
The busy trap - credo
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/the-busy-trap
======
soup10
How much a job pays has a weak correlation with how much it 'matters'. Growing
food matters a lot, growing food doesn't pay that well. HFT pays very well,
HFT doesn't matter that much. How much something pays is determined by the
whims of the markets. Free market capitalism provides a basic framework to
roughly match supply with demand and incentivize people to work. But the
'demand' is determined by whoever has the money.

The problem is, the actors with money don't spend it with the intent to
maximize the benefit to society as a whole. They spend it 'selfishly', to
maximize their personal interests. There's nothing wrong with that, it's how
capitalism works. But if everyone spent their money to benefit society as
whole, then there would be an extremely strong correlation between how much a
job pays and how much it 'matters'.

I feel that in the long run the markets work just fine and does act to benefit
society since people are generally ethical. But it doesn't act to 'maximize'
the benefit to society. I mean why did it take warfare for us to take space
exploration seriously? And why did the internet start as a military network?

I think capitalism is a pretty decent system. But I wish we did a better job
of pushing research and innovation for their own sake. Not as a reactive
measure to beat the competition or get an upper-hand militarily. I think
nearsightedness on what's best 'now' and 'for ourselves', leads to a lot of
work that feels like it doesn't matter.

~~~
hpatel
You nailed it. The key problem is 'demand' is determined only by whoever has
money. Capitalism works because each person gets a say in what is important
and creates value for them. The problem is that if you don't have above a
certain amount of money, you don't get much of a say. In the age of immense
income inequality, this completely distorts the 'demand' generation aspect of
capitalism.

What if we divorced 'demand'(what creates value for each person) from money
(payment for value created) and gave all actors an equal right to determine
demand irrespective of their ability to pay? We are working on building such a
world.

~~~
anamax
> What if we divorced 'demand'(what creates value for each person) from money
> (payment for value created) and gave all actors an equal right to determine
> demand irrespective of their ability to pay?

Demand is already divorced from ability to pay - anyone can "demand" anything.
The "problem" is that suppliers don't care about demand. They only care about
being paid.

If a million people demand X but are unwilling to pay for it while 10 people
demand Y and are willing to pay for it, why am I going to produce X instead of
Y?

~~~
hpatel
Divorcing ability to pay doesn't necessarily have to mean nobody pays.

We are already beginning to see the early stages of such a system. All
freemium services are in essence an example of such a system and therefore by
extension most startups.

Gmail satisfies the demand of millions of customers for an email service but
doesn't ask them to pay. This doesn't mean gmail doesn't make gains.

Currently, the primary funder of such services are ad and brand agencies.

What if we lived in a world where any individual could basically play the role
that ad/brand agencies play in supporting freemium services today?

~~~
anamax
> All freemium services are in essence an example of such a system

No, they aren't. They exist because sufficient people pay.

> and therefore by extension most startups.

Do you really think that a significant number of startups are freemium?

> Currently, the primary funder of such services are ad and brand agencies.

Not at all. They're funded by "heavy users" - see dropbox.

Ad supported is not freemium.

~~~
hpatel
You are right. I was describing free - not freemium. Though, technically even
freemium is an example of where a large number of people don't pay in the
direct exchange. The monetization model divorces payment from the direct
beneficiary - that's the key takeaway.

~~~
anamax
> The monetization model divorces payment from the direct beneficiary - that's
> the key takeaway.

No. Freemium divorces payment from SOME direct beneficiaries.

However, the total cost, and then some, is paid by other direct beneficiaries.
Is your scheme any different?

Note that freemium doesn't always work. For example, a freemium automobile
company is unlikely to work. Advertising supported "free to end user"
automobiles won't work either.

So, how does your proposed model work? Be sure to explain when it works and
when it doesn't. (If you claim that it works for every product/service, you're
wrong.)

------
AznHisoka
Anyone else think living without goals is the way to go?

