The Embodiment of Time (original) (raw)

Western society is often described as 'instant network society' or 'digital society', suffering from increasing time pressure, hurriedness and the scarcity of time. But what drives our temporal existence? Over the last 200 years, our living standards and norms have changed drastically, from an agricultural society, where natural rhythms defined the pace of life, to the Industrial Age with its key invention of the mechanical clock, to the contemporary urban 24/7 society. The temporal point of reference has thus changed from natural rhythms to the precision of the atomic clock, with a significant impact on our relationship to time. Modern technology plays a decisive part in contributing to the fragmentation of time, and also leading to a structural change to flexible time. Clock time is still the base, but societal synchronisation processes have changed profoundly due to digital technology. A leap back in time to temporal structures of the past does not meet contemporary living standards of individuality, autonomy and freedom of choice (Rosa and Scheuerman 2009: 77-111). Today's time crisis needs a fresh approach.