Abstract:

To be under stress, to be short of time, to be late - these are all typical expressions in modern society. We envy - and despise - those who live on Indian time, who have not any time concept, who do not know what punctuality means, and so on. Forecasts concerning a leisure-time paradise have failed. Although the weekly hours of work were reduced in the last 30 years, the time available for oneself did not increase very much. The reasons for this typical process are discussed. Time is not only an important factor for subjective quality of life but also, which is very often overlooked as the consumption factor. The paper shows the results of an empirical study which includes: relative importance of leisure time for "personal happiness"  subjective amount of leisure/stress, time versus money preference, activities for which more time would be wanted, activities done under stress (usually), activities where one would like to save time, activities where products could help to save time.