New York Minute
How Manhanttanites control
their time
How Manhattanites embody
their perception of time
How M’s embody their
understanding of time
Sense of time
How they sense time and make
sense of time
How Manhattanites take
(their) time
How Manhattanites make time
As a Manhattanite myself, everything must be done by
yesterday and we need what we need an hour ago. The morning is considered a full day, the afternoon is
considered another day and the evening is another day. So there are three days
of work to be done in one day. Visitors feel the energy. For me it's a rush.
This place is an ocean of stimuli.
Introduction
Sitting
behind my laptop in a dead-end village in the mountains of Switzerland I
finally manage to focus and write my research proposal. Apparently it was
necessary to create exclusive time for the task at hand and escape my life in (a
laid-back city) Amsterdam, which I experience as a rat race. Due to all other
things I have to do and can do in the city I can’t help but feel that time is
scarce. And Amsterdam can’t even be considered the fastest of cities.
It seems as though time scarcity and place are related. This
always made me wonder how people cope with this in other cities where people,
from hearsay, run at an even faster pace than in my hometown. Therefore I was
always intrigued about stories I heard, whether medialised or not, about New
York City as the proverbial ‘city that never sleeps’; with it’s bustling,
almost tangible, energy and where you can’t stop to look around without being
commented upon by a Manhattanite. Usually this energy is described to me as
very positive, contagious, and which makes you want to run along with the
‘locals’ to where ever it is you’re heading. In 1988 Baudrillard mentioned
something about this energy he felt in NYC:
Why do people live in New York?
There is no relationship between them. Except for an inner electricity which
results from the simple fact of their being crowded together. A magical
sensation of contiguity and attraction for an artificial centrality. This is
what makes it a self-attracting universe, which there is no reason to leave. There
is no human reason to be here, except for the sheer ecstasy of being crowded
together. (Baudrillard [1986] 1988: 15)
How do they
experience and create this energy, or
electricity that Baudrillard described? This energy, which Baudrillard here
refers to as electricity, combined with a (post-)modern belief in liberty and
progress (citation….), makes New York, and especially Manhattan, a fast, highly
efficient place (why???). Not only is everything in Manhattan built high up in
the sky, but they also have a highly efficient transport system deep in the
ground of this other fairly small island (quote?). Space is made use of, as is
of time, as does the following riddle show:
Q. What is a laid-back New Yorker?
A. Someone who takes the
local.
[This last one may need some explanation. In many parts of New York, there are two subway lines running in
parallel. One, the `local,' makes every stop. The other, the `express,' stops only at
particular stations. If you're in a hurry, and your destination is
not an express station, you get on an
express at the first opportunity, then switch
back to the local for the last few stops to your destination. This
saves you time only if the express you're on overtakes the local ahead of the one you were previously
on, but a lot of people do it anyway.]
This ideology of efficiency is expressed in the expression
“a New York Minute”, described the following on a web discussion about phrases:
As
a Manhattanite myself, everything must be done by yesterday and we need what we
need an hour ago. The morning is considered a full day, the afternoon is
considered another day and the evening is another day. So there are three days
of work to be done in one day. Visitors feel the energy. For me it's a rush. This place is an ocean of stimuli.
What
does the New York minute imply? The explanation given by the Manhattanite above
would suggest that a NY minute is shorter than a clock-measured-minute, but
that as much can be done. Let’s say three times as much. Does this mean that
people in New York sleep three times as less? Are they three times more
efficient by this speedy way of life than people elsewhere? Eriksen seems to
doubt this efficiency (where??). Are they three times as tired? How does this
New York minute work out in reality? Do they travel three times as fast? Surely
their travel means can’t be faster than elsewhere. It even seems impossible
with the traffic congestion it’s known for (11km/h) (by car and cab though). Or
because they experience it as being faster? Why do they? Is it New York faster
or is New York an experience of fastness?
Later in his essay Baudrillard makes a remark on the wonder
of it all:
Its density, its surface
electricity rule out any thought of war. That life begins again each morning is
a kind of miracle, considering how much energy was expended the day before. Its
voltage protects it, like a galvanic dome, from all external threats – (…)
(ibid: 22)
This
taps into my field of interest and research question. If Baudrillard wrote this
back in 1988, and if life only speeded up, (as Eriksen wrote and Nowotny and
PArkins) when does the acceleration stop? When does one stop? What are the
mental and physical limits of this acceleration of everydaylife? What are the
effects on the circadian clocks of it’s citizens (the 24 hour body rhythm…….)?
Manhattan seems the right place to conduct this research,
with it’s Statue of Liberty as welcoming symbol of free will and autonomy. Do
people actually choose to live in this hurried manner? If life is run by the
New York clock, this implies that people don’t have time of their own. (Do
people actually choose to live in this hurried manner, with hardly any time to
spare for themselves?) But then who owns this time? Or is it simply that even
their own (free) time is measured by this same clock. Is the New York clock a
tool you live with and make use of, or something to be lived by? (quote?)