For the majority of my life I was very goal oriented and would make sure every
hour of the day was filled. Everyday was a todo list. I scheduled the
occasional leisure activity but even these were part of some goal such as
'travel to 5 countries in 1 year"

Recently I just decided to give up any goals and any expectations. What I
found out was that goals were stressing me out. It made me unhappy. I seeked
my identity on some future achievement. It's something I think a lot of
entepreneurs experience too... Now I just live life and experience whatever
comes my way. I still work towards things but if a friend asks me to skip a
workday to catch a movie, I no longer give them the "I'm busy" excuse.

~~~
s_kilk
> Anyone else think living without goals is the way to go?

Yes, being eternally 'busy' and obsessed with goals is probably the quickest
way to turn your life into a vortex of depressing bullshit, well, aside from
prison or hard manual labor.

Take it easy, enjoy life and get a few hours of good quality work done most
days of the week.

~~~
koide
Hard manual labor can be very refreshing and enlightening.

One of my most elightening periods ocurred when I was packing a product at a
factory. If you keep your body busy with repetitive and tiring work, your mind
can do wonders.

Not forever, certainly, but once you are accustomed to chair gymnastics, a day
of tiring physical work after another really puts things in perspective.

~~~
s_kilk
I'm a farm-lad, so no stranger to good old-fashioned work :)

I was being flippant in my above comment, and more referring to the back-
breaking, soul-devouring variant of 'manual labor', the kind that drives
people to drink and ruins the creative spirit.

Otherwise, I do agree, sometimes it's good to do some manual work, put the
body on auto-pilot and let the mind wander. Personally I seem to get most of
my best thinking time when I'm either walking, scrubbing floors, loading a
van, etc...

------
praptak
"Dudes, you are running like crazy and pushing empty wheelbarrows around. Why
do you do that?"

"Man, we are so busy there is no time to load the damn things!"

------
bedris
"Only in recent history has "working hard" signaled pride rather than shame
for lack of talent, finesse, and, mostly, sprezzatura." — Nassim Nicholas
Taleb

~~~
sliverstorm
There have been a bunch of studies recently that show praising kids for being
smart or talented, rather than working hard, can cripple their development.
So, it hardly surprises me.

~~~
stdbrouw
Well, but that's hardly a binary choice, is it? You can encourage kids to
develop their talents without putting them on a hamster wheel.

------
EvilTerran
This article, particularly the paragraphs _"Idleness is not just a vacation
..."_ and _"The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play ..."_
, express a similar sentiment to my favourite essay:

Bertrand Russell - In Praise Of Idleness

<http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html>

~~~
moron
I also enjoyed this book on the topic: [http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Idle-
Loafers-Manifesto/dp/00607...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Idle-Loafers-
Manifesto/dp/0060779691/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341153759&sr=8-1&keywords=Idle)

------
astrofinch
>if your job wasn’t performed by a cat or a boa constrictor in a Richard
Scarry book I’m not sure I believe it’s necessary. I can’t help but wonder
whether all this histrionic exhaustion isn’t a way of covering up the fact
that most of what we do doesn’t matter.

Then why are you getting paid for it? Clearly someone cares about it, roughly
in proportion to the amount you're getting paid.

Consider these three jobs: making nails for local carpenters, operating
machinery in a nail factory, designing machinery for nail factories. Designing
machinery for nail factories helps carpenters the most, but _feels_ least
helpful.

Surprise surprise, reading children's books is not a good way to estimate the
value delivered by people working in various occupations.

~~~
alttab
Nails have basic utility as they can be used to build homes, structures,
bridges, etc.

Now take working at a teenager magazine, something like Seventeen. Really, you
are producing a level of writing and entertainment that 14-19yo girls will
read, probably paid for by their parents. Most of it will probably be idle
thoughts and advice borderlining on turning girls into sluts who buy too much
make-up. Really, your job is to provide a way to hide advertisements.

Not very valuable if you take a step back and look at all of humanity.

