I learned something about why I'm so busy

I'm impressed with this perspective on the economics of spending time, largely focused on the question of why we are chronically so short on time these days.

In an age of abundance, why are we so harried?

The simple answer, argued by economist Daniel Hamermesh in his book Spending Time, is that, as our wealth has grown, the number of hours in our day has not.

Huh? But read on, it makes incredible sense, and it answers a lot.

Hamermesh illustrates this with an a thought experiment about a billionaire. How much of the stuff that a billionaire does can she hire out? Even a billionaire would likely want to DO something with her day, so even though she may not be earning a living, she will still likely be occupied by something important, something that she couldn't pay someone else to do. She can hire someone to mow the lawn, to clean the house, to shuttle the kids around, walk the dog, and do the cooking and childcare. But at some point there's a limit. She can't hire someone to sleep for her, to eat for her, or to be entertained for her. She could hire a maid to wait on her every need, like throwing away her food wrappers or turning on and off the TV, but this would likely get tiresome, quickly imposing on her desire for privacy.

Where does this leave Hamermesh? He tries not to write a self-help book, rather suggesting that a greater awareness of the economics of time empowers one to have more control over it. Agreed.