PLANNING TIME: Structuring of the Everyday among Young Adults in Non-Traditional Jobs

Abstract

Unstructured time and “wasted” time is often shunned and unwanted in today’s society focused on productive and progressive use of time. In this essay, I examine how planning of everyday activities gives structure and purpose to the day with the help of tools such as personal calendars and to-do lists. When having an excess amount of unstructured time, it needs to be filled somehow to make it a valuable use of time. By planning activities and what needs to be done beforehand, the day becomes purposeful. The participants of the study generally have an excess amount of time needed to be filled and through my research I try to gain an understanding on how they make sure they spend their time well through planning tools like calendars and to-do lists. I argue that the creation of purposeful social time requires structuring and planning of daily meaningful activities. I also push that planning is a crucial part in structuring of time. The study is heavily based on the concept and theory of time, specifically social time and the creation of meaningful time through activities. How time is constantly produced in everyday 3 practice and activities according to larger sociocultural structures. The methods used in the study have mostly consisted of semi-structured interviews, both in person and on Zoom. I also, together with the participants, went through their calendars and to-do lists to get a greater understanding of how they use the tools in their daily planning.