One would think that leisure is more popular than work. Most people find too little free time stressful, they long for a vacation so that they can relax as long as possible. How about having “free” forever? Or more than seven hours every day? Scientists investigated this question and found that there is probably “too much” free time.
Do we have to be busy to enjoy life?
When less than two hours a day are available, most people no longer feel happy: this fact makes sense. But that there is an upper limit for what is considered to be pleasant leisure time seems rather strange. Even so, it looks like we have to be busy to really enjoy life.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania analyzed information from over 14,000 adults who had expressed satisfaction with their life between 1992 and 2008. As additional information, the study participants stated how much they filled their days with work and free time. In addition, there were data from the US Labor Statistics Agency for 22,000 other people from the years 2012 and 2013.
Working people with children under the age of six had an average of three and a half hours a day to spare, people without children an hour more. According to the data, study participants who were allowed to use two to five free hours felt particularly satisfied – the happiness curve decreased significantly below and above. Educational level, age and gender did not seem to have any influence on the result; it always remained the same.
Three free hours a day are particularly popular
The motivation researcher Marissa Sharif puts it this way: “Having little time is bad, but having more time is not always better.” Which feels better: Having a quarter of an hour of free time a day, three hours or seven hours? A particularly large number of people chose the three free hours because with seven hours they lacked productivity. The respondents found the idea of spending the non-working time in front of the television instead of active hobbies to be particularly negative.
So employment makes you happy, at least for most of us. But whether it always has to be wage labor is another question.
Those: spektrum.de
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