Twenty shades of "time is money"
“Time is money” hides everywhere, in plain sight, like any good cultural myth knows to do.
They wear a disguise, transfiguring per context; a slight tip of the chin and sip of air to suck-in the belly… you almost wouldn’t recognize them.
“Time is money” wants to be found, but doesn’t want to be found out.
“Time is money” wants to be the talk of the town, without anyone muttering an actual word of their existence.
“Time is money” wants to set the trend, without seeming conspicuous.
“Time is money” wants everyone to wonder: “Wait, why do we do it that way?” before remembering, deep in their bones, but not in their souls: “Because ‘time is money’ said so.”
The last few weeks we’ve discussed how a hastened temporality (i.e., one of relentless speed and acceleration) became “normal” in US American culture, and consequently, consumer culture. We see it in industries like fashion (the trends turn over daily), food (to fuel our busy schedules), and travel (how many insta-worthy spots can you squeeze into a week?) Natural constraints give way to catastrophe and we forget so quickly.
Nearly 300 years ago, Benjamin Franklin muttered some economic advice and we built a whole system on it. When that system proved productive and provided an opportunity for more leisure time, Enlightenment thinkers deemed the average human as unworthy and ill-suited for idle hands and minds. Time spent working and time spent consuming meant no time for trouble. A post-war manufacturing glut and a new era and definition of prosperity chose our fate: a culture of mass consumption.
We feel it in our everyday lives. The dizzying speed. The disconnection. The use of objects and materials to quench our deepest desires. The divorce from ‘time’ as something inside us - to something we can hold and manipulate and control.
There’s quite a few new faces around here, and for that, I am grateful. Below are links if you’d like to catch up on the backlog of the ‘How fast became normal’ series:
Pt 1: Exploring temporal rhetoric in US consumer culture
Pt 3: A brief history of time and consumer culture
Pt 4: Benjamin Franklin and the cultural myth that “time is money”
Pt 5: How to read advertisements for their hidden (and not so hidden) meanings
Over the next few (ahem- twenty) we’re going to discuss the many ways in which “time is money” mischievously appears in US American consumer culture.
By the way - I’m revisiting these findings from my dissertation, and I’m excited to re-open and expand the thinking here. I hope to learn from all of you + your life experiences and hope that you’ll share your thoughts below in the comments.
If you know a friend who’d be interested in joining us - please share! The more the merrier.
“Time is money” is a cultural myth that orients our collective beliefs and treatment toward time… a slippery concept in and of itself, which is made simple by the all-American quip that time is— quite simply— money: a resource to be spent, invested, or otherwise wasted.
I won’t tease the 20 themes week-by-week. Here they are up-front:
American: "Fast is patriotic, democratic, and American"
Competitive: "Fast is a competitive advantage:
Convenience: "Today's pace of life demands convenience; solutions promising speed can ease your burden"
Desirable: "Fastness is a desirable and aspirational trait”
Escape: "If you (earn) and spend enough money, you can escape time"
Fast is Better: "Fast is better than not fast (conversely, slow is bad)"
Glorification: "Fast is something religious; an idol to be worshiped and glorified"
Modern:"Fast is synonymous with modernization; the result of continuous scientific progress and innovation, engineering"
More energy: "Today's pace of life requires more energy in order to keep up with everyday demands"
More efficient: "Today's pace of life requires more productivity in order to keep up with everyday demands"
Multitasking: "Today's pace of life requires multitasking; you must blend activities (work and play, walking and talking, etc) to keep up with everyday demands"
New technologies: "New technologies allow you to maximize your time"
Quality: "You don't have to sacrifice quality in order to go faster; the fast version is on par with the traditional, slow version"
Resource: "Time is a finite resource to be invested, spent, etc for a certain return"
Round the clock: "Non-stop, around the clock expectations demand higher frequency of activity"
Scheduled: "Time should be scheduled, regulated, measured, and managed"
The New Normal: "Fast is the new normal; the standard; the average"
Time saving: "Save time so that you can redirect time towards more work, leisure, etc"
Triumph over time: "There are no limits that cannot be broken; with speed it is possible to triumph over time, nature, the body, and social demands"
Way to success: "Going faster is the way to be more successful in this society"
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The newsletter is going on break next week. We will begin our exploration of the twenty “time is money” themes on Tuesday March 7th.
Fascinating topic! I'm very excited to explore this Substack. Love this line: "We feel it in our everyday lives. The dizzying speed. The disconnection. The use of objects and materials to quench our deepest desires. The divorce from ‘time’ as something inside us - to something we can hold and manipulate and control."