You say that human beings have never had so much free time?
Work is only a very limited part of our lives. In the 19the century, we worked 4000 hours per year, today it is around 1400 to 1600 hours per year and life expectancy has increased. Part of our free life (without work) is done later. In France, in the 1980s, the average retirement life was 12 years, today it is between 22 and 26 years. Once upon a time, life was work with a little leisure. Today it is the opposite. These are hobbies, and a bit of work (school is not part of work, but studious leisure).
There are three main categories of leisure: studious leisure, leisure for others and popular leisure. Explain.
The studious leisure, which comes from ancient Greece, makes it possible to learn, to improve one’s mind and body, it is very broad, it is to practice a sport, it is reading, to play an instrument of music, meditation. “Skhole” means school and it is part of studious leisure. Then there is leisure for others, it is social time, time spent with family and friends. And finally, the popular leisure that is entertainment, the passive leisure that does not allow progress, but which occupies the majority of our free time. Ideally, the three forms of free time should be divided into three thirds, but it is entertainment that completely absorbs it.
You write that leisure accentuates inequalities, why?
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The free time of a large part of the population is absorbed by entertainment, in particular social networks, underlines Olivier Babeau.
The first thing I tell my students is that they will all have the same degree, but they will be judged on how they use their free time. Will they have created an association or done voluntary work, sports or music, or even learned a language? That’s what makes the difference. To succeed in the 21ste century, we must have the widest possible culture to connect knowledge. The level of cognitive demands of the world continues to increase and it is increasingly difficult to understand the world and to be an active player with added value. And this is where social inequalities grow, because the free time of a large part of the population is absorbed by entertainment, by time spent in front of screens, television, social networks. The further down the social ladder you go, the more screens you stare at. Among children, the screen time of the most disadvantaged is twice as high as among the most advantaged.
But precisely, we spend more time than ever in front of our screens?
Technology drains our brains, we have less memory when we use our cell phone, less attention span. Technology atrophies us, but at the same time it makes the world more complicated and demanding. We are caught between the two. Today, life is easy, with limited work time. We offer ourselves more comfort, more pleasure, but we weren’t prepared for that. We are asked to use this freedom with a form of discipline, but it takes self-discipline.
And boredom in all this? Is it part of our free time?
It is very important to be bored. Boredom is fruitful. There are plenty of geniuses who might not create their work today because they would have been distracted. Would Marcel Proust have written In Search of Lost Time ? And Victor Hugo all his works? And Leonardo da Vinci painted all his paintings? It’s not for lack of talent, but because of the time we waste in front of our screens! You have to be very motivated today to put aside all the seductions offered by screens and digital networks. It takes iron discipline to be able to isolate yourself and create a work.
When I was little, on weekends or on vacation, we spent hours in the car and there was nothing else to do but look at the landscape, and do nothing. When you’re on the subway or the bus, it’s easy to look at your phone, but you have to force yourself to do nothing, to daydream, let your mind wander and, who knows, it might be fruitful. You have to manage to be silent within yourself. We live in a world where there is always noise or something that piques our interest. You have to learn to be bored and to fertilize boredom.
The tyranny of entertainment
Olivier Babau
Editions Buchet-Chastel
240 pages
Who is Olivier Babeau?
- Economist and professor at the University of Bordeaux, he is president of the Institut Sapiens, a laboratory of ideas.
- Olivier Babeau has published several books: political horror, praise of hypocrisy, The New Digital Disorder – How Digital is Exploding Inequalities.
- He likes the debate and participates in many television programs in France, in particular on BFMTV. He is also a daily columnist. Le Figaro.