Americans work less than ever before but still feel like there's no free time ' and there's a simple explanation

The number ofhours Americans workhasgone down over the last several decades, according to data from the OECD, while leisure time has gone up. But that's hardly the perception for many working people.How come'The psychologist Adam Alter offered one reason in his 2017 TED talk "Why our screens make us less happy."He says thatscreen-based devices eat up what precious free time we have left.Butthat may only be part of the story when it comes to the lack of leisure time. Here's why it feels like you have no free time anymore.SEE ALSO:Meet the first-ever robot citizen ' a humanoid named Sophia that once said it would 'destroy humans'Our view of free time has changed.Now that Americans have left the Industrial Age for the Information Age, the way people think about the value of time has changed.Psychologists have found peopledo actually equate time with its monetary value (i.e. "Time is money."). At the same time, people have more opportunities than ever for multi-tasking. The result is time not spent working feels like a waste."Multi-tasking is what makes us feel pressed for time," Elizabeth Dunn, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, told the Economist.People are working from home more often.A 2017 Gallup survey of 15,000American workersfound that 43% of people spent at least some of their time working remotelyan increase of four percentage points since 2012.They're also doing it more often:While the share of people who said they work remotely one day a week or less has fallen since 2012, the share of people who do it four or five times a week has risen, from 24% to 31%.On the one hand, more flexibility in where to work has made it easier for parents andpeople who travela lot to get their work done. But it's also had the side effect of getting people comfortable with working at home, at times they'd normally be relaxing.We are spending longer hours in the office.A 2011 survey of more than 300 companies in the USand Canada found nearly two-thirds of employers were demanding longer hours of their employees than they didthree years prior.Roughly half said they expected the longer hours to get even longer over the next three years.According to additional survey results, the attitude may be due to the fact employersweren't aware thatworkers felttheir mental health had suffered due to the longer hours.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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