More free time may not make you happy

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

This was from a study made by Marissa Sharif, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia back in 2016.  The survey was conducted to more than 21,700 Americans, employed and unemployed. While a lack of free time was related to poorer well-being (a person who is overworked), the opposite which is having extra time seemed to plateau at two hours per day: having more free time than that did not make people happier.

It’s no surprise that constantly feeling pressed for time — and the stress that creates — can take a toll on well-being, the authors of the study said. Many studies have documented this.  But excessive free time, Marissa’s team found, may diminish well-being because people feel they are not being productive.  “Productive” means more than simply being busy, Sharif said. Busyness, she noted, has become something of a “status symbol” in today’s society — a sign that a person is important. Feeling productive is different: It’s related to our sense of purpose in life. And that may be lacking, Sharif said, when people have too much time on their hands.

As usual the average is the ideal or what is between two undesirable extremes, in this case not having enough free time for oneself, and having too much of it.  That’s why virtue is defined as the good habit between a bad habit and excessive good habit.  The virtue of courage for example is the good habit between cowardice and recklessness (too much courage but without prudence).  And the virtue of humility is the good habit between pride and timidity (also called false humility, which is not wanting to stand out or be popular but actually due to laziness or love of comfort).

Having too much free time as the study concluded makes people unproductive and is connected to a loss of one’s purpose in life.  We are meant to be productive and we are meant to have a purpose in life along with that productivity.  The two main human purpose in life is to do something for a living, and to engage in an activity that contributes to personal growth in character and spiritual life.  Activities such as playing computer games, watching movies, TikTok, engaging in social media, etc. if done too much will leave you feel unsatisfied.  Why is this so? Because these often-addicting activities are just meant for rest and relaxation.   They are not the main goals of life in themselves or the most important thing in life but are instruments to the main goals in life which is work and personal growth. God created us to work and not to rest excessively.  In Genesis 1:28, God said to Adam and Eve, “Fill the earth and subdue it” meaning have children and work to be productive and creative.  God showed this when He worked to create the universe in six days and rested only on the seventh day.  We are meant to work more than to rest.

This excessive free time leaving people bored was illustrated when I had a student back in my teaching days in a technical school for the underprivileged named CITE.  This student was given a leave of absence by the school because he had too many failed subjects.  The reason for his failed subjects were excessive absences and tardiness, obviously because he was tired of going to school. It’s a scholarship school so it would give chances to students who seem not able to adjust to the demands of schooling, plus they come from poor families who have more than enough share of problems that could hamper their studies.

I personally told this student, to take a leave of absence for six months and make a long and hard reflection on whether he still wants to finish his technical course or not.  He seemed very excited with the prospect of having a lot of free time staying at home and not having to wake up early to go to school.   But after two months, he came back to me and begged to be allowed to study again.  His very words were, “I thought it was going to be enjoying, but not having anything to do after sleeping and playing, is boring.”  I told him, “You wanted to be at home because you were tired of school.  Now that you are at home, you want to go back to school?”  “What do you really want to do with your life?” I told him.  The lesson here is that an attitude of laziness can make you lose precious time, as well as lose your ability of thinking reasonably.