Class Participation

Share this post

Time is not a social construct

classparticipation.substack.com

Time is not a social construct

Class Participation
Mar 7, 2022
3
Share

This is a particular pet peeve of mine, so I hope you’re ready for some tiresome nitpicking loosely dressed as comedy.

Today’s topic: “time is a social construct”. 

Time-related Things That Are Social Constructs 

  • Foods that correspond to specific times of day

  • Punctuality, being “on time” vs. “late”

  • The idea that you must hit certain cultural milestones by specific ages or it will be too late.

  • Measuring time by the sun vs. by the clock 

  • Daylight savings 

  • Specific measurements of time, e.g. how many years there are in a decade, or how many months there are in a year

I think those kinds of things are what people mean when they say “time is a social construct”. But there are also lots of: 

time-related things that are not social constructs, but instead Observable Features of the Universe

  • The linear nature of time, the continual movement from one moment to the next 

  • The existence of the past and the present 

  • The fact that many people will be angry with you if you make them wait, regardless of whether 2pm is a real thing 

  • Mortality and decay 

  • That even though our self-imposed deadlines may be too strict, and are in fact more flexible and malleable than we think, our time is not an unlimited resource (see above)

3
Share
Comments
Top
New
Community

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Elizabeth Royer
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing