Time rebound, time prosperity, and sustainable consumption (ReZeitKon)
Despite the increasing application of efficient (allegedly) “time saving“ technology in private households and at the workplace, there is increasing evidence that a lot of people in modern societies experience time scarcity. Obviously, the possibility to perform tasks (as sending an email or buying a product online) in less time than before leads to the situation that more tasks are performed in the same amount of time. This leads to a fragmentation, concentration, and simultaneousness of activities in interchange with the permanent accessibility of ICT infrastructures and devices (as Wi-Fi and smartphones), in part complemented by the outsourcing of household services. As a result of this social acceleration, there is less time at individual disposal that is perceived as “free”. This paradoxical phenomenon of subjectively increasing time pressure as a consequence of increasing application of time efficient technology and processes has not been investigated systematically to date.