like I’m spending my time wisely, even when I work all day on various important projects. It’s a big improvement but my internalized issues of productivity are a big hurdle to happiness every day.
@@elsaluvsnutella It really hit me when you mentioned loosing track of time because of being in the present. I structure my day so that I get to do a variety of productive hobbies and intentionally leave room for the likely situation where I just can't stop myself from doing it. Then it gets to a certain time and my mum comes back and interrogates me why I haven't done x by this time or y by the other time I missed because I was soo invested in my hobby. Unfortunately to her my hobbies have no value so I'm constantly fighting with her trying to argue the fact that I'm not a robot that does benign domestic chores on a set time. Yes, I am aware it's not a healthy relationship and I am working on moving out because the more I protest, the worse she gets.
Quote of the Day: “You can be pragmatic and an idealist at the same time, this is called being progressive.”
but you literally can't it's a contradiction
@@xChinky123x but isn't it more meant like you've idealist ideas and also pragmatic ideas. Then you mix them all together and progressive acts are the result?
How is it that I see your comments in every video I watch???
yeah blew my mind!
Loved this bit
Chronic Illness has brought about a new perspective on "time" and how it can impact life. Not just that tasks can take longer to complete, but also in how it can be weaponised. Government agencies that deal with disabilities in the UK, use time as a form of punishment, setting appointments on dates and hours that are only easily achievable by able bodied or neurotypical standards. Literally a DEADline for those who disqualify themselves from lifesaving help by failing to meet appointments, or ironically, successfully attending (so Mr Meldrum, you obviously had no (perceivable) trouble attending this meeting, thus your application is denied...). Greater disability thinkers than myself have written deeper and more eloquent descriptions of the connection between time and ablism, it's just not something people take the time to understand, I guess.
wowie you expanded upon my comment, and allowed the conversation to also become about something larger. time is weaponized- i even dream of a future time when chronic illness is no longer affecting me (impossible). thanks for sharing friend.
I love this point of view! I have ADHD so time is challenging for me. And it's treated as a moral failing. But to point out that this attitude to time could be seen a ableism... Feels surprisingly freeing. For once it wouldn't me who's just fundamentally wrong and inappropriate.
Super interesting. If you can list some sources to those "greater disability thinkers", I'd be more than interested.
@@Hubcool367 my suggestion would be to do a general search of "Crip Time". Articles published in journals are more likely to have references. Searching "Crip Time" in specific sites (book sellers podcast providers etc) is useful too.
I hear this, it’s fucking TRASH in the UK. I’m in the same boat after having a stroke.
Thinking about time, I have always hated "evenings", as they mean for me the end of a day. The death of potentialites. The ceasing of my own personal free will.
And that is only when I have a morning work next day.
On the other hand, "night time" (ex .during weekends) is where i usually sit with myself and contemplate life. I feel somewhat philosophical after midnight.
I really love that you brought this subject of time. It's helpful on the individual level also to reflect on how we are sometimes pressured by this social construct.
In my opinion, time can be just a concept for the purpose of just refrence not dictating our soul and lives :)
Yes after watching this video I wonder if it was tamed by humans to be used as a tool that we've relied too heavily on over the centuries.
@@mmmtastehify i feel like it indeed could help with a lot of stuff, like making sure you aren't too busy to meet up with someone or getting swept away in an activity without doing something else that must be done before you sleep, but it truly has been used as a weapon to dictate how much you succeed as a human being. The way i had to convince my mother that she can still get an education at her age or how my younger siblings have to work at a very difficult school all day then do 4-5 hours worth of homework every night despite that being very unhealthy... reminds me of the sad reality we live in
well thts the original purpose
It kinda is already
as someone who's almost a year into unemployment and who's been obsessed about the time wasted due to the current sorry state of my mental health, this video is oddly comforting. even though i'm not the most productive person in the world (routines help me immensely but for some reason i cannot, for the life of me, start and maintain it all by myself) i'm just now realizing that i, too, have been subconsciously paranoid about the time. maybe this bit of a reminder that time is a social construct is what i need right now so i won't feel as though the walls are closing in on me as much.
god i never knew others felt that shameful about "wasting time" when their mental health is bad
i am exactly the same about routines
McDonald’s is hiring lazy boy
I like waking up and going to sleep whenever I feel. I love sleeping without alarms turned on. I get a better sleep. I also don’t have a productivity schedule. It’s extremely liberating. Time truly is a social construct. Love this video! 💗
I wish I could do that
Don't wanna sound rude but ¿do you work or study?
Lazy
I have ADHD, and with that comes time blindness. So, time has always felt made up to me. I can’t measure it consistently, so I can’t use it consistently.
A society without set times at which things happen would be great. I would be able to eat when I want, work when I want, take my leisure whenever I want, and rest whenever I want. Tasks would become less about how long I spend on them, and more about what I get done. I wouldn’t have to worry about missing deadlines, because they wouldn’t exist.