The environment created by
individuals and societies thus outruns the adaptive capacities of their
creators and leads to a loss of temporal horizons or, as Professor Nowotny calls
it, the extended present. (Fraser in Nowotny 1994: 5)
On the other hand, if it (?) doesn’t stop, it makes you
wonder why it doesn’t and why people go on. (How do they take breaks?) My central and general question then: How do Manhattanites experience (and
embody) a minute being compressed into one New York minute in their everydaylife?
Do they or is it just a discourse about New
York? (if so how then is this discourse reproduced, and if it is reproduced,
how do Manhattenites ignore it? Then
people produced this image of New York as a city that never sleeps and now
people must reproduce it.) And if they do notice this time-compression, how
do they? Do they see it outside of themselves, marks of fastness in society, or
is it an internalized (embodied) experience?
And how do they value this time-compression? What does this quantity
change do to the quality? (Eriksen) (Eriksen suggested that some work needs
slowness, and some tasks, like family time.) how do people then, manage their
time and are able to focus on their goals in the Big Apple? (Is it because of the New York minute? Is
time in NY different from time elsewhere?)People must have goals to chase; the
city is associated with ambition; ‘if you can make it there, you can make it
anywhere’.) Are they happy, because they feel they have more time on their
hands, or does it give them an unsettling feeling of time scarcity? Similar to
the feeling I had before I came here, to Swiss, because I never got round to
what I really wanted to do (write this proposal), because other tasks seemed
more urgent (work, e-mail, house hunting, social life, and yoga to keep me
balanced). The same feeling Eriksen described in 2001 in his book, the Tyranny
of the Moment, written in a chalet in Norway.
(POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS??? OR SLOW LIFE OPTIONS_EXAMPLE (is
also scientific relevance))
LYRICS
ALICIA KEYS NY
Maatschappelijke en wetenschappelijke relevantie
Natuur-cultuur (culturele creatie/ideologie vs. lichamelijke
en mentale (individuele) ervaring (en mogelijkheid) en waardering)
Autonomy-hegemony van de clock
Zingeving-nut
Space-time
Quantity-quality
Activity-rest
Awareness-attention-here&now (vs
then&there)
Society-individual
Pressure
- relaxation
Culture-nature
Commodified
time –free time
Power
– autonomy/free will
Fast-
slow
Environment
– body
Circadian
clock!!! àNature-culture
Slow time to contemplate and experience here and now, as
eriksen suggests, or for slow work, like academics.?
Or how do they live in a relaxed way?
Restlessness (eriksen)à
how to rest.
By
focusing on how people make time for themselves, and create a moment of
stillness or rest, I hope to find out simultaneously what it is they take a
break from. (pas als methodologie duidelijk is toevoegen)
Maybe
it is just an assumption and the locals in New York don’ experience it this
way. Although stories I here confirm my assumption:…….
I went to New york to find out. And I didn’t feel it. Later
on I realized that I did what I do in Amsterdam, run be focused, and head from
the one thing to the next. Only letting in what I need to see. Selective
sensorial input. (methods/theorie)
Back to Switzerland. Even in this quiet mountain there are
distractions available. There is not much I can do, but I can still go for a
walk, watch dvd’s or snooze the whole day. But the increase in quietness makes
it less easy to forget what I’m here for. Less distractions then in Amsterdam,
where I have to go to work, go to birthdays, see my boyfriend, go to yoga
class, and do everything by bike, but still… To stay in the here and the now, I
must be focused, and the less distraction there is, the easier it becomes to
focus.
have
to practice yoga, make a time schedule and set my alarm clock, to not be
distracted.
Baudrillard,
J.
1988[1986] New York. In America, translated by C. Turner
Verso: London and New York pp. 13-24.
Eriksen, T. H.
2001 Tyranny of the Moment. Fast and Slow in the
Information Age. Pluto Press: London and Sterling, Virginia.
Fraser,
J. T.
1994
Foreword in Time. The Modern and Postmodern Experience. by H. Nowotny
translated by N. Plaice Polity Press: Cambridge UK. Pp. 1-5.
A lot has been written on time in general but also on time
compression in particular due to an ever-increasing acceleration of life in a (post-)modern
age, driven by an ideology of efficiency. This ideology is described in
different ways (quotes), as has these current times (modernity). The focus also
differs, Eriksen writes about the information age, (similar to others….. +quote
Eriksen), Adam writes about work and personal time (and more) and Nowotny
focuses on (?)… They do have something in common, they all see time as
something that is disappearing. Eriksen calls this the tyranny of the moment,
by which he means that linear time has been replaced by the moment which is
almost directly overtaken by the next moment. Nowotny calls this the extended
present, by which she means practically the same, and Bauman also describes
this.