~~~
hyko
Economic value is whatever people want.

~~~
alttab
True. My point was that just because something has economic value in today's
system, doesn't mean it has value objectively, if there is such a thing.

~~~
marknutter
You're being incredibly bias here. You see 17 Magazine and scoff and teenaged
girls see whatever it is you like and scoff. We each find value in the things
we find value in and it's not our place to judge other people's choices.

~~~
hackinthebochs
This is a cop-out. We all "value" trivial things, and in the end, one person's
trivial interests aren't any better or worse than another's. But we absolutely
can judge interests as being in the class of trivial or not. The usual stuff
you find in 17 magazine is easily categorized as trivial. To argue against
this based on a "relative" argument is copping out of making the obvious
judgement.

------
mark_l_watson
Self-imposed busy-ness? Yep.

Great articles like this are the reason I pay up for the NYT.

I was a little embarrassed how the article reflected much of my own life
style. I am visiting my parents and I was talking with my Dad earlier this
morning about my working more than I need to and my desire to cut back even
more from consulting to have extra time for my writing and outdoor activities.
I also realized that I brag about being "busy" - in an odd way wearing busy-
ness as a badge of honor.

------
kghose
Yes, but there is such a thing has ennui. It is better to dispel ennui by
taking up projects voluntarily than doing only minimum work and then becoming
listless and depressed.

I understand that the article is trying to get us to think about busyness for
busyness' sake, but in a way, when water,food and shelter are taken care of,
you don't REALLY need to do anything else. But then what do you do for the
rest of your life?

I would say keep busy, take a little stress, but when it becomes bad for you
health and the people around you, back off. You'll be dead soon, don't waste
it.

~~~
AznHisoka
"But then what do you do for the rest of your life?"

I think this is the question you're forced to answer with earnest when you
stop trying to be busy for busyness sakes. It might be by being too busy, we
don't stop and appreciate the present moment, and everything we already have.

------
baby
I've recently noticed the contrary in my life : I'm not busy.

I have way too much time to think (and to think way too much). I don't meet
that much people, and when I talk to my friends or new encounters I don't have
much to say. And I feel like I'm wasting my time not moving forward with my
life (personal and professional).

I even googled "How to get busy".

I know it can be a trap, but being busy is GOOD. Meet people, do things, learn
things, gain experience, be active.

Also you'll become someone more like-able. Someone who is busy IS attractive
(socially and romantically).

~~~
AznHisoka
But are you going to be busy and fill your life with activities to attract and
impress others?

Or do things you actually enjoy doing, without caring much for the end result?
I think the latter is healthy, but the former is not. Busyness caused by doing
things for egotistical reasons, or because everyone else is doing it wears you
out.

~~~
baby
Does it really matter if I start getting busy just to impress other and end up
finding things I like and gaining experience for myself?

------
wpietri
I've taken the summer off, and I can definitely see what this writer means. I
have a number of habits and reflexes left over (e.g.: frequent checking of
email, compulsive checking of news sites and social media) that may have had
some use, but mainly sustained a feeling of busyness.

No idea how I'm going to prevent getting re-hooked in the fall, but I'm
definitely going to prune that back while I'm on vacation.

------
fxm4139
I've always felt that we should brag about efficiency, instead of talking
about being busy. A blog post from a few months ago:
[http://fayezmoh.tumblr.com/post/21470081227/efficiency-
matte...](http://fayezmoh.tumblr.com/post/21470081227/efficiency-matters)

------
lmm
Idleness is just as much a tray as busyness. You can spend weeks "not seeing
people I know, remembering stink bugs and the stars, and reading"... and then
one morning you wake up and realise you have no friends and nothing to live
for.

------
j45
This article will make experienced heads nod.

This article will make no sense to inexperienced heads who think they can
force their will on anything.

