Time Affluence

Author Brigid Schulte coined the term "time confetti" to describe the effect that constant distractions have on our experience of time.

When our attention is splintered in a thousand different directions across texts, after-hours Slack messages, Instagram comments, emails, breaking news alerts, and more, it's difficult to actually turn off and find a place of rest during our leisure time.

This is what's known as the autonomy paradox. Adopting technology that lets us work anywhere at any time can easily lead to working everywhere all the time.

When our time is cut up like this — like confetti — our experience of the day is that we have less of it, leading to a feeling time poverty.

On the rare occasion I spend a day offline and unreachable, time feels like it stretches on forever. If you're in need of some mental relaxation, or just a little more focus, you may find it there in that space of time affluence.