I feel you. Perhaps a different use of time would also allow rest at the pace the brain needs it (so different for every person). When I hyper fixate on things it can take me "more than it should" to focus on other things again. In the span in between the productivity waves that come with hyper fixation I feel like I am "wasting time". Since that is just how my brain works, I am chronically going to feel like I am wasting time throughout my life.
This!
@@Mapomboogirl Yeah, that’s an issue for me too. The time between obligations is my time, and I don’t like being shamed into feeling like I’m using it wrong. The way that I see it, the only way to “waste” time is to use it for something other than what you personally want to be doing in that moment. If you’re using free time to relax because you want that rest, then you’re not wasting time. If you’re working on a personal project you want to get done, then you’re not wasting time. If you’re spending that free time by pouring it into your paid work because that’s what you *want* to do, then you’re not wasting time.
And even then, it’s hard to be super solid on that definition. Because, my brain is such that I very often spend time doing things I don’t want to be doing, because of hyperfixation. I’ve decided to use free time to record or mix songs, and then spent hours on TikTok instead. Not because I wanted to, but because I got distracted and sucked into it. But I think it could also be harmful to say that’s “wasting” time. Because while I do feel like I wasted my time doing something other than what I wanted, to really declare that feels like I’m blaming myself for my own brain chemistry, which I can’t control. It’s a confusing thing to explain.
Literally same, and no one around me who’s neurotypical understands what I mean when I say, “I literally don’t have any concept of time.” They’ll say something like, “Well then, shouldn’t you just set alarms for everything, since you’re so well aware of your problem,” but I would loose my mind if I had to do everything on a perfect schedule like that. Some days I wake up ready to take on anything, and some days I literally can’t move until 4pm. There are times where I can do my makeup in half an hour, and other times where I’ve been doing my eyebrows for 3 hours straight cuz they just don’t look right and I’m hyper-fixating. People get mad at me for something I literally can’t control, all because they want me to be on their schedule.
So because you're defective you want society to change so you, a tiny minority, feel better about yourself? Sounds very similar to trans activists. I guess that's wokeness in general.
Your closing statement “you can be pragmatic and an idealist at the same time” is something I’ve been trying to put into words for AGES. Being idealistic is how we come up with new ideas. Having an imagination is how we improve society. Pragmatism is also necessary in that equation but it’s not silly or nonsensical to imagine a version of the world different from the one we’re in right this second.
oo! yes. The way you probe the mythos of the wristwatch, mwa! Please do a part two! I've been considering how much we internalize the notion of time. I teach fiction to undergrads, and was talking to another instructor who'd assigned her students to go about a day minimizing double-tasking. Cook without listening to a podcast. Walk from place to place without music. Eat and just eat. Study and just study. Hang out with friends without TV on in the background. My friend said that her students *failed*, a self-diagnosis. They couldn't do it. This is in part an anxiety of being in quiet with the self, but I think it also has something to do with time...the contemporary intuitive sense that there's always something else we should be doing. Maximizing our time means spreading our attention thin, shoving as much doing as possible into each moment.
I've always struggled with time because my perception of time is slower than it should be. It makes it very hard to organize, be anywhere on time and such... Suffering of insomnia for many years and having to wake up for school left me traumatized, I'm not exaggerating. Knowing that alarm is set and will ring in the morning stresses me out through whole night, makes it hard to fall asleep, gives me nightmares and is likely to make me oversleep as a result. When looking for jobs, I look for evening shifts so I wouldn't have to set an alarm in the morning. I hate it THAT much.
i resonate with this. i hate the heart palpitations and anxiety that comes with an alarm.
While in the current state of the world and interconnectivity between various time zones, I don’t believe we can reach a point to abolish time, But I found that we could redefine ‘time’ to ourselves.
The thing I like about Mediterranean cultures (and my Islamic background) was how time divided simply to the sun - after work and on weekends we can simply fall back to plans that have vague endings and dinners that last all night, without the worry of productivity after “work hours”. Even for meeing your friends, it’s socially acceptable to ‘invite him’ to the outing; as time, locations and people are fluid in collectivism structure. One can have his afternoon tea at his friends house after work just to end up at another friend’s garden for dinner through the course of the same outing.
I prefer to keep my days spontaneous. It’s just a matter of fact. Sometimes, I have cycles of staying up and then sometimes, I fall asleep early and get up early.
I love that with every topic you cover you provide an opportunity to look at something that seemed at first fundamental and unquestionable, differently.
It has helped me reflect on myself and the local bit of the world I live in,
Thanks.
Well, I looked at it differently and saw it hasn't changed since last time.
I feel the same
i’ve always been afraid of wasting time and missing out on things. in a way, it takes the fun out of the event you ration time for. my internal time wasn’t the same as other people so it was “wrong” and i wish i could exist without time dictating your whole life and soul but i also am obsessed with time.
I could relate and understand much in this video because I’m somebody who is time-blind. I have no idea how much time passes and I can’t even guess what time of the day it is at any given point.
As a result, I often end up doing things according to my own “sweet time”. Now this works well enough for me as a student when I’m away from home and especially on days I have no lectures. Otherwise I’m bound to other people’s timings as there are expectations to meet at particular time, socialize at another time, be awake or asleep at some other time and whatnot!
