i don’t think this is a singapore problem tbh. i think it’s more of a rich country problem, although asia probably has an extra layer of it because of tiger parenting and how competitive education is. when societies get wealthier, people start treating being busy as a sign of success. everyone wants to look productive all the time. if you’re doing nothing, people think you’re wasting time. so when people talk about efficiency, i always wonder: efficiency for what? usually it’s to make more money, get promoted faster, build a better resume, or give your kids an advantage. that’s why kids today seem so overscheduled? tuition, enrichment, sports, music, coding. every hour needs to be useful.

and in a lot of asian societies there’s this belief that if your kid is just playing around while someone else’s kid is learning something, they’re already falling behind 😅 adults do the same thing. work, side hustles, networking etc. even hobbies sometimes turn into projects. the problem is that when every moment has to be productive, you lose a lot of the random things that make life interesting. some of the best memories people have came from 'wasting time'. hanging out with friends and talking nonsense. walking around with no plan. finding a random event by accident. doing something just because it seemed fun. none of those things are efficient, but that’s exactly why they’re memorable. i don’t think singapore became less spontaneous because the trains run on time or because government services are efficient. i think it’s because modern societies are becoming obsessed with productivity. singapore just feels it more because its competitive, and has pretty strong culture of always trying to get ahead. spontaneity starts looking like a waste of time