You’re Not Out of Time—You’re Spending It Wrong
Did you take econ in school? No? Perfect—here’s the SparkNotes version: supply and demand rule everything, and you’ve gotta weigh the opportunity cost of buying that $6 latte instead of, say, saving for your retirement yacht. But this isn’t a personal finance blog, and I’m not your wallet’s life coach—so let’s talk about something way more valuable than money: your time.
See, social media doesn’t want your dollars—it wants your hours. In the attention economy, your eyeballs are currency and your scrolling thumb? A full-time employee.
For us humans, time only moves in one direction (still waiting on that time machine, Doc Brown). That means every hour you spend is an hour you’ll never get back. Ever. So let’s break this down in cold, hard “time dollars.”
You’re born with about 788,400 hours in your lifetime account. Sounds like a lot, right? Not so fast. Subtract 8 hours of sleep, a few more for school, work, eating, errands, and all the life maintenance stuff... and suddenly, you’re left with roughly 262,800 hours of free-to-spend, build-a-life-you-love time (minus a few from when you were a baby/small child).
Now let’s talk screen time. Let’s say you scroll for 6 hours a day (looking at you, TikTok black hole). Start that habit at 18 and keep it up? You’ll spend 157,680 hours glued to your phone. That leaves you just 105,120 hours to fall in love, hike the Andes, write that novel you keep daydreaming about, or just sit outside doing nothing and being a human.
You are literally spending more time scrolling than living.
So how do you fix it without going full hermit-in-the-woods? Easy: treat your time like a budget. You wouldn’t drop $500 on glittery crocs and mystery snacks without checking your bank account first, right?
Start by blocking your calendar:
Needs go first—laundry, groceries, walking your dog, showering.
Then, commitments—anything you promised to others (or yourself).
Finally, the fun stuff—things that light you up, recharge your soul, or just make you giggle like a kid.
By the time you’re done, you’ll notice something wild: there’s not a lot of time left for doomscrolling. And that’s kind of the point.
Got an extra hour? Try being bored. Seriously. Your brain might throw a tantrum, but after that, it’ll get creative. Boredom is where imagination stretches its legs.
I do this weekly—not because I want to be hyper-productive, but because I want to be accountable. Life isn’t about optimizing every minute. It’s about choosing what matters—and realizing that time is the one currency you can’t earn back.
Because no matter how chill your vibes are, your hourglass is flipping so start living!
