a_unique_person
4th November 2003, 03:56 PM
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/04/1067708207453.html
Ever feel you are Sysiphus? This article discusses what appears to be a crucial flaw in our inherent psychology. I can imagine it would have made sense in the stone age, when scarcity meant we could face starvation at any time. For those of us living the Western Dream, however, we are like rats running around in a little wheel.
Human nature is a trickier thing than we imagine. Even the mundane activities of our daily lives are more complex than we realise.
For one thing, we seem to be subject to some kind of compensatory mechanism that prevents us feeling we've attained the goals we strive for.
Most of us, for instance, would like to feel financially comfortable - to have a bit more income than we need to make ends meet. And, since Australians' real income per person has risen by more than half in the past 20 years, you'd expect most of us would finally have attained that goal.
According to opinion polls, however, almost two-thirds of Australians believe they can't afford to buy everything they really need.
How could that be so? Well, I think it happens because most of us think money is for buying things and most of us have an infinite list of things we'd like to buy if only we had the dough. So, every time we get a pay rise, we lose little time in spending it and in taking on the extra commitments that are now possible.
It follows that, no matter how high our pay has risen in the past or may rise in the future, we'll always be fully committed. We'll always feel that we're just making ends meet, with nothing to spare.
That's the way we feel. For objective proof that we are a lot better off than we used to be, you need only look at the stuff we've got in our homes.
A home without a television set is exceptionally rare and, in 1997, 56 per cent had more than one. The proportion would be higher by now, no doubt, as would the 82 per cent of homes with a VCR.
In 1999, 35 per cent of homes had air-conditioning - though I'm sure it would be a lot higher by now. The same goes for these 2000 figures that over half of all homes had a personal computer, with a third of homes connected to the internet.
It's paying for all these gizmos that keeps us feeling stretched, of course. But at least all the labour-saving appliances we use around the home leave us with more leisure time, right?
Well, no. Not according to some surprising research by Michael Bittman and colleagues in the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW.
According to the Bureau of Statistics' survey of time use in 1997, 83 per cent of people lived in a household with a microwave oven. For other appliances the proportions were 53 per cent with a deep freezer, 34 per cent with a dishwasher, 57 per cent with a clothes dryer and 76 with a lawnmower or whipper snipper.
Amazingly enough, a clothes dryer actually increases the amount of time spent in the laundry.
And as I have noted myself, spending expands to fill the available income.
Ever feel you are Sysiphus? This article discusses what appears to be a crucial flaw in our inherent psychology. I can imagine it would have made sense in the stone age, when scarcity meant we could face starvation at any time. For those of us living the Western Dream, however, we are like rats running around in a little wheel.
Human nature is a trickier thing than we imagine. Even the mundane activities of our daily lives are more complex than we realise.
For one thing, we seem to be subject to some kind of compensatory mechanism that prevents us feeling we've attained the goals we strive for.
Most of us, for instance, would like to feel financially comfortable - to have a bit more income than we need to make ends meet. And, since Australians' real income per person has risen by more than half in the past 20 years, you'd expect most of us would finally have attained that goal.
According to opinion polls, however, almost two-thirds of Australians believe they can't afford to buy everything they really need.
How could that be so? Well, I think it happens because most of us think money is for buying things and most of us have an infinite list of things we'd like to buy if only we had the dough. So, every time we get a pay rise, we lose little time in spending it and in taking on the extra commitments that are now possible.
It follows that, no matter how high our pay has risen in the past or may rise in the future, we'll always be fully committed. We'll always feel that we're just making ends meet, with nothing to spare.
That's the way we feel. For objective proof that we are a lot better off than we used to be, you need only look at the stuff we've got in our homes.
A home without a television set is exceptionally rare and, in 1997, 56 per cent had more than one. The proportion would be higher by now, no doubt, as would the 82 per cent of homes with a VCR.
In 1999, 35 per cent of homes had air-conditioning - though I'm sure it would be a lot higher by now. The same goes for these 2000 figures that over half of all homes had a personal computer, with a third of homes connected to the internet.
It's paying for all these gizmos that keeps us feeling stretched, of course. But at least all the labour-saving appliances we use around the home leave us with more leisure time, right?
Well, no. Not according to some surprising research by Michael Bittman and colleagues in the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW.
According to the Bureau of Statistics' survey of time use in 1997, 83 per cent of people lived in a household with a microwave oven. For other appliances the proportions were 53 per cent with a deep freezer, 34 per cent with a dishwasher, 57 per cent with a clothes dryer and 76 with a lawnmower or whipper snipper.
Amazingly enough, a clothes dryer actually increases the amount of time spent in the laundry.
And as I have noted myself, spending expands to fill the available income.