And at my parents’ home especially I have always had trouble functioning as Id be awake when rest of them were sleeping and vice versa.
Sometimes, I keep multiple alarms throughout the day - just to give me a reminder to look at the time and act according to what the majority of a society would do at that time- say eat, bath, go for walk, tv time or whatnot.
It would have become soo much better had there not been the concept of time!😩
I love this, it’s really interesting to think about. As someone who values “time” to do things, but doesn’t necessarily think about the time it’s reassuring to see this video. I’ve always struggled with executive function so I used to think about time a lot. It was passing me by, I was wasting it. But since I’ve gotten older I just try to enjoy my time, I don’t really look at clocks when I’m not working. If I just so happen to feel like cleaning the kitchen at midnight, then I’m going to take advantage of that and do it. I’ve been able to let go of the anxieties of “well I should be doing this” and I can finally sit and enjoy hobbies without time looming over me.
I was told from a very young age that I lacked any concept of time. I see now that it was more like I lacked the ability to ignore my body by having some invisible construct dictate my needs. For the most part, I had all the opportunities to do the more 'normal' things on the more 'normal' timeline.... school, marriage, home, children, etc. But I always followed my instincts. It was not easy and there were many consequences along the way. But I was married at 36, started working for myself at 37, bought a home at 38, went back to school at 39, and during this time I plan to begin the process of becoming a foster parent. These are all things I waited for, the right person, the right place, and the right frame of mind to do what I felt I was meant to do. And I am happier than I have ever been in my whole life 💚
i've been burdened with the idea of time from the moment medical intervention allowed me to live with my condition rather than live my condition- i was so uncomfortable and full of so many feelings (often guilt, shame, confusion). i feel i have wasted so much time remaining sick, and I've lost so much precious time with the people I love bc while I was physically present, the pain I was experiencing didn't allow me to savor let alone enjoy what time with loved ones means. there's an adam neely video about how sound is time, and I enjoy that approach much more.
It's so funny because... since I reached a certain age I started questioning why people (including me) were so frustrated about birthing, so I fell off the importance of aging. Since then, I have had an internal struggle with celebrating or not a new year calendar/life. Of curse it is complex, but all end up in the importance we give to "time". I do believe... even time help us structure life "as we know it" and brings economical benefits, it does make a deep cut on us.
Just thoughts... I relate to the therapy for standing a terrible job, its so true. Anyways, first time writing a comment, i like your videos a lot, keep up the good job Alice.
That was such an interesting video ! Thank you, the way we see time is just like air : we don't question it. But when you sit down to actually think about it and compare it to how other culture used to do it, it's such a curse, just another tool to make us more productive and also stressed about it.
Literally one of the best videos on time and productivity as social constructs! Just found your channel and I'm in LOVE
Time itself is literally and objectively NOT a social construct, it's a feature of our universe which is why we can so reliably keep track of it
Schedules, routines, the way we mark and divide time and agree to do things at certain intervals, are social constructs. But all very useful and good social constructs as they enable us to organize ourselves to do bigger and better things both as individuals and as a collective
Thanks. This 'time is a social construct' idea seems to be an intellectual social contagion. Everything is now being thrust under the 'just a construct' bus.
Thank God Einstein didn't think this way.
More people need to see your channel and your videos. They offer so much information thank you for what you do!
I have ADHD and have always had an antagonistic relationship to time. Time blindness is a symptom of ADHD, and is the inability to sense the passing of time. This is why it’s so difficult to estimate how long things will take, or remember how much time has passed since something happened. I want to be able to sleep when I’m tired, eat when I’m hungry, or work when I have the focus, but the world around me doesn’t work on my brain’s schedule. I’ve always felt like I had to force myself into a schedule in a way that was unnatural. I’ve worked the same job for a year and I still can’t make myself fall asleep or wake up at the right time. More awareness about how time is enforced would be helpful to me.
In my social setting, the annual cycle of time which we all experience by living through the different seasons of the year, is called a "Bear Year" (for mythological and esoteric reasons).
Then there is the time from one full moon to the next, called the "Moon Time".
The time from one morning to the next is called "Time of Turn". One full day, which spans from sunrise to sunset, is called "Sun" or "Sun Time". The time from sunset to sunrise is called "Night".
Within a day there are the "Ghost of The Coming One" (morning) "Mid-Sun", and the "Has Waned" (evening).
Throughout the day and night you have "moments".
Listening to Rick Astleys "Never Gonna Give You Up" is called "Bad Times".
I love that you brought Foucault into the picture because panopticism is his way of collectively describing any society that instills self-discipline regardless of culture. Time is a pet peeve of mine, especially now that the Philippines is adopting more American standards of living and education based on their use of time. As if we weren't already colonized enough by the US already 🙄
what is the classic Philippines cultural view on time?
