Crashing Time? The Contemporary Experience of Time

This paper examines the lived experience of contemporary time, through the ‘crashing’ technique. Crashing time is a management technique to compress activities in order to accomplish tasks by decreasing the total period of time with the least additional cost. When commitments increase, actors can seek to save time on their schedule. With deadlines approaching and everyday duties to perform, the ratio between efficiency and time can lead to re-schedule specific deliveries, by also trying to achieve the same results, and limiting personal costs. By using Cohen’s analysis (2018) on the political value of time and the experience of time (Nowotny 2018 [1994]), the analysis first presents the concept of time. Second, it explores its dimensions, strictly linked to power and resources, and addresses how contemporary forms of transparency can become the paradigmatic representation of the battle and struggles for time.