Technical acceleration contradicts rather than explains modern time scarcity and stress

Evidence

So if the subjective phenomena of stress, hecticness, and lack of time are traced back over and over again in pop science literature to the immense technical acceleration of numerous processes, which at first glance appear to be the most powerful drivers of a ubiquitous social and cultural acceleration, then this is a result of the unreflective assertion that in modernity more or less “everything” becomes faster. This fallacy is as blatant as it is widespread. The dynamics and the temporal compulsions of social and psychic life in industrial and postindustrial society cannot be derived from achievements in technologically supported acceleration, since in fact the latter stand in direct logical contradiction to the former. The heightening of the “pace of life,” the temporal scarcity of modernity, arise not because but rather even though enormous gains in time through acceleration have been registered in almost all areas of social life. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 236

Categorization

• SEED: This is the central paradox worth an essay: why do we feel more time-pressed precisely as time-saving technology multiplies?
• XREF: connects to: Scarcity and stress deplete mental bandwidth for future-oriented thinking — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 116; Time scarcity despite technical acceleration forms a distinct third acceleration category — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 228; Time scarcity arises only when growth outpaces acceleration — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 237 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Time-saving technology coexists with unprecedented felt time scarcity #corroborates (0.85)
• Time scarcity arises only when growth outpaces acceleration #complicates (0.78) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 237
• Time scarcity is cultural and psychological, not just measurable #expands (0.75) — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 268