I’ve always thought that men wear watches just because it’s one of the few accessories that aren’t viewed as “feminine” that men can wear, but I think that’s changing with things like chains, earrings and rings all becoming more popular among men
Your channel is a goldmine! No music while you speak helps a lot for me to focus on your speech.
Please talk about whats going on in Iran, we need you guys to be our voice!
Oh you're from Iran? آنجا اوضاعت چطور است؟
Overthrow the Government!!
I agree. Followed up the news and things don't look so good...I think more people should be aware of what's going on there.
Do you want to talk about Iran? If, a big if, the protests manage to remove the ayatollahs who will take over? Will there be elections? I don’t think so, the devil will be replaced by the next devil.
But let’s say there will be elections; most people will most likely vote for an Islamic party. And than you are back at square one.
If you want to save Iran, the only chance you have if religion is taken out of the democratic equation.
@@light9205 not good. They are taking down the internet and killing us in streets.
One thing I would also say about time, is that it has a differing impact depending on who you are and how you are identified in society. If you look at the simplest and most basic way of assessing time, day and night, you may be restricted on what you can do in those set times based on something like safety. For example, as a woman who lives on her own I will not go out when it gets dark, not for any reason. Depending on the time of year and when the sun sets, very basic concepts of time, still impact women and other groups of people, on what they can do in a day and what they feel safe in doing at night. In the UK a couple of months ago there was a TV advert that showed a woman going out for a jog in a city at 3 AM, wearing earpods - this was criticised and considered tone deaf considering that roughly at the same time as this a woman in London was murdered when she walked a 5 minute journey home at 2 AM.
Not true in all countries at all. For example in the Nordic countries I feel I can go out any time without safety concerns.
Yes, time - or rather the way we apply it in society - is definitely a social construct. But I'd argue that it's a useful social construct. Modern society is functionally differenciated in many different subsystems that are disjunct but also work together, cooperate. I think time is essential to allow those systems to work together by providing an overarching frame of reference. So I don't consider time in itself as problematic, as something that should be abolished. But we should definitely question our perception of time, the notions surrounding it and the social norms interacting with it. As I said above I think time is a frame of reference. If it is injected with the concept of efficiency for example its meaning an implicatins change.
all social constructs have their use, that's why they exist
I don't think she said at any point it was something to abolish or useless. She's just posing the question of its current use and perception.
honestly, time is one of my main worries. i was socially conditioned as a child to always be punctual and it has led me to today where I arrive to all my appointments/meetings/outings at least 10 min early if not more (one time I arrived at airport three hours early!) and I get so stressed if my train or bus comes even a minute late.
that said, I'm recently unemployed and I feel like I'm wasting so much time being ''unproductive'' in the eyes of society that it's making my mental health worse. at 28 i feel like i should've done so much more and yet here I am - single, unemployed and living with my parents.
i have to remind myself that time IS a social construct and that it should only define our relationship with other humans.
This is why I've always tried to question everything, because we do take a lot for granted. When you think about things enough, a lot of things start to feel like a (social) construct we've made up and time is definitely one of those things.
At least in the West we live in a very anthropocentric society, but even within that we have a lot of biases towards our own cultures and values. I think it's natural to view what's around us as the norm, though thankfully technology, with things like the internet, has broadened everyone's horizons and let's us easily see and hear different perspectives. But we still generally live human-centric lives, because it's what we can relate to and empathize with.
Also related to Foucault's book you mentioned, I recently read part of Byung Chul Han's Psychopolitics, which talks about a 3rd wave of power, that isn't about punishment or internalized discipline, but an internalized desire for self-improvement and development. In a sense you could say we're our own master and slave now.
Marx in The Poverty of Philosophy says "The pendulum of the clock has become as accurate a measure of the relative activity of two workers as it is of the speed of two locomotives... Time is everything, man is nothing; he is at most, time's carcass. Quality no longer matters. Quantity alone decides everything; hour for hour, day for day."
As much as I would love to not be ruled by time, in the medical field that is not possible. Particularly in the hospital, our interactions with time can literally determine whether people live or die. Maybe we will get to the point where the majority of people will be healthy enough to not have acute emergencies requiring immediate interventions before they die at an old age, but unfortunately we are far from that point. Honestly I think it is a privilege to be able to think of time as a social construct. It requires a certain quality of life. Long before watches and phones, people were still ruled by the sun, having to make sure they had gathered/harvested a sufficient amount of food before the sun went down. Even with a high quality of life that does not require urgency and productivity though we are still ruled by the sun, we still have circadian rhythms even though we often try to fight against them. So mowing your lawn at 4am when you have neighbors sleeping around you is still at best inconsiderate, no matter what kind of social statement you are trying to make.
“Time exists in order that everything doesn’t happen all at once . . . and space exists so that it doesn’t all happen to you.”
'At the Same Time: Essays and Speeches' by Susan Sontag, 2007
I’m glad CZcams recommended this video. I’ve had very similar thoughts about time and it being a construct. I’m gonna re-watch (more like re-listen, as I’ll be driving )this tomorrow, as it’s late right now and I’m tired.
