Why weekends are under threat
5 hours ago
- #leisure-time
- #network-effects
- #work-culture
- Weekends function as a technology to organize time through network effects, making them valuable when many people have simultaneous leisure time.
- Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's failed experiment with the 'continuous workweek' (nepreryvka) demonstrated that fragmented days off reduce the value of leisure by isolating individuals.
- Network effects are crucial for modern technologies and services like the telegraph, the internet, and platforms such as Facebook and Uber, where value increases with more users.
- The weekend emerged after the Industrial Revolution, standardized by laws like the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, creating collective leisure time that spurred the leisure industry.
- Today, an 'always-on' work culture and technologies like smartphones threaten weekends by blurring work-life boundaries, reducing the value of shared leisure time.