Quality time

Last updated

Quality time is an expression referring to how an individual proactively interacts with another while they are together, regardless of the duration. [1]

Contents

Overview

Sometimes abbreviated QT, it is an informal reference to time spent with close family, partners or friends that is in some way important, special, productive or profitable to one or everyone involved. It is time that is set aside for paying full and undivided attention to the person or matter at hand. It may also refer to time spent performing some favorite activity.

Relationship counselor Gary Chapman suggests that quality time is one of five "languages" which are used (more or less, preferentially, by a given individual) to express love and articulate their feelings and emotions.

History

Its use as a noun expression ("quality time") began in the 1970s. One of the earliest records of this phrase in print was in the Annapolis newspaper The Capital , January 1973, in the article "How To Be Liberated":

The major goal of each of these role changes is to give a woman time to herself, Ms. Burton explained. "A woman's right and responsibility is to be self fulfilling," she said. She gives "quality time" rather than "quantity time" to each task, whether it be writing, cleaning the house or tending the children.

The Time Bind , a 1997 book, [2] was mentioned in Newsweek's multi-page feature about Quality Time. [1] The same issue of Newsweek had a full-page review [3] of another 1997 book, Time for Life, [4] which emphasizes that most people have a flawed "ability to separate faulty perception of time use from reality." [4] Author Robinson's diary-based research shows that 15 hours per week of "free time" (the greatest category of time used) goes into TV viewing. [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

Shit is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural, it means diarrhea. Shite is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang term, shit has many meanings, including: nonsense, foolishness, something of little value or quality, trivial and usually boastful or inaccurate talk or a contemptible person. It could also be used to refer to any other noun in general or as an expression of annoyance, surprise or anger.

In cognitive linguistics, conceptual metaphor, or cognitive metaphor, refers to the understanding of one idea, or conceptual domain, in terms of another. An example of this is the understanding of quantity in terms of directionality or the understanding of time in terms of money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pride</span> Positive affect from the perceived value of a person

Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". Oxford defines it as "the quality of having an excessively high opinion of oneself or one's own importance." Pride may be related to one's own abilities or achievements, positive characteristics of friends or family, or one's country. Richard Taylor defined pride as "the justified love of oneself", as opposed to false pride or narcissism. Similarly, St. Augustine defined it as "the love of one's own excellence", and Meher Baba called it "the specific feeling through which egoism manifests."

<i>Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus</i> 1992 book by John Gray

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (1992) is a book written by American author and relationship counselor John Gray. The book states that most common relationship problems between men and women are a result of fundamental psychological differences between the sexes, which the author exemplifies by means of its eponymous metaphor: that men and women are from distinct planets—men from Mars and women from Venus—and that each sex is acclimated to its own planet's society and customs, but not to those of the other. One example is men's complaint that if they offer solutions to problems that women bring up in conversation, the women are not necessarily interested in solving those problems, but mainly want to talk about them. The book asserts each sex can be understood in terms of distinct ways they respond to stress and stressful situations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlie Russell Hochschild</span> American professor of sociology

Arlie Russell Hochschild is an American professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and writer. Hochschild has long focused on the human emotions that underlie moral beliefs, practices, and social life generally. She is the author of nine books including, most recently, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, a finalist for the National Book Award. In The Managed Heart (1983), The Second Shift (1989), The Time Bind (1997) and many of her other books, she continues the sociological tradition of C. Wright Mills by drawing links between private troubles and public issues. Her impact worldwide is recognized, as her books have been translated into 16 different languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Survival of the fittest</span> Phrase to describe the mechanism of natural selection

"Survival of the fittest" is a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory as a way of describing the mechanism of natural selection. The biological concept of fitness is defined as reproductive success. In Darwinian terms, the phrase is best understood as "Survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations."

