Three Theories for Why You Have No Time: Better
technology means higher expectations, and higher expectations create more work.
Derek Thompson notes:
“As technology has reduced the time it takes to cook a
meal or wash a shirt, it's opened up more hours in the day to care for other
parts of the house. Such as the little humans living in it.
In the past few decades, child care has been the
fastest-growing component of housework. Since the 1980s, American parents—and
particularly college-educated mothers and fathers—have nearly doubled the
amount of time they spend raising, teaching, driving, and helping their kids.
The economist Valerie Ramey chalks it up to a “rug rat race” led by middle- and
upper-class parents devoting more hours to prepare their kids for competitive
college admissions and a cutthroat labor force.”