"Affluent societies are characterized by a scarcity of time, because as we produce more and more goods, we require correspondingly more and more time to enjoy them fully. The time available for each activity (and for enjoying the goods that accompany it) decreases because we must spread our available leisure time across an ever-enlarging array of activities and goods. As such the 'leisure class' in modern societies is 'harried' -- surely one of the most peculiar paradoxes of modern affluence."
William Leiss, Stephen Kline, and Sut Jhally. Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products, & Images of Well-Being. (40)
Nothing like a paradox to give one grist for the mind mill !
Linder also mentions the fact that when we have a lot of possessions that our possessions can end up “having” us. I think this is very true. For instance, my husband’s mother moved last year and decided she did not want to keep hauling her grandfather clock around. So she gave it to us. It is a beautiful thing, with lovely chimes and I’m happy to have it. But every so many years it must be cleaned and oiled by a professional clock maker. You know when your clock needs cleaning. It stops working. It just stops. The pendulum will not be enough to keep it going when it’s dirty. So here we have this lovely clock, but at the moment cannot afford to have the man come and service it. (It costs over a hundred dollars). This makes me feel bad to own something that we cannot take proper care of. So instead of this clock being a source of pleasure, it has become a source of guilt and stress.
On another related subject that the books brought up, Linder describes how in a more affluent society, people are more careless with their possessions, and their money. I suppose it is understandable that one would be more relaxed about money when one generally has enough to meet basic needs. But I wonder how this cavalier behavior affects us.
Reading this in juxtaposition with the realities of the 1930’s was a bit jarring to say the least, and brought a few things into sharp focus for me. There is a photo in the ‘30’s book of a restaurant window with the prices of different meals written on it. You could get a bowl of soup with bread for 5 cents. The most expensive item on the menu, a sirloin steak dinner, was 25 cents. But I was thinking, for that nickel, you could probably fill up pretty good on soup and bread. So one would be very careful with one’s nickels, no?
There’s something rather healthy about that. Being careful with money. Now lest you think me a miser or something, I said careful, not obsessive.
All this reminded me of a time when I was much younger, divorced and taking care of my son E. who was about a year old. I was working in a hospital as a nurse’s aide. I lived in a furnished apartment with just the bare necessities of housekeeping. Even the dishes were provided as I recall. There was a tiny kitchen that had a tiny table in it with two chairs. It was a minimalist existence.
I was always careful to keep a lot of baby food on hand for E. but sometimes I would run very short of food for myself. I remember one time, payday was about 3 days off. I only had a few dollars left for food. I went down to the corner store where I shopped often that had a small deli counter and bought ¼ pound of colby cheese and asked the man to slice it very thin. (To this day I think he gave me more than ¼ pound, bless his heart.) So for those three days, except for lunches at work where I had a pre-paid lunch ticket, I ate peanut butter and jelly, graham crackers, and those slices of cheese. And I think after carefully assessing my stock of baby food, I ate a jar of blueberry buckle.
When payday came again I was much more careful about what I bought.
I will never forget that experience. Now I cannot say it was pleasant, but it produced a certain clarity of thought, a simplicity of action, a singular focus that was mind altering. I cannot compare my 3 day scarcity of food to the depression that lasted for years. But I did get a small glimpse of what it might have been like. And it was enough of a glimpse that it affects me to this day. I have this feeling that no matter how much money I might acquire, I don’t think I could be cavalier about it.
I am beginning to think that the statement “less is more” is a more profound one than I first thought. These kinds of thoughts fly in the face of what I am bombarded with daily from TV and other advertising and just listening to people around me. Indulging oneself is seen as a virtue these days. “You deserve it.” Is a common advertising slogan. It is a certainty that people work very hard in America, we really do. But I don’t hear people talking about how content they are with their lives. I hear about how little time they have to do the things they really want to do. It’s a modern conundrum. More money, less time. I have no answers as usual, but I do find myself examining my own attitudes toward money and things. . . once again.
That’s my rather scatterbrained book report.
Hope some of it made sense.