Who enjoys being busy? On busyness as a gendered norm and technology of the self

Busyness is a complex, ambiguous and seemingly ubiquitous aspect of modern temporal experiences. Although some revel in the feelings of achievement and satisfaction that busyness provides them, others experience busyness as fatiguing and stressful. In this article, I make two arguments to help unravel this complexity. First, I argue that busyness can be understood in Foucauldian terms as both a ‘norm’ (a standard for ideal time-use) and a ‘technology of the self’ (a way of working with time to master, care for and know the self). Second, I argue that our ability to effectively utilise this self-technology largely depends on our socially determined relationship with time. Here, I focus on the gendered dimension of busyness, arguing that working mothers have their use of busyness complicated by their relational experience of time. In developing these arguments, I draw on semi-structured interview data from a sample of Australian gig workers.