Your discussion of who really benefits from all the things we do feels very relevant to my own life as a young person in the US still getting used to life on my own. My actions have increasingly become motivated by making sure I can keep working to pay for my necessities as long as possible even into old age so that, as you say, even working out and taking care of my body becomes a service to my employer.
I’m all for abolishing time as a constraint in our daily lives. We’re all Captain Hook with the alligator chasing us. There’s so much pressure related to time, not only about work and career (although work is the most prominent) but also about aging and dying. Speaking for myself, I forget to live because “the clock is ticking” and I still haven’t done anything I wanted. So much anxiety and frustration derive from this concept of time, of the ticking clock. It’s really stupid but the encapsulation of this rushed society we’ve been inserted in, in my opinion, is tiktok and this short-format video trend. I mean, can’t we just sit down and watch something for the sake of that thing and not shoving as many short videos in our faces as we possibly can? 😅 That’s why I’m into the slow living “movement” (?), but I understand how much of a “privilege” (it should be everyone’s right, not a privilege) it ends up being. Great video as always, Alice!
This is arguably the most dystopian thing I've heard this month, and on god I've heard a lot of weird stuff lately. Misery caused by business schedules and time constrains is bad, yes; Social media hacking our human weaknesses in the name of profit, crippling our dopamine and general wellbeing are absolutely bad, yes; But holy shit abolishing the concept of time is not the solution, it is merely a reaction caused by very low level analysis (that meaning, it does not account for the huge ramifications and unintended consequences it will lead to) and -I am certain- it will lead to a regression rather than some kind of "balance in the force". We cannot go back to being infantiles nor can we regress from being Homo Sapiens sapiens, at best we can be informed by some practices like stoicism and eastern philosophy or even contemporary counterparts, which have a much healthier relation with time, but not by throwing the idea all together nor "abolishing" anything whatever that may mean. The point is creating a healthier relation with time. It can actually be said that conciousness of the concept of time was one of the most fundemental characteristics that differentiated us from other animals. Itunquestionably is the bedrock of civilization even though it preceeds it and while it is certainly out of wack today, it cannot be dispensed with. And you cannot say that we will "only" abolish it on our daily lives whatever that means, it is a continuum, its internal logic will collapse if you just partially abolish it. Memento Mori is a fitting idea here, yes you will die, I apologise for the rant but in a deep sense I feel that such ideas are trying to give a solution to the problem of realising that we will die, by burying our heads in the sand, instead of embracing what is. The modern world has created a toxic relation with pressure about time but no type of abolishion is the solution, it is a regression. This was quite the circular rant but my point is, lets be a little more careful, otherwise in our attempt not to become Captain Hook, we might become Peter Pan, which is not better.
I was JUST having crazy anxiety about feeling like I have too little time all the time so this came exactly at the right moment 😅❤
Your videos are one of the things CZcams needed the most. I absolutely adore your analyses. Keep going💪🏼✨we all need it!
Your videos always challenge me to think deeper. Thankyou for this upload. The last quote hit the nail on the head for me
Alice, brilliant work and an analysis I truly respect. I recently re-read an old diary of mine and noticed how much pressure I put on myself to be timely, to wake up “on time” and basically exist within corporate definitions of productivity-while self employed! It was very depressing and awakened a new drive within me to un-time my life. I’m a mixed race woman in the US and here, one’s relationship to time is heavily racialized. If you’re running on CPT (colored people time), you’re late all the time and have no regard for the clock. If I show up late to something it is often attributed to my noneuropean ancestry and ridiculed. But it is also liberating when amongst other people of color, like we are all in on a secret and quietly resisting.
I thought about time as a social construct a lot recently, but this is truly mindblowing. Thank you for this amazing video essay!
I love getting older. Although my physical ability is not good as it used to be. I feel relief like I'm glad I'm getting older. I don't really have the nostalgic view of the past. For me the only way is forward
Can't tell you how much I appreciate your videos here, great work:)
The time I worked earlier in my life, my employers only paid $5.15 per hour for (not counting all the wage theft) I only got about 6hrs a day, so often I needed multiple jobs. These jobs destroyed my body while I was there, and provided no health insurance. The biggest problem comes later in life. When I said they destroyed my body, I'm not exaggerating. I'm disabled at 46. Most of those jobs only paid $5.15 for the hours I was there, but they were taking more time from me than the time I spent working. It was just stolen from me later in life when I should be retired.
Time is not money. Time can't be replaced. Time is infinitely more precious.
i saw the “should we abolish time?” title and clicked so fast and this title is also so good.. Alice you always pick the best topics
I think getting rid of the clock is just the first stage. After that then remove all artificial light - apparently the circadian rhythms change in a very interesting way!
I like how your chanel shows the importance of humanities studies very well. When they're si looked upon and defunded... It's so hard to work in that field, so precarious, when that field is essential to any type of studies, any type of talk on any subject tbh
At the end of last year I got out of a job I was no longer enjoying and which I felt took up all of my time. I remember dreaming about all the things I could achieve if I just didn't have to be at work for so many hours a day. I've now been 10 months out of the mon-fri '9-5' structure of working, and I've unfortunately found myself often slipping into bouts of depression as I feel I am not achieving or being as productive as I should be. I completely agree with the notion of this video, but just wanted to add my own experience of how the social construct of time is so engrained in our lives that me getting what I dreamt of for so long (more time to do what I love) has been such a shock to the system, and a thing I still am struggling to adjust to.
