Pressed for Time: the Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism

Wajcman (TechnoFeminism), professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, offers insights into our use of high-speed technology and how that technology skews our perceptions of time. She says "modern" workers have always felt rushed, from the mill workers of the Industrial Revolution to today's nomadic office professionals, yet studies show that since the advent of computers, hours spent working have not actually increased. The "time-pressure paradox" we feel is due to our increasing tendency to blur work hours with family and personal time, coupled with technology that untethers us from our workplaces. New devices lead us to expect to perform many things quickly, but overlapping demands of work, family, and personal life keep tripping us up. Wajcman backs up her arguments with a wealth of reference material and earns points for spotlighting the gender gap created by the extra demands on women from work and family. While sentences such as "The relationship between technological change and temporality is dialectical, not teleological" can make reading a challenge, Wajcman's conclusions are thoroughly supported by research, and delivered with sympathy, reminding us that "we make the world together with technology, and so it is with time." (Dec.)