The way we view free time is making us less happy

He recommends using mindfulness to help savour leisure experiences. “It expands your subjective perception of time (i.e., you feel like you have more of it) and enhances memory formation, which means you’ll not only feel like your vacations lasted longer, but you’ll remember them a lot better.”

Participants from India and America, both nations with overwork cultures, endorsed the belief that leisure is wasteful more strongly than participants from France, which has social norms, “less restrictive of enjoying life and having fun”. In fact, while Malkoc estimates about 30% of the population endorses the ‘leisure is wasteful’ belief on avera... See more

The ability to enjoy terminal leisure (as an end in itself) is a stronger predictor of wellbeing than enjoyment of instrumental leisure, the study showed.

Part of the problem, new research shows, is how comprehensively we internalise the message that leisure is wasteful.

just like a traditional resume, where we show off our best selves, this experiential CV can become a breeding ground for competition. Keinan believes social media exacerbates our focus on productive leisure. Referencing a 2021 research paper, she suggests people are pivoting to signal their status and accomplishments in alternative domains – in thi... See more

By working through our experiential checklist instead of seeking simply to enjoy the moment, she writes, we build our “experiential CV”.

Equally, the way we chase top-notch leisure experiences has made recreation more stressful than ever. High expectations may clash with our experienced reality, making it feel anti-climactic, while trying to concoct the best vacation or leisure experience ever can fuel performativity.

New research shows that we judge future positive events as both farther away and shorter than negative or neutral ones, leading us to feel like a holiday is over as soon as it begins.

“our ability to purchase and enjoy goods and services has risen much more rapidly than the amount of time available for us to enjoy them”. This pressure manifests in our decisions. “We feel like we want to have the best bang for our buck and minutes,”