Escalating abundance outpaces acceleration, generating time scarcity.

Evidence

In any case, it can hardly be doubted that a growing number of available and potentially interesting goods and pieces of information shortens the span of time that can be devoted to each particular object: if we dedicate a constant proportion of our time budget to reading books, listening to CDs, and answering e-mails, then the average length of time we can devote to each book, CD, or e-mail drops in line with the number of books and CDs we acquire (or borrow) per unit of time or the number of e-mails we receive and send. Similarly, the amount of time we can allot to the dutiful perusal of an academic journal decreases in lockstep with the increase in the number of relevant journals: examples of these kinds of compulsions to accelerate can be multiplied at will, and they simply reveal, once again, how much the logics of escalation and acceleration are intertwined in modern society. Because the rates of escalation are higher than the rates of acceleration, a scarcity of time resources and a heightening of the tempo of life occur. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 363

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 3 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Email speeds messages but multiplies their volume without shrinking total time spent — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 1084; Time scarcity arises only when growth outpaces acceleration — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 237; Social acceleration concerns frequency of change, not speed over distance — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 226 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Time-saving technology coexists with unprecedented felt time scarcity #exemplifies (0.85)
• Social acceleration concerns frequency of change, not speed over distance #qualifies (0.80) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 226
• Unequal subsystem acceleration generates new waiting times #expands (0.80) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 802
• Perceived stress tracks the rate of acceleration, not absolute pace of life. #complicates (0.75) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 378
• Boom-producing surface motion involves extreme acceleration but modest velocity #exemplifies (0.75)
• Information abundance creates a scarcity of attention #complicates (0.72) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 7