The Time Pressure Illusion: Discretionary Time versus Free Time

Abstract

People feel increasingly time pressured, particularly in two-earner households. But much of the time that people devote to paid and unpaid tasks is over and above that which is strictly necessary; in that sense, much of the time pressure that people feel is discretionary and of their own making. The magnitude of this ‘time-pressure illusion’ varies across population groups, being least among lone parents and greatest among the childless and two-earner couples.