Very often we hear futurists talk of the ‘Future of Work’. Last month the New York Times hosted a ‘New Work Summit’. The Atlantic runs their own version called ‘Future of Work Summit’. The McKinsey Global Institute has published several reports on the subject, calling it ‘one of the hottest topics of 2017’, and produces a podcast called The New World of Work.
These initiatives are asking key questions such as: How will the increase of automation, digital platforms and other innovations affect the job market? How will it change the way we define ‘work’? What are the jobs of tomorrow?
But what’s often left out of the conversation is leisure. It’s been left at the other end of the spectrum – although it is essential to a holistic view of our future.
Currently, a third of British workers think their jobs are meaningless. Will the ‘job of tomorrow’ succeed in providing us with a sense of life purpose? And when considering the prospects Universal Basic Income, the visions often look forward to a future of less work and more leisure. (Though UBI may be too utopian for some, experiments conducted around the world are showing positive results – which we cover with great enthusiasm here on the Daily Alternative).
Shouldn’t we then be talking about the ‘Future of Leisure’ instead? If so, we could ask questions like:
- What can we do with more free time?
- Will we be bored out of our minds or will we seize the opportunity to pursue new interests, spend more time with our family or get involved with our local community?
- What are the leisure activities that can lead us in the direction of what we are all in essence looking for – a joyful, meaningful and happy life?
To read the rest of this article, please visit: The ‘Future of Work’ is important – but the ‘Future of Leisure’ is even more so
