Hutsle and Bustle

I had a split second to take a look at the web today. I called up New Persuasion which is a blog about where we are today and the culture we are in. They have trends in the Americana family, which I find interesting. Today's blog gave me pause. Especially when talking about our children and their childhood. (I included the link on the right.)

It at least makes me feel like I am not alone.

- Jen


July 10, 2007

Too much of too much

If you asked Americans to describe their daily life in a single word, you would probably get answers such as “busy”, “stressful”, “rushed” or “saturated.” We are a nation of busy people who are constantly on the go and multi-tasking. We are inundated with more information and more choices than ever before. We are recipients of more types of media and media messages than ever before. In a typical day we text friends, email colleagues, surf the web, watch 100+ channels on our TV, listen to our iPod, watch TV on our iPod, plan our next vacation, choose among 30+ flavors of soda, sign our kids up for summer camp and Spanish lessons, compare bank rates online, and then realize we have no time to sleep or prepare dinner.

A recent analysis of newspaper articles shows that this saturation is apparent every day in everything we do.
We encounter traffic on our drive to work. New York City is attempting to reduce congestion by enacting legislation that would charge commuters into the city a fee. Suburban sprawl in India results in trains so crowded that 13 people die every day from getting hit by commuter trains.
We go to the book store to buy a new book. How do we choose among the thousands of titles?
Our children are involved in more after-school activities than ever. Three year olds are taking Chinese and newborns are on waiting lists for preschool. However, recent studies show that kids need more time for free play and family togetherness. How can we stop the madness and let kids be kids?
DirectTV now lets you access 185 channels on your CAR’s video system. Do we need to be tuned in at all times?
An email is no longer just a few quick sentences to confirm meeting plans. Emails now include large digital video clips, photos, PowerPoint presentations and spreadsheets. Yahoo now offers unlimited storage space for its users. Essentially, you never have to delete email ever again. Yet, these innovations are just too much for many people. They can’t keep up with all the email. Adding spam to the mix makes it that much worse. Some people have declared “email bankruptcy” in which they have deleted their entire inboxes and are discouraging friends and colleagues from emailing them.
Coke and Pepsi together offer about 100 different carbonated beverages.
43% of working people claim they’d rather have an extra hour of sleep than an extra hour of free time. Only 26% of adults get the recommended 8 hours of sleep a night.
What does all of this mean for today’s society?

We have too much and too many choices. There is no escaping saturation and there is starting to be a backlash. People yearn for a simpler time and a simpler life. They want their kids to go outside and play in the backyard without worrying that Johnny won’t get into college because he played hide and seek one afternoon. We used to think we wanted it all and more. However, like the old adage “be careful what you wish for”, we’ve gotten it all and now want to get rid of it. There has been a large increase in activities reminiscent of a simpler time. We used to pay people to make our sweaters and now we want to knit them ourselves. We enjoy turning off the lights and eating dinner by candlelight. People daydream about going on vacation somewhere where their Blackberry and cell phone don’t work. With so much information out there to sort through, we are tired. We feel pressured to sort through all the options and make the best decision at all times. We feel we have to weigh all our options, make a decision and then keep searching for more. Satisfaction is no longer an option. Yet, now that we’ve seen all the options, it is hard to go back. We are instead filtering out irrelevant information and trying to focus on just what is important to us and our families and our everyday lives. That is still more than enough.