[00:00.00] UNIT 10

[00:28.92]Do They Save Time or Waste Time?

[00:35.58]Integrated Skills DevelopmentPassage

[00:44.64]Overload: More Time Is Less Time

[00:50.81]So you think you have some of the good things in life.

[00:58.28]You've got a video tape recorder

[01:02.41]and a device that answers the phone for you.

[01:07.06]And there's a gadget that turns off the lights when you've out.

[01:12.62]How about the electric knife, the coffee maker, the ice maker?

[01:18.89]Feel good about having all that stuff?

[01:24.74]Or do you wonder whether the gadgets are running you instead of you them?

[01:31.51]Americans apparently feel more hurried than ever these days.

[01:38.46]Part of the reason is trying to keep up with the demands on their time to purchase,

[01:46.53]store, service, repair, replace,

[01:51.57]and protect all those "time saving" machines.

[01:57.34]Add to them the problems of the extra car and the bigger house.

[02:04.19]And there's the RV parked on the side lawn.

[02:09.65]"Americans are eating up their leisure time

[02:15.11]by overloading themselves with all kinds of gadgets..."

[02:20.88]So says one expert in marketing.

[02:26.16]The downfall of lots of homes is trying to keep up with all the things that go wrong.

[02:34.91]There's the time spent to call repair people.

[02:40.47]Next we must wait for them to show up.

[02:45.22]Then there's the high hourly rates.

[02:50.08]These may force many people into poor do-it-yourself jobs.

[02:56.56]And costly tools often save little time

[03:02.13]because of the small scale of home repairs.

[03:07.19]Likewise, "labor-saving" appliances may lighten the house-work.

[03:14.85]But they save little time.

[03:19.21]Looking for the right electric knife or other new gadget

[03:25.37]and getting it ready for use often can take more time than doing the job by hand.

[03:32.92]Studies show we spend even more time on laundry than our grandparents did.

[03:40.87]That's because we have more clothes and wash them more often.

[03:47.42]Vacuum cleaners have raised standards of cleanliness.

[03:53.77]But they tempt people to spend more time than with a broom or dust rag.

[04:00.93]Cars are another time gobbler.

[04:06.70]One expert says that tires and batteries last longer than they used to.

[04:13.86]But U.S. cars are more prone to break down than they were.

[04:20.39]Plus, there are more gadgets on them to go wrong.

[04:26.03]The growing complexity of the car

[04:30.11]most owners can no longer play with a screwdriver and wrench under the hood to fix things themselves.

[04:38.86]Another problem we face more and more is dealing with computers in place of people.

[04:47.11]Impersonal, cold, and error-prone machines are replacing clerks.

[04:54.48]So to fix errors in bills and other problems with a product or service

[05:01.64]often is a slow and maddening process.

[05:07.10]The number of video games and other free time objects grows.

[05:14.25]And the pressure of choice joins in.

[05:19.61]Just to choose a free time activity from all the options taxes many people.

[05:26.97]And as people crowd their lives with things that eat up too much of their time,

[05:34.84]they come to feel that time is short.

[05:39.51]They feel they are in danger of wasting it.

[05:44.69]In the end, then, the possessions we consume end up consuming us.