Monday 24 September 2007

The increasing pace of life

Life gets faster every year. We give out "long service" awards to employees who stick around for five years because that's so uncommon. There are plenty of other examples of which I'm sure you're aware. Bottom line is that things are getting faster and we'd better be ready for it, because that trend is not going away any time soon. I don't see a future where we have longer to deal with our current situation. I see people growing more and more impatient as life accelerates ever further. Reaching your first wedding anniversary will be cause for massive celebration. Taking a six month university course would put you way too far behind your peers in work experience. Companies will give out long service awards for three-month contractors.

Or will they? By the time the world is moving at that speed, attitudes towards things like marriage, study and employment will be very different indeed. Long term goals will simply fade into the background because Now is so demanding. Taking on permanent commitments will be simply impossible. The marriage rate will drop, as will the birth rate, because who knows what your circumstances will be like next month? How can you commit to a nine month pregnancy, let alone the equivalent of an eighteen year care contract?

Mokalus of Borg

PS - We'll find another way to reproduce, I'm sure.
PPS - But the people who work it will choose another career in a year or two.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think there's a point at which people rebel at the fast-paced life and start looking for ways to slow down. I know I certainly have, most of the people I work with have found ways to simplify and focus, too. This train has breaks, we just have to remember how to use them.

John said...

Your own train may have brakes, but there are more people in the world every day, so even if each individual takes today at the same pace as yesterday, the pace of society in general will speed up. The only certain thing is that the future will not be the Good Old Days for everyone.

Anonymous said...

"The only certain thing is that the future will not be the Good Old Days for everyone."

So, no change then.

John said...

Well, you know what they say. The more things change, the more they stay the same.