Less Work, More Fun

photo credit Unsplash

So I sometimes wonder why there isn’t more emphasis on creating a future that involves less work and more leisure time. I feel like when I was younger, this was a goal. We’d create more robots and automated services, freeing up time for people to just enjoy life. Nowadays it feels like the goal is to shame people into constantly working. What happened?

Throughout history, people have made advances that have had the effect, if not the goal, of making life easier. The washing machine was a great invention. It drastically cut the time needed for doing laundry down, so people (mainly women) had more freedom. Automobiles, planes, computers, self-checkouts, etc, I’m actually hard-pressed to find any invention that has not had the effect of making some aspect of life easier. And that makes sense, inventors typically want to invent something that will be useful. So the goal throughout history seems to be how we can develop in ways that advance civilisation by making menial tasks easier and less time-consuming.

Now, of course, some of these inventions may have the detrimental effect of job loss (for example self-checkouts) but that should not be a reason to slow down future progress. The problem is that instead of lamenting low-level job loss (which will be inevitable as we progress) we should be focusing on ways that that job loss can actually be used to benefit everyone. For example, if certain tasks can be automated, they should be, then if that eliminates jobs, those people who have lost their jobs should be trained for another job. Job training should be a part of any unemployment benefit provided by the government. Next as more people get trained at higher-skill level jobs, there will be a bigger pool of employees to choose from. At this point, the goal should be to reduce the workload for everyone. If there are more people to cover the work, then why not have 3 or 4 days off a week? Or have shorter work days. Business hours could remain the same, as there would be enough employees to cover all of the shifts. Who wouldn’t want more time to just enjoy living their life!

I understand the biggest problem with this would probably be the ability for businesses to adequately pay more employees. However, I’m certain there are people out there that are innovative enough, who can develop unique solutions to this problem or any others that might arise. There is no sense in letting potential problems slow down growth. Instead the focus should remain on problem solving. Keep in mind, we don’t have to limit ourselves to the same old way, just because that’s how we have always done it, instead we can and should find new and better ways. Our focus should always be the ability to live a better, more fulfilling life that equitably balances work and living.