All seem to notice that being
fast seems to win over being slow, and hence activities that imply (need) a
fast way (?), like work and travel, win over activities that would need a more
slow pace, like family time and other social time, or gardening (? iets
anders??). Cooking is something that can be done in both ways, or at least
preparing a meal (5-minute frozen pizza or take-out, or a classic stew which
needs to simmer for hours). And a lot has been written about it, since it has
the extreme fastfood on the one hand, but the slow-foodmovement being an
excellent example of a counter-acceleration movement (although not completely
counter, take as much time as you need to produce the best product seems to be
the vice). (more time is less time (Eriksen)) (Parkins wrote about this
extensively and it even encouraged a whole slow life movement)
This whole
acceleration and fastness seems to be a product produced by man. A product we
long strived for, but with many by-products (side-effects as Eriksen calls
them). (Like no free time, loss of depth, hardly any social time) We gained a
lot but sometimes forget to see what we lose. And if we lose something, then
who do we lose it to? And what did we gain and who gained? If man created this,
is he still in power? Or did we create an abstract force, called capitalism, or
libertarianism, that rules us all , but functions as the best hegemony? It
functions under the name of free choice, but considering what is lost along the
lines, you can wonder if this is a conscious choice or a power that forces us
to live like this. (hier zit een sort woordgrap in à hegemony of free choice maar
ondertussen….) And if the fast will always win over the slow than how to regain
slowness? And why would we, why is
fastness troubling? SOCIAL FACT à DURKHEIM
Slowness is connected with
attention and connected to focus, but does this mean fast things are done with
no or less attention? Then how can it be efficientàfocused? How can you do
something here and now when your mind is always then and there? When you’re learning something,
like piano playing or dancing, it goes wrong, as soon as your concentration is
gone and a thought slips in. This is different for automated movements like
walking and talking. (Try to balance on one leg. If you focus on your foot
being on the ground, and imagine a thread keeping you up from your head, you’ll
manage for quite some time, but as soon as you think about something else, or
think about what you’re doing you lose your balance.) There is a
mind-body-split, the mind being not here and now, whereas the body is. Is this
a problem? (hoe kan ik dit gronden (Bauman, en Nowotny? Of Parkins en Eriksen?)
The answer/solution is a
combination. None of the above-mentioned writers seems to be against fast life,
but it just considers it suited for only some parts of life. Like Eriksen wrote
about the academics. (If everything is ruled by quota’s no work of substantial
meaning can be produced anymore, at least not without burnouts and sleepingshortages)
Another solution is filtering. (here (of later) choice and too many choices
in NY) Eriksen writes about this when it comes to too much information, but
how does one do this. He suggests things like checking your email once a week
(by now once a day would be more realistic). But how does one do this in
this information-overdosed society? You need bodily filters. (story of friend
came living in Amsterdam headaches from looking everybody in the eye, too many
people compared to the country, rural area she came from. I had these filters
when I went to NY, that’s why less impressive) NY is a typical example of being
a place with extreme information overdose, times-square being one of it’s main
attractions with all it’s lights, advertisements, traffic and people, let alone
smells. Howes dubs an overdose of sensorial input hyperesthesia (also connects
it with capitalism etc). The only way to deal with this and not get a headache
is to develop strong filters. (and like a drug, you probably really can’t live
in a quiet place, because of your habit. Als de ruis wegvalt dan merk je hem
ineens op en dat is net zo vervelend als de ruis is voor mensen die hem niet
gewend zijn) But does this mean you sense less? à
the absent body (Leder). If the mind is gone (into the next moment) and the
body is here, but doesn’t feel it, isn’t a person not more dead than alive?
And waiting:à waiting on tables (mad dog and glory) always waiting to become famous, finish your studies or whatever, while waiting on tables until you realize you are a waiter, and not a student or actress, always waiting for something else, maybe that’s why waiters like to keep guests waiting just a little longer. à waiting for what? Meaning? Before death arrives?
On a philosophical level à how is this real?? How can this be real??
Time and space reunited à Bauman
Massumi à focus on movement to avoid cultural freeze frame
Irving à walking anthropology
Interiority vs exteriority à linked to disposthesia (?)
Keyconcepts à methods
Questions à subquestions à interviewquestions
Methodology - NY-minute
What does this time compression/acceleration has to do with
space? In general it means that more space can be covered in less time.
Literally this means that man can travel faster, or further in less time, but
virtually this means that the importance of space as a barrier between man has
been nullified by modern information technologies. (Bauman)
Anderson wrote about the importance of the printing press in
a feeling of temporal and spatial coevalness in his book “Imagined Communities”
(disappearance of distance/difference in time and space). Eriksen writes about
a feeling of time conquering space in the current post-modern information age.
This is why in the same point in time Bauman writes an article which is called
‘time and space reunited’ which deals with pretty much the same disappearance
of distance in space. Everything is here
and now in the virtual world….
They all describe the importance of movement when they
discuss this acceleration, but on the other hand movement seems to disappear in
the concentration of the moment. Massumi suggests we concentrate on movement,
instead of the cultural freeze frame of where an object was or is going. I
would like to apply this theory in my research.
