A little more freedom

Tied down by your job, a mortgage and a busy calendar? More and more people are choosing a less confining life. Journalist Otje van der Leij looks into ways to enjoy a little more freedom in life.

According to trendwatcher Adjiedj Bakas, this is what the future will look like; economists at Oxford University, UK, are predicting that, within the next 20 years, 47 percent of current professions will disappear. Robots and computers will be carrying out more and more of the work we humans currently do.

Less jobs, more sharing

What’s more, the world population is going to reach nine billion. In other words: There will be less work and it’ll be shared across a greater number of people. “We’ll be seeing a society with two or three different speeds,” Bakas says. “People at the highest speed—with a special talent—will continue to work full-time. Other people will work for money two or three days per week, and patch together the rest of what they need by doing odd jobs, and sharing and trading.”

The nice thing about this development is that we can do what we like with the time we’ll have left over.  There is more freedom. We can play music, teach, do charity work or take care of the children. “Life won’t necessarily be easier, but it will be freer,” says Bakas. “It’s already changing. When the industrial revolution began, we were working weeks of 70 hours in countries like the Netherlands, the US and Japan. Some two hundred years on, it’s been reduced to thirty-five hours, and it’s going to become even less now.”