I love your videos like I always have to sit down and watch them like a lecture sometimes Ill even take notes omg
Every day before my first job I would go 30 minutes early to the pet store next door and walk around just to make sure I got to work on time.
As a US national living in France, I've often begrudged people here their disregard for the importance of punctuality. This video made me appreciate that flexibility in one's personal life might balance the overly stringent regimentation of their professional life. Doesn't make me feel better, but thanks.
I would say that clocks are the social construct, since time itself seems to be a property or dimension of the universe. Thus to abolish time itself is a silly notion, entropy won't stop, nor would the world stop spinning. But clocks could be get rid of, or at least we could redefine their usage, so that they become less of the chains they currently are.
A very, very interesting monologue. I also am quite big on time management and productivity, but an interesting thing that I just observed, after you pointed out that clock is not the only way to organize the day, is that I didn't. The timetable I've made for myself starts from the Fajr prayer and "whenever I fall asleep in the night" (although I have kept a limit on how late I should allow myself to stay awake). ofc many things such as going to classes is related to time, but interesting to note that I may have had a different understanding of time than the conventional one (the one that is conventional in the west)
Time is a social construct, and I will die on that hill.
Jenny Odell just announced her new book about time will be out next May. "Saving time. Discovering time beyond the clock" is the headline.
When I saw the video I just thought about Jenny Odell. It's really connected to her new book coming in 2023!
It is objectively a social construct and I don’t understand why people would think that was at all controversial. Essentially everything that binds our society is a social construct. Relationships, meals, sex, love, colour, language, they’re all social constructs. I don’t want to abolish social constructs but instead stress that social constructs should fit and help our society, not bind it
this vid stired a lot of ingrained beliefs, and really thank you for that 🙏
i haven’t thought about time in this way before, 🧐 but your video makes me feel less nervous because of « unproductive » time. the idea of time-free zone, I think, is the most powerful cause it can help us to stay in contact with reality. thank you so much 🌹💌
your videos are so smart, enlightening, funny, very well made! Please keep making them, I love and appreciate your analysis of so many interesting concepts. All the best from Switzerland :)
So I’ve actually lived most of my life near Sommarøy! Abolishing time was sadly just a publicity stunt, but there was some truth in between. During the weeks of midnight sun the perception of time sort of unravels. Nothing seems to matter quite as much as during the rest of the year. It’s very freeing, but the insomnia can be a challenge.
I think I loved alarm clocks mostly because they were so prevalent in Pop Culture. I remember getting an Orpat Alarm Clock which was cute and I loved reading the ‘Time’ Part of the Encyclopaedia.
This was such a good video!! I'm starting a 9-5 grad job next year so I've been questioning this a bit - I think like any other social institution/currency its more helpful to be aware of time as a construct- and ready to critique it - than to try and escape it...
This is an important topic. I stopped wearing a watch decades ago. I've still lived my life according to the clock - working for an employer, adhering to store hours, keeping appointments all require this - but I've fought it time and again. I can go for long stretches without ever knowing what "time" it is - and then I have to check the time because I have to take medication. It's a struggle, a constant back and forth, but I feel it's worth it for the feeling of reclaiming some control.
Such a good video. So glad CZcams’s finally recommending me new, interesting channels like yours :)
Love this video. Its so important. I've been thinking about this a lot. I am reading a book called: "The Ruthless elimination of hurry". It's a Christian book, modelled on the life of Jesus, but shares a lot of the ideas you mentioned and it recommends creating more margin in our lives, working less etc, to live more deliberately. I also love what you mentioned about therapy. Most places I have worked at have some sort of employee wellness programmes/ benefits (never enough), but I try to make them fund my therapy somehow because I'm always talking about work. :)
What is undeniable is that our current sleep/work schedules in the West are very unhealthy and unnatural. In pre-industrial Europe, as well as in many Indigenous cultures to this day, people had a nap in the middle of the day, went to sleep at sunset, woke up for about an hour in the middle of the night and then went back to sleep until dawn. This is called biphasic or polyphasic sleep. Today we go to sleep way later in the night, get up later in the morning and, because we can't have regular naps in the middle of the day anymore because of work, the result is that most of us just get less sleep than we used to.
I remember when my friend group and I were younger and never used clocks and just lived on MJ Ramen and vibes for a few years, best years I've ever had tbf. Lived off street hustling, barely made ends meet but we had a blast.
I have fibromyalgia and C-PTSD so my memory isn't very good at all so I tend to have no idea how long ago something happened which leads to me saying "I don't know, time is a lie" almost every time. I hate the mindset that we all have the same twenty four hours in a day too - like I can't afford to pay someone to cook or clean and my body needs more rest than most so I truly don't have the same time as others. I also freelance at nighttime so I wake up in the afternoon and I get criticised like I'm less productive because of it. I truly appreciate you taking the time to look into this concept.
