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recently, i have a growing feeling that the more advanced technology becomes, the higher the work efficiency becomes, but we are becoming more and more tired.

when steve jobs launched the iphone, he said that he wanted to solve three problems at once. the iphone was a revolutionary breakthrough that allowed people to listen to music, make calls, and send text messages with one device.

from then on, mobile phones have had more and more functions, including taking photos, recording videos, making video calls, browsing weibo, and watching short videos.

this should make it easier for us to control our time and our lives.

but why do we feel that time is increasingly insufficient?

01

people in the 20th century predicted that automated equipment would save a lot of labor and give people more leisure time.

economist john keynes said that the problem facing people in the 21st century will be:

for the first time since their creation, human beings will be faced with their real, permanent problem—how to use their freedom, how to use the leisure time brought by science and compound interest, to live wisely, pleasantly, and happily.

but the result was not as expected.

we got rid of inefficiency, but welcomed a busier life.

some time ago, there was a hot search called "industries that are gradually disappearing around us."

as technology becomes more and more advanced and life becomes more and more convenient, we no longer see scalers, switchboard operators, projectionists and bus conductors.

we squeeze into different subway platforms with our cell phones in hand, arrive at shinier buildings faster, and use increasingly advanced computers.

but when we no longer have to be trapped in those tedious and inefficient basic work, we who shuttle between various high-rise buildings have become the "worker ants" of the new era.

almost everyone today has taken on the same duties as a switchboard operator, typist, or other inefficient worker as they did in the past.

for example, before the invention of the internet, it might take a whole day to organize a paper document. now, various tools and shortcuts can be used to organize electronic documents.

but the extra time should be used to complete more other tasks.

in the past, white-collar workers only needed to learn how to use a typewriter, but now they must at least learn how to make ppts, spreadsheets, and write documents, and they also need to master various shortcut operations.

our work has not become easier just because we have learned to use computers and increased our work efficiency by dozens or hundreds of times.

technology has made the threshold for everything lower and faster to complete, but the number of things a person needs to accomplish has increased.

in 2019, jack ma said that when ai becomes popular, everyone can work three days a week and four hours a day, and many people agree with him.

but looking at history, we will find that jack ma’s remarks are not much different from people’s imaginations about the internet era in the 20th century.

such leisurely days may never come, and people may even be busier in the future.

because the fundamental reason for people's fatigue is not technology, but the ubiquitous competition brought about by technology.

02

competition is everywhere and pervasive. as the saying goes, where there are people, there is competition.

japanese writer toyofumi inada wrote a book called "the double-speed ​​society", which says that young people in japanese society are becoming more and more accustomed to watching tv dramas at double speed.

nowadays, more and more people love to play videos at multiple speeds, ranging from 0.5 to 2.0. however, some people are still not satisfied and want 3.0 or even faster speeds.

on various platforms, various movie commentaries, various videos that take you through the movie in one minute and help you understand it in three minutes, have received a large number of likes.

we are becoming more and more addicted to fast food, but it’s not that we love fast food products inherently, it’s just that society tells us so.

this speed is spreading to the entire society. people choose speed because the entire society requires us to keep up with the fashion and catch up with the trend. if you don’t understand what your peers are saying, you won’t be able to make friends.

just like when you were young, you would smoke a cigarette just because everyone else was smoking, and the same is true for a tv series that you had to watch even at double the speed.

people today face the most intense competition in history.

before the 21st century, our competitors only existed in real classrooms, workplaces and social circles.

but after the 21st century, every peer on the internet may become our competitor.

twenty years or even just ten years ago, our competitors were just that classmate with good grades, that kid who was always the best kid in the family, and those of our age who bought houses and cars, got married and had children.

but the internet allows us to instantly know the top scorer in the college entrance examination in a certain province, a rich second-generation person whom we will never meet in this life, and a happy family that we will never know.

these peers on the internet who have millions in savings, successful careers, and happy families make us examine ourselves from every angle and make each of us become the "bottom of society". the pressure that there will always be someone waiting for us to surpass hangs over everyone's head.

this kind of competition exists not only among individuals, but in every corner of this society. the economy, politics, culture, and all walks of life in society are full of different forms of competition.

the logic of social competition is that more and more resources must be invested to maintain competitiveness.

maybe it would take twice as much effort to achieve the desired results, but in order to compete with others, you must put in three or even four times the effort to stay competitive.

raymond kurzweil's model shows that today, the speed of social paradigm shift doubles every ten years. in other words, in 20 years, the speed of social change will be four times that of today.

in other words, 20 years later, each of us will have to work four times harder to avoid being eliminated by society.

this sign has already begun to appear in enterprises and is even more obvious.

moore's law, proposed by gordon moore, one of the founders of intel, is as follows:

the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every 18 to 24 months. in other words, processor performance doubles approximately every two years, while the price drops to half.

this kind of internal circulation is happening in every industry.

for enterprises, the rapid development of information technology has brought about endless internal competition.

in this rapidly changing world, standing still is the fastest way to moving backwards.

therefore, the renewal and replacement of enterprises and the survival of the fittest are becoming more frequent.

in 1935, the lifespan of the world's top 500 companies was 90 years, but in 2010, the lifespan was only 14 years, almost seven times shorter.

therefore, every person and every company has to invest twice as much time to catch up with others.

it’s like everyone is sitting in a theater watching a play, and one person wants to get a better view and stands up, then the people behind him have to stand up as well, and eventually everyone stands up, but everyone’s viewing experience hasn’t changed at all.

in the end, everyone was caught up in the busy internal competition.

03

people are always racing in their lives.

racing against the established growth trajectory, racing against peers, racing against machines, and then racing against the entire rapidly developing society.

is it really technology that determines this acceleration and involution?

in fact, it is people who have truly chosen to double the speed and to involute.

some time ago, statistics on the working hours of hardworking chinese people were released, showing that they work up to 49 hours a week.

most people don't want to be so involved, but everyone is just a gear in society. under the influence of the machine, people can only turn faster and faster.

maybe it's time to slow down.

at a recent high-level meeting, it has been clearly stated that all industries and sectors must "fight against involution" and prevent vicious competition.

only when everyone is less involved can the whole society return to "normal".

only then will technology really allow us to——

eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, and the other eight hours are left for ourselves.