How Being Busy Became a Status Symbol

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2024-04-26 22:00:07

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On our How to Keep Time podcast last year, co-host Becca Rashid shared an anecdote that has long stuck with me. “I was having lunch with a friend last weekend who was trying to organize a birthday party for her colleague,” she began. “And, typical story, she said she was having trouble gathering everyone because everyone was too busy and it was impossible to get them to commit.”

The unforgettable part is this: One person in the group apparently said that she couldn’t make it because “she had to go to Crate & Barrel at 7 p.m. on a Friday.” (Co-host Ian Bogost’s response—“She had a flatware appointment?”—never fails to make me chuckle.) The anecdote is equal parts amusing and concerning: What has modern life come to if shopping for dishes must be scheduled in the same way that work meetings are? Today’s newsletter explores the many different meanings of “I’m so busy,” and what we miss when our focus is on being busy above all else.