Your video was recommended to me and I'm glad I clicked. Appreciate these ideas and the thoughtfulness of your presentation. New subscriber!
The way we look at the concept of time is weird - on the other hand it feels like we’re in a constant hurry, but at the same time, there’s a feeling of ”we’re gonna live forever”, partly because death as a natural part of life has been somewhat erased from modern society, but also because the internet and social media is open 24/7 which brings an odd feeling of timelessness, at least for me. It’s unfortunate that our society seems to advocate being mindful about how you use your time only in regards to how it enhances your productivity, when really we should use our time to do things that make us and our loved ones happy.
Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with the topic of the video per se but I just had to say that I absolutely LOVED the sponsor bit, automatically subscribed to you channel because of it.
First of all, congratulations on having The Guardian as a sponsor! Hadn't heard about a newspaper doing sponsorships! And second and most important of all, kudos on the ambientation! I literally felt like I was watching an ad on a 90's magazine live on video. Fell in love 💖
Continue with the great work!
We are so similar. Time and productivity is an obsession of mine on accident and causes a lot of anxiety. It’s just nice to hear that other people are the same way.
I just finished the intro and I can relate a lot. Thanks for doing this videos, I have been struggling with stuff like these, and I haven't met someone that can understand me in the same sense you explain (in a ledt wing sense, haha). Honestly, thank you, this was very special for me. Greetings from 🇲🇽❤️.
Just to point it out, there's a difference between the physical phenomenon that's time, which is a progression of physical change, and the social construct time, which is a social construct since we could have just as well decided on other ways of measuring and relating to it.
Great video and discussion as always!
A great example of our modern relationship with can be found in the novel Momo by Michael Ende, especially the idea of "saving" time for no real purpose.
this is really interesting- especially the part about productivity providing value for others
There's a great book called Geography of Time by Robert Levine you might like Alice. It's about different cultures perception of time. It's an admittedly an old modern book ('97) with all the issues that involved but nevertheless interesting one
@@kiannagallagher6303 thanks for the recommendation:)
I've been thinking about this topic since I read "The Order of Time" by Carlo Rovelli a few months ago, as a physicist he completely breaks down the concept of time in very accessible and even poetic way (using both physics and philosophy). He argues that if human beings created the concept of time, then we should be able to unmake and rebuild it if we want it to work differently.
One of my favorite quotes from it: "Don't take your intuitions and ideas to be 'natural': they are often the products of... thinkers who came before us."
This video came up this morning and today is my day off. I kept thinking how I should do for my day to nake the best use of the time.
Merci beaucoup d'avoir pris le temps d'aborder ce sujet!
Being time blind because of adhd this is such an interesting thing to think about. My watch helps me in so many ways, it motivates me to do small tasks because I can actually see how long they take and it feels less daunting for example. but at the same time the social construct of time is something even my watch can't help me with.
Yeah same, a lot of the time I feel like time is my enemy.
@@squashfei8907 yeah constantly fighting time :)
Oh boy you just made me realize I calculate how much I’m able to sleep before falling asleep every night.
As a watch enthusiast myself, I too realised this chauvinistic logocentrism in the whole scene. What from the western chauvinist watch dealer who commented on his apprehension of visiting India, due to its tidiness (we literally were in San Francisco, which can be hellishly unsightly at times), and also the German craft-philosophy of Zeitwerk - the very manufacturing of time itself
I agree with you. This is actually something that has been on my mind recently. I work a job where I get paid hourly, and I find it very counterproductive during moments when there aren’t tasks that need to be completed. It is unproductive to just stand around. I have been thinking about this because I would rather be paid to complete tasks rather than being paid for my time. I wish society saw it this way.
13:00 "If you spend 70% of a therapy session talking about work, and you can't work without needing that therapy session.. you're indirectly serving your boss"
Having worked on Wall Street for many years, time is a construct for agreements or contracts for delivery. It is one of three pillars: time, money and energy (or resources as we referred/or headcount). Time is finite where money is viewed as infinite and energy is variable - hence the whole productivity construct where people are pushed to be more productive. I would rebel against this as a developer to maintain a state of power where I would maximize my time commitment to near deadline and restore/reserve my energy during early engagement periods of whatever project (which isn't unlike trading activity funny enough) because I recognized it wasn't my time that was sought as much as my energy. Maintaining the agreement of delivery was more important than my consistent productivity and for years I was not only successful, but every project was for years. My argument for the approach was always what good is time if the all star checks in during the second half, having been sidelined by injury during the first, and goes on to lead in scoring and brings the team a victory? So it's not giving up our time as much as our energy which is why people feel so drained and disheartened by their employment arrangements - no one should be serving time unless they're in a penitentiary - the devil's mill indeed. Yet there's this persistent overseer's mindset that is prevalent still where "time is money" which is not the case - time is just existence upholding its agreement/contract with us to enable change/motion to occur. It's your energy that you should be most mindful of and spend wisely.
