BROKEN PROMISES On technology and productivity...

by TheFallenWeeble on Tuesday July 11, 2000 @06:33AM

Though a pretty good article, I think the premise is somewhat flawed. Sure, the dream of technology is that it will free us from grunt work and give us more time to do other things. The way this is supposed to work is that, with the new tech, you do the same amount of work in less time.

This means you can get off work earlier and enjoy life, right? No such luck, Skippy. You (and your employer) are used to putting in so many hours. You don't think in terms of tasks to get done, you think in 8-hour blocks of time that you spend at the office. The result? You do more work in the same amount of time. Nothing changes. You make more progress and get to the next task faster than you would have before. The idea of getting more leisure time from increased productivity at work is a myth that IMHO will never be realized. There is always more to get done.

Humans get bored when all they have is leisure time.