------
gg_
Great article. It reminded me of the Mexican Fisherman story:
<http://www.protolink.com/MexicanFisherman.html>

------
graeme
I value my time above anything else. I always have spare capacity. When an
opportunity comes up, I'm free to grab hold.

------
brunorsini
The article reminded me of a brilliant passage from one of Schopenhauer's
essays ("On the Vanity of Existence", Section 5):

 _Life presents itself first and foremost as a task: the task of maintaining
itself, de gagner sa vie. If this task is accomplished, what has been gained
is a burden, and there then appears a second task: that of doing something
with it so as to ward off boredom, which hovers over every secure life like a
bird of prey. Thus the first task is to gain something and the second to
become unconscious of what has been gained, which is otherwise a burden. (..)
For if life, in the desire for which our essence and existence consists,
possessed in itself a positive value and real content, there would be no such
thing as boredom: mere existence would fulfil and satisfy us._

------
ZanderEarth32
This is my new favorite article, or opinion piece ever. I actually wrote
something similar recently and submitted discussing my goal of having nothing
but free time which falls inline with this very much
[http://tortillasinbed.com/post/26229642463/free-time-is-
my-g...](http://tortillasinbed.com/post/26229642463/free-time-is-my-goal).

This obsessiveness with appearing as you are always busy is kind of sad. I
think it's largely an age related thing. People in their 20's and 30's equate
their worth, or value with how much stuff they are doing or making. I'd love
to talk to an old friend and ask them what they're and have them say, 'nothing
much, just hanging out'. Thats usually my response.

------
brfox
I am very busy and I like being busy; life is short and there is way too much
cool stuff to do. But, at the same time, I try to not use it as an excuse, and
I get a little annoyed when people use it that way.

~~~
grourk
That's not the point. Are you too busy to read the whole post?

~~~
brfox
I gave up about halfway - it was too preachy.

------
wizard_2
This is the Ted Rall essay he referenced at the end.

<http://www.rall.com/rallblog/tag/basic-income-guarantee>

------
jakeonthemove
Hmm, I think being busy is great - progress is survival, after all, and
there's no progress without a lot of work.

But of course, if you're busy just for the sake of being busy, you'll feel
worn out and tired all the time. There are people who enjoy being busy with
anything, though, and being busy working on something you're passionate about
is probably the best feeling in the world :-).

------
alexconway
"Don't confuse activity with achievement"

\- John Wooden

------
moron
I believe that work is good for the soul. But being busy is stupid bullshit,
as is needing to appear busy to impress others. Other people are too obsessed
with themselves to care what you're up to anyway.

~~~
ams6110
I would nuance that by saying that productive work is good for the soul. When
you can look back on what you did today and see some tangible evidence of it,
that's satisfying. To me it's most satisfying if it's a physical thing, but
something like a working piece of software does it as well.

Of course all I've done so far today is eat breakfast and surf the web, so
it's not looking so good.

------
michaelochurch
Most "busyness" is good old-fashioned social ineptitude mixed with an ill-
defined and defensive elitism. It comes from a "could-do-better" social-
climbing mentality combined with incompetence in execution. It's an end result
of (a) wanting only to associate with "high-value" people for some definition
of high value, but (b) being unable to assess value on account of not giving
anyone a chance. So the resulting behavior is to put this decision off
indefinitely.

The "I'm busy" shield is a way of rejecting people without rejecting them.
It's the ultimate in indecision. And most of these "oh-so-busy" people spend
as much time on stupid shit (or useful work, but done inefficiently) as anyone
else.

~~~
moron
That describes me very well, except I am definitely not a busy person. I just
don't like doing social things -- or rather I get a sort of malaise at the
thought of going to them, for exactly the reasons you describe here. I've
honestly never seen it laid out this well before.

But I don't think of it as social ineptitude, only because when I commit to
doing things, I can be "on" and meet people and have a great time and all
that. Beforehand, however, the thought of getting into that mentality and
doing all that stuff seems like "work" to me, and I just feel like I don't
wanna do it.

