Time goes by… so quickly

No. This is not an article that tries to contradict Madonna. It is inspired by two read.cash articles: one by @CoquiCoin 'How much for your time' and another one by @rodriguezpct 'Tres Regalos Incalculables'. Also is based in some books I have read for my PhD Thesis that addresses issues in transformations of cities since industrial cities to the smart cities. But let's start with…

The space.

The space I am referring to is not the outer space full of stars and planets, but the mundane space, the one we physically occupy, which is composed of different spaces. In example, there are public spaces like a street, a park, or a square. There are private spaces such as our home. There are private spaces for public use, such as a coffee shop or a bar. Those are the spaces I am referring to.

The time.

Whenever we talk about the Industrial Revolution, the steam engine is always cited as the innovation that revolutionized the human way of life. But allow me to cast some doubt on that. Perhaps it was not James Watt's invention that most determined human development but something smaller and simpler: the pocket watch.

Lewis Mumford said in 'The City in History' that “it was the clock, not the steam engine, what changed the world.”

In fact, before Industrialization, time was measured more or less roughly. Church bells marked the passing of matins, nonas, visperas, etc. which were more or less homogeneous blocks of time.

With the new industry, the feudal landlords (lords of the space) found it much more lucrative to stop cultivating the land to set up factories in that same spaces. Assembly lines made it possible to produce 24/7 regardless of natural cycles (day or night, winter or summer). That required a control of time (entry and exit of workers, hours worked, production per hour…). As Benjamin Franklin said, 'Time was Gold' and controlling it with exactitude allowed to better control the production and the obtained profit.

Curiously, at that period, the use of the pocket watch became generalized. This small instrument allowed each person to know the exact time. It is not surprising that the most industrialized countries also began to be known for their punctuality (English punctuality is a great example). Medieval church bells no longer defined approximate blocks of time. With the pocket watch, each individual had an accurate time-measuring instrument that would serve to dictate what to do with time at each precise moment: entering the factory, lunchtime, leaving the factory…

This small instrument turned the lords of space into lords of time. Spending time on non-productive matters meant wasting time, and remember: time was gold.

Since then, we live with the anguish of knowing what time it is, at what time we should eat or sleep, at what time the train arrives to the station or at what time is our favorite program on TV. We live subjected to the clock, to that small and 'inoffensive' gadget that dictates when we should do everything we do, as Eduardo Prieto mentioned in 'The Law of the Clock' (La ley del reloj).

Too many spaces… speed up the time.

Nowadays, time is still unique, but spaces have multiplied. In the same time, we want to fit too many spaces simultaneously. We can be having a rest in a park (physical space) while looking at our cell phone (the new pocket watch that now dictates our time and the spaces we are in). We are physically in a square, yes, but at the same time we are in virtual spaces like noise.cash, in read.cash, in WhatsApp, Facebook and countless other virtual spaces.

And we want to fit our presence in all these spaces, physical and virtual, at the same time. What the new lords of time and space like Facebook (Meta) are now proposing is to completely mix those physical and virtual spaces. In short, to extract all possible benefits from our time and our activities in every space, physical or virtual. In sum, to extract all possible benefits from our entire lives.

Perhaps this is why it seems to us that time flies, that everything goes so much faster, that we lack the time to do everything we want to do, that we don´t have enough time.

Perhaps it is not a problem of time, which is the same as it was a thousand years ago. Perhaps it is an issue related to the multiplicity of spaces and of a strict measurement of time based on money.

In conclusion

I think our time is worth everything. Having time to do what makes us really happy is a luxury that very few can afford. So, to the question expressed by CoquiCoin, I would answer that my time is worth everything. It is the most valuable thing I have. That all of us have. What would you do with zillions of dollars? It doesn´t matter what specific things you would do. In sum, you would buy time (no need to sell it while working, no need to spend it in things and activities you don´t like, time to travel, even the time of other people at your service, etc).

And as I already told rodriguezpct, the best, the most valuable thing we can give to those we love, is time. Quality time. A unique time and in a single space.

Giving a “here and now with you, in no other place/space and only with you” is the most valuable thing we can give to those we love.

Use your time wisely (yes! This is a financial advice... and emotional too).

Loucy

This article has been possible thanks to all the people that has written in our noise.cash channel 'En español'. But also thanks my sponsors that encouraged me to keep writting. Take a look to their posts. They are really great!