The Story of the “Twin Towers”
I was on the brink of giving up on this title when I realised it might be inconvenient for some. Now, let’s set the record straight: I use this analogy of “Twin Towers” simply because I somehow attempt to criticise the verticalisation of Brussels. Some parts of Brussels bore a strong resemblance to the world’s most vertical cities and I pity that. For further arguments, make sure to read Ong (2011) and Kesteloot (2000).
The twin skyscrapers of Brussels belong to the well-known telecom company Proximus (previously called Belgacom). While they rank among the tallest in the country with their 102-metres height, the reason they made it to this article is rather different: they are connected to one another with a glass bridge or as it is popularly named “skyway”. The fun fact is that this skyway — which is worth approximately ten million euros — was added after the construction of the original design, only because the two heads of the two buildings did not want to go all the way down and then up for their meetings. Hearing the story of the skyway made me think, what is our time worth? Do we really integrate the concept of opportunity cost in our everyday lives? “Time is money” has been a popular belief, with the idea that our lives are finite and we better profit from this valuable and scarce resource.
In 1972, with a very similar mindset, Mc Combs worked on the approach called Principle of Relative Constancy where he basically argued expenditure in money and time remains constant, in terms of (old and new) media. Also, he supposed money expenditure may only increase in absolute terms, not relative, while time expenditure cannot increase at all. When think simply, we have 24 hours a day, then and now. Moreover, his principle was more or less verified with the introduction of televisions in 1950s, when people preferred not to go the cinema but stay at home and watch their televisions. Certainly not both at the same time. According to this principle, the “free time” of an ordinary family was filled by media and in 1978’s Belgium, 7% of family income was spent for free time. However, in 2006, the survey showed that it increased to 8%. That is to say, we pay more for our free time now. If Mc Combs would have been right, the percentage would not really change. Furthermore, study in 2005 shows that Belgians have more free time than before. All in all, these findings put a big question mark on Mc Comb’s study and conclusions. The question now is that, do we really have more time to spent on our interests and accordingly on media, or do we just multitask?
In 2006, “How jam-packed is daily family life?” asked Yahoo! and OMD. Following, their research showed that the “Family 2.0” does multitask and enjoys “the 43-Hour Day”. The methodology chapter of the study reveals that from Australia to Argentina, from Hong Kong to Italy, some 16 countries was part of the in-home ethnographies and quantitative surveys. Families of the day (2.0) reported that they spend more time with technology/media-based activities while they manage their housework and jobs. However, this drives them to have a more balanced life, only possible by multitasking. Thanks to this ability of fulfiling many tasks simultaneously, we, apparently, live our days beyond 24 hours and with regard to this study, up to 43 hours. Then, the answer is, yes, we do cram constantly and have jam-packed lives.
Ong, A. (2011) Hyperbuilding: spectacle, speculation, and the hyperspace of sovereignty. In: Roy, A., and Ong., A. (Eds.), Worlding Cities: Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 205–226.
Kesteloot, C. (2000) Brussels: post-Fordist polarization in a Fordist spatial canvas. In: Marcuse, P., van Kempen, R. (Eds.), Globalizing Cities — a New Spatial Order? Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 186- 210.
Extra reading:
(n.d. ). “3. Global Families in a Digital Age”. In Family Communication in the Age of Digital and Social Media. Bern, Switzerland: , . Retrieved Jul 15, 2021, from https://www.peterlang.com/view/9781454194019/15_chapter3.html