A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual receives two or more reciprocally conflicting messages. In some scenarios this can be emotionally distressing, creating a situation in which a successful response to one message results in a failed response to the other, such that the person responding will automatically be perceived as in the wrong, no matter how they respond. This double bind prevents the person from either resolving the underlying dilemma or opting out of the situation.

In linguistics, coreference, sometimes written co-reference, occurs when two or more expressions refer to the same person or thing; they have the same referent. For example, in Bill said Alice would arrive soon, and she did, the words Alice and she refer to the same person.

Tempo rubato is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Rubato is an expressive shaping of music that is a part of phrasing.

The Time Bind is a book by sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild in 1997, The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. The book refers to the blurring distinction between work and home social environments.

Self-actualization, in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is the highest level of psychological development, where personal potential is fully realized after basic bodily and ego needs have been fulfilled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English-language idioms</span> Common words or phrases with non-literal meanings

An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words. By another definition, an idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements. For example, an English speaker would understand the phrase "kick the bucket" to mean "to die" – and also to actually kick a bucket. Furthermore, they would understand when each meaning is being used in context.

Art as Experience (1934) is John Dewey's major writing on aesthetics, originally delivered as the first William James Lecture at Harvard (1932). Dewey's aesthetics have been found useful in a number of disciplines, including new media.

"We are all Keynesians now" is a famous phrase attributed to Milton Friedman and later rephrased by U.S. president Richard Nixon. It is popularly associated with the reluctant embrace in a time of financial crisis of Keynesian economics, for example, fiscal stimulus, by individuals such as Nixon who had formerly favored less interventionist policies. The phrase "we are all ... now" has become a formula applied to various other concepts since.

"Drinking the Kool-Aid" is an expression used to refer to a person who believes in a possibly doomed or dangerous idea because of perceived potential high rewards. The phrase typically carries a negative connotation. It can also be used ironically or humorously to refer to accepting an idea or changing a preference due to popularity, peer pressure, or persuasion. In recent years, it has evolved further to mean extreme dedication to a cause or purpose, so extreme that one would "drink the Kool-Aid" and die for the cause.

Employee motivation is an intrinsic and internal drive to put forth the necessary effort and action towards work-related activities. It has been broadly defined as the "psychological forces that determine the direction of a person's behavior in an organisation, a person's level of effort and a person's level of persistence". Also, "Motivation can be thought of as the willingness to expend energy to achieve a goal or a reward. Motivation at work has been defined as 'the sum of the processes that influence the arousal, direction, and maintenance of behaviors relevant to work settings'." Motivated employees are essential to the success of an organization as motivated employees are generally more productive at the work place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">When life gives you lemons, make lemonade</span> Proverb

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune. Lemons suggest sourness or difficulty in life; making lemonade is turning them into something positive or desirable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The personal is political</span> Political slogan and argument of second-wave feminism

The personal is political, also termed The private is political, is a political argument used as a rallying slogan of student movement and second-wave feminism from the late 1960s. In the context of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, it was a challenge to the nuclear family and family values. The phrase was popularized by the publication of a 1969 essay by feminist Carol Hanisch under the title "The Personal Is Political" in 1970, and has been repeatedly described as a defining characterization of second-wave feminism, radical feminism, women's studies, or feminism in general. It has also been used by some women artists as the underlying philosophy for their art practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Cane</span>

Florence Cane was a notable American art educator whose ideas influenced the field of art therapy.

<i>Hokkoku Goshiki-zumi</i> Series of five ukiyo-e prints designed by the Japanese artist Utamaro

Hokkoku Goshiki-zumi is a series of five ukiyo-e prints designed by the Japanese artist Utamaro and published in c. 1794–95.

References

  1. 1 2 Laura Shapiro (May 12, 1997). "The Myth of Quality Time". Newsweek . pp. 62–68.
  2. Russell Hochschild, Arlie (1997). The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work . New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN   9780805044713. Google Print
  3. 1 2 Marc Peyser (May 12, 1997). "Time Bind? What Time Bind?". Newsweek . