Over the course of the next few months, Oxford Urbanists will be publishing dispatches from around the world on what feels like an unprecedented era in modern history, both for cities and the world, during — and perhaps after — the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to know how cities are responding; what lessons we can learn for the future; and how we think cities might change indefinitely.

Case Study: All cities

All of us inevitably live in societies that install the idea that time is precious, and should be used to its fullest.

We are expected to occupy it with — first and foremost — our necessary duties: jobs, studies, family. These already take up the majority of our time, but we make sure to fill any gaps we may have during the day with hobbies, social interactions and basically all those other activities that we simply have to do; not necessarily because we enjoy them, but because, again, we are expected to. There is almost an underlying pressure to do a sport, see friends, learn. Always on the go, so that by the end of the day, we can look at ourselves and almost gladly say: we had no time to spare.

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Time and capitalism

The central role of time and time management in capitalistic societies has long been acknowledged. Thompson offered an accurate description of time discipline in 1967 in “Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism”[i], putting emphasis on the importance of clock time for social control. Just as described in his work then, today we try our hardest to make sure that we are getting the most out of our every moment. We want to make life efficient, so that we can fit more tasks in and be more productive. Technology makes that easier than ever, as it allows tasks to be achieved in a shorter time. This leaves us with more time that, of course, needs to be filled, causing an endless requirement for distractions.

As a matter of fact, we are constantly looking for something to do, and it is not difficult today to find it. The Internet, phones, video games, TV — there are numerous ways for us to entrain ourselves and stay distracted. It is no surprise that so many of us depend on scheduled routines to go through a week, as time management is regarded as the most necessary skill to make the most out of our activities.

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Distractions in cities

Our own cities are shaped to keep us occupied, designed to satisfy our every need. We can’t ever find an excuse to not do something, because after all it only takes about half an hour to get anywhere and everything is provided almost 24/7: gyms, pubs, bars, cinemas, libraries. The list is endless and this vast number of opportunities just reinforces in us this idea that we should be using our time to the fullest. Because why waste a day at home when you could be doing something (anything) else?

Furthermore, we live in big, busy cities, that produce a massive volume of social interactions. We create, almost unconsciously, superficial and impersonal relationships with others, simply due to the nature of our environment. If, on one hand, we are expected to meet people and have as many connections as possible, on the other, we struggle to find the time for all these relationships. Again, the concept of time is essential to understand how we interact. It is normal to schedule each other in our week, to allocate one or two hours every day to catch up with as many people as possible. Our overcrowded cites never stop and subconsciously push us to do the same.

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The effects of quarantines

If this is how capitalistic societies work — with people constantly being productive, striving to occupy their time, almost ashamed when they have nothing to do — quarantine measures have suddenly and abruptly broken everyone’s routines. Not only we are forced to stop most social interactions, we are also physically relegated to our houses (at least who can afford to be); working hours are shorter and our only real duty is to stay at home. Our own cities are becoming foreign to us, as going outside mainly raises feelings of anxiety and fear.

"The sole cause of man’s unhappiness,” wrote Blaise Pascal, "is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” [ii]

This line never been more fitting. We are always busy, always working, always longing for more time “for ourselves;” we are aware of the unsustainable pressure our society puts on us to perform and we want to escape it at all costs. However, when for the first time we have a chance to take a step back and actually focus on us, we realise that we don’t even know if we can. Suddenly stripped away from our duties and hobbies, we are forced to look at ourselves and ask “What do I do now? What do I want to do with my time?”

Our incapability to face these questions shows clearly on the Internet, with blogs and sites offering the most desperate suggestions on how to kill time during quarantine. And it shows on social media consumption, which has considerably increased since the beginning of quarantine measures[iii]. As much as the positive sides of social media (such as keeping tabs on friends and family, as well as psychological support in time of isolation) should not be ignored, we should also, really, ask ourselves…

Why are we in such a desperate need of distractions?

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A new concept of time

As Pascal said, we are unable to stay by ourselves and that’s because, deep down, we are scared of ourselves. For the first time, we might be forced to experience that nausea that we so unconsciously try to avoid. Although being able to look at the inside world has always been a challenge, we live in an age where distractions are the norm and asking those scary questions that force us to investigate who we really are, and what we really want, may be the key to return to society after this pandemic passes with a wholly new attitude towards time.

Being forced to focus on ourselves and our existence is surely frightening and definitely not easy, but maybe necessary right now. We’ve reached a point where most of us don’t realise that we don’t really spend time focusing on ourselves anymore; those that do put the issue on the side because “there is no time for that.” It should not be a surprise that burnout levels in most professions have never been higher than today[iv]; we should, therefore, ask ourselves if there could be an alternative to this constant anxiety to perform. This could be our opportunity to realise that time doesn’t need to be always used in a productive way, and that we don’t have to occupy our week, hour by hour, without ever stopping.

Maybe, by the end of these quarantines, we can learn that spending time investigating ourselves is not a waste.

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Maria Chiara Mantova was born and raised in Naples, Italy. She moved to Manchester in 2016 to study, and is currently a forth year medical student at the University of Manchester.

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[i] E. P. Thompson, Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism, Past and Present, No. 38. (Dec., 1967), pp. 56-97

[ii] Blaise Pascal, Pensees (1670)

[iii] https://www.alistdaily.com/social/coronavirus-social-media-increase/

[iv] Bryan Robinson, The 2019 rise in job stress and burnout, Thrive Global (2019)