this is my favorite topic honestly it is so stimulating to think about
Hey Alice, I love your videos
i'm not sure if this was already mentioned - but i find it fascinating!
the existence of different perceptions of time or different systems of time in a day, not just days in a year, might prove that some of the existing mental illnesses/disorders associated with time-management and such might not necessarily be PROBLEMS innately or they might not have existed if it were not for the world we know today. for example, executive dysfunction, procrastination - no doubt that these have bad effects because they hinder personal growth and can even prevent one from meeting very important expectations to their company/spouse/children, etc. but if my understanding of these are correct, these mostly derive from fear. in some of the examples you gave, the community in Kabyle, where people are expected to take time to their leisure, where time is not something that's meant to constrain and dictate you, it's a tool almost. something for you to hold. and then there's nothing to fear about time. would it be possible for you procrastinate in a place where time didn't scare you?
I think procrastination has to do with not wanting to do things that you HAVE to do. So, irrespective of time I think procrastination would exist.
@@araceliiris i agree, for me it's more about avoiding the work that makes me feel drained
@@araceliiris
Society treating the concept of time differently might somewhat affect peoples' tendency to procrastinate, but yeah I agree that it is at least mostly about whether someone is motivated to perform a task or not.
This reminds me of this thing where some neurodivergent people seem to have a natural tendency to be awake later into the night and rise later in the morning or even early afternoon because of how their bodies often experience a delayed release of serotonin. This makes it more challenging for them to fall asleep at times that are more natural for others, making them more disadvantaged in keeping a proper bedtime for a typical school day or workday schedule. On top of all that, they might often struggle more with fatigue by having to live in a society that forces them to constantly fight their natural circadian rhythm.
@@johnwalker1058 I was scanning the comments for mention of neurodiversity! As the parent of an Autistic child, it seems to me that much of the pathology is about "delay"...delayed processing, delayed development. Then there are the well-meaning doctors that try to soothe by saying, "They'll get to these milestones in their own time." But meanwhile, society moves ever faster. I think of my child at high school 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and my heart sinks. If we could see into the brain of a neurodiverse person as they go about a "regular" day, these brains are in the red zone, generally revving so high just to keep up. I'll stop here, but thanks for this comment.
I refuse to set an alarm unless there is something dire like a morning flight. 90% of the time, I wake up when I expect, the other 10% that I wake up late is valuable info, as it usually means I am getting sick or need to refocus on mental health. I know I’m privileged to have a job that doesn’t notice if I’m 20 minutes late occasionally
I would love to see you do a video on the popular book “Raising Bebe”, A popular book that gained traction in 2018. It is based off of the way that French people parent their children. The book doesn’t seem to separate out the larger cultures, and as someone who personally works in infant and toddler mental health and sees parents use this book in the United States I would be fascinated on your social science approach 😊 love the video, I love your work.
God I hate that book, lol. I live in France and some of the things this writer talks about is SUCH a class thing. I also find some of it to be a bit toxic. But yeah, if you spread out a bit and look at France in different regions and classes and ethnicities, it's a mixed bag, there are good things and there are bad things in parenting here, but it's not a monolith. Sorry I'm being a bit vague and without details, but it'd take too long. One thing that seems to be general here is how kids are raised with the strict food schedule and culture around food that's pounded into them once they start at the maternelle at age 3, sure it seems good on the surface but for me it can be WAAY to rigid, it's one reason French culture doesn't really have real street food, I also find some of the unwritten rules in the culture around food can breed unhealthy relationships to food, there's a reason France has the highest rate of eating disorders in Europe.
I love you! I think you bring some really cool ideas to the internet, and it's ironic to me that some suggest you create any sort of divide when in reality you bring so many of us together to share these ideas from all around the world
This video just sets so good on me. I'm working at a bank, in a corporative job for the first time in my live. In my country, working in a bank is anyone's dream cause the benefits and economic positions, they've the best sindicat and workers rights in all the country. But, at the same time, i constantly feel the pressure of time, literally have to start meditation and connect more with books, nature and sports because i was loosing my mind; feeling so fake and functional to a system i hate. So, this video just help me to relax about it, remember that is not my fault, isn't an obsession i made up; instead, is a social pressure. Would love being in peace with my self and moral and ideas while i work where i work, but is so difficult some time. Like, i consired my self progressive, and anti system, and bla bla bla, but for can pay the things that makes me happy and enjoy, i have to work in the place that is the full face of everything i critic in my daily life. Even in my queerness, i'm still being functional to capitalism. Pardon for my poor language, hope u all can understand what i mean to say; need to beef up my english, but is in the list of things that causes me anxiety and pressure. Love 4 u all, and thanks Alice for such an amazing video xoxo
I think this would be beautiful to combine with being aware of your own mortality so on a spiritual note you can practice just being, including separating yourself from Any trap of time.
Clocks are a useful tool. In the end I still need to know when my Seminar is starting. I simply can't hang around the campus all the time, running around and looking for them.