Second Place Taylor Essay by Jackson Yenor

We Have Less Time Than We Think

Let’s assume that I will live to be 72 years old, the typical age of a male living in the 21^st century. If I average sleeping one hour less than what is recommended by a physician, I will spend at least 24 years of my life doing so. Right off the bat, I am down 24 years before my life ends. 48 years to go.

Babies do not develop memories until they are around three years old. My first memory is following my father down the hallway as he spoke of political philosophy to a graduate school friend. I was 3 years old.  45 years to go.

From ages 6 to 18, I was in school. Let’s assume that I spent 7 hours at school and 3 hours doing sports and homework. If you subtract the 2 hours of actual learning that took place in that time each day, I will have eaten up 4 years of my conscious time in school doing things I did not want to do, and learning things I did not want to learn (and this version of Jackson didn’t go to college). 41 years to go.

I have graduated high school. Let’s say I get a nice job. With weekends and holidays subtracted, I will work 233 days out of the year for about 45 years. If I work an 8 hour a day with 1 hour commute there and back, I will have spent 11 years of my life in the full consciousness of doing a job. I have 30 years to go.

I am a male who needs to tend to my hygiene. I will probably spend 2 hours a week showering, brushing my teeth, shaving, and doing laundry. I will probably spend another 3 hours shopping, getting gas, and running various errands. I will spend another 2 hours a week using the restroom and washing my hands. I will spend another 4 hours per week (not including any dinner with family and friends) eating food alone. Lastly, while I am a healthy guy, I will probably spend 4 days a year feeling sick and debilitated. A year of my life will be spent in the misery of sickness. All in all, I will spend 6 years to keep myself clean, fed, and remotely comfortable, without ever thinking much of anything. 24 years to go.

Given these mostly average assumptions about my life as an American, I can look and confidently say that I will have 24 years of uninterrupted consciousness to spend time with family, friends, reading good books, even travelling. I have 24 years for the good things in life, for leisure. Not bad!

But it seems that we Americans have missed this point. The average American adult (and for children, it is more) will absorb 5 hours of television, video games, and movies each day. Once they turn 65, it will move up to 7 hours a day. All this taken into account, nearly 10 years of life is spent around mediums of entertainment. 14 years to go.

The average adult will also spend 4 hours a day on his phone. Generously assuming that one of these daily hours was worthwhile, we are still spending 3 hours a day in the course of our lifetime scrolling pointlessly through our phones, snorting silent laughter, crushing infinite candy cubes, and observing with envy the lives of people we have never met. 9 years to go. 

These are all things that most Americans will do for most of their life, even if they are decent. I am still not accounting for the thousands who think it worth their free time to pursue in great excess the other base things of life. Next time you think to waste a moment, think 9 years. Think that if you keep doing the things you ought not to be doing, those experiences will pile onto one another in great haste, without your input or control.

Perhaps human beings must realize that, after the necessary things in life are set aside, there is much less time than we think to develop our virtues, love our family, and cherish our true friendships, and ultimately the amount of time our minds we will have to do the things that are worthwhile is scarce, precious, and fleeting.

Next time you reach for the remote control or open your iPhone, think 9 Years. It might be all you really have.