*The acceleration of the pace of life. This is probably the aspect that most directly affects our daily lives, as we see an increase in the number of episodes of action per day.
In other words, in a day, more and more different actions are carried out, with their corresponding transitions from one task to the next, which makes us feel hungry for time. That is, the feeling of not being able to fulfil all our work, social and personal responsibilities, the so-called “clocking up”. We perform more and more actions and time is perceived as a scarce resource divided among the multitude of tasks to be carried out.
“In a day there are more and more different actions that make us feel hungry for time”.
These three forms of acceleration (technological, social change and pace of life), together with a growing sense of competition, are intertwined, generating a cycle of acceleration that’s difficult to stop and with serious consequences not only for the individuals themselves and their families, but also for the organisations themselves.
How does social acceleration affect organisations?
The speed and acceleration of our lives affects our physical and mental health, and also the dehumanisation of our relationships. Speed diminishes the quality of our relationship with others and, as we said, organisations are no exception.
The rush syndrome, caused by the cycle of acceleration presented above, obviously has some benefits, as it pushes us to perform more tasks, complete more projects, but at the same time, there are many invisible consequences for organisations (lack of creativity, reflection, dehumanisation) that require some pondering.
This is why more and more people are looking for oases of deceleration (resorts, monasteries, mindfulness classes, trips to the desert). Rosa also points out that acceleration itself can become dysfunctional and unintentionally turn into deceleration. We observe this in traffic jams caused by many people who want to move quickly, or in some people who unfortunately go from a high level of activity or speed to a very low level caused by anxiety, depression or cardiovascular diseases that prevent them from continuing with previous levels of speed.
Therefore, in view of this new situation, it would be interesting to reflect on the following points:
* On an individual level, it would be good to ask oneself the following questions: What are the benefits of my acceleration? What are the negative consequences of my acceleration? Does it affect the quality of my work? Does it affect the quality of my relationships with the people around me?
* Also on an individual level, if the person considers it important, look for moments of deceleration, either throughout the year (holidays), or throughout the day (regenerative breaks at the beginning of the day, the morning miracle, at midday, or before going to sleep).
* At the corporate level it would be interesting to ask the following questions: What are the benefits of acceleration? What are the negative consequences of acceleration? Does speed make the organisation lose creative capacity? Does speed negatively affect innovation? In what other aspects does social acceleration affect us, positively and negatively?
* Also at the corporate level, slow-down times for employees could also be encouraged either through training programmes or by reinforcing the importance of rest and slow-down times.
Excellence sometimes requires speed, but many other moments can generate valuable wealth for the individual and his or her work group if they are filled with reflection, serenity and enjoyment of the small details.
References:
- Duch, Lluís (2018) Vida cotidiana y velocidad. Herder, Barcelona.
- Rosa, Harmut (2016). Alienación y aceleración. Hacia una teoría crítica de la temporalidad en la modernidad tardía. Katz Editores, Madrid.
