I finally made visual and analysis the results I got from the research I made with 27 participants with he cards TIME FLIES. Thanks a lot to you all.
The purpose was to get information on how people occupy their time nowadays, and questioned our habits and routines… I wanted to find out if there is still time for reflection, and where are these in-between moments.
I created these little cards where people are asked for 2 consecutive days to colours their time line, and where they the action. For each day they can propose an alternative day. Asking the question at the end of the day what I would have done differently.
The back of the cards were made with data from the evolution of the planet. I wanted to see if quantitative information would have questioned the participant and if they would have make either a comment about it or if it would have influenced the results for the alternative day.
Moreover, I wanted to compare if the fact of asking an alternative day, influenced the second day.
Analysis of the results
– most people don’t have any moment when they do nothing. Also the action of reading appears in what they wish to do, but almost anyone find the time to read anymore, or they favour another activity.
– in the comments, some people pointed out that it was interesting to get the opportunity to reflect and think about what we actually do in our days and that is it hard to change bad habits. Someone said that it is difficult to track what we do, but also remember. We are so much in the flow of our day that we don’t even realise what we do.
– the fact of thinking of an alternative day doesn’t seem to affect the second day.
– the data I put at the back doesn’t seems to affect the alternative days, as I didn’t get any comment on that. To know if it has an effect or not, I should have give to half the participant a card with information on the back and to the other half a blank back. I could have compare both set of result and see if there is an impact. A smaller and more target study would have been necessary as well. With this amount of result: 19 categories, 2 days divided in 12 minutes + 2 preferred days divided the same way; it would be difficult to analyse the difference between 2 set of participants.
– what is considered as activities in a day is different from one participant to another. For some participants, the action of eating, sanitation, travel are not evoked; while some others tell precisely when they were on toilette or have sex. Few people had inactivity. We all have some time in a day where we do noting, but this study show that we don’t really realise it. Another possibility would be that we are ashamed to say it. I believe that these ‘in between’ moment are great, to escape, thinking or simply rest. However there is still the possibility that I am wrong and they didn’t miss to talk about this moment on the card, because there is no moment to do nothing nowadays.
– people with a job have more routine days than students. Is the fact to have commitment only for ourselves and not for an employer, would make us ‘students’ less well-behaved ? Do we need to get paid to have discipline ? Or maybe the routine dictated by company work is not equal to productivity, and a student can be as productive, or more productive than a worker without a routine ?
– I could divided the participant in 2 categories when looking on alternative days: half would like to do more shopping and leisure and the other half more sport or reading. It suggest that half of my sample would be more in a consumption way of living, while the other half would be more concerned by the mental and physical well being. I think it is quite representative of today’s society.
Conclusion
It is difficult to change the habits of people and intervene in there everyday life. If I want to make refection on our action on the ‘planet’ it is not on work time: the mind is not receptive, and working tasks are prioritised. Moreover, I want to keep the in-between moments, as I believe that they are important and already very little.
I found that the best place to foster reflection seems to be at home. It would allow me to infer a message on the everyday life, not something intrusive like the quantify self, but something more subtle: ‘it’ would be here to remember ‘something’ about the planet but also. ‘It’ would be ‘present-absent’ like a painting or a sculpture. It would seems passive but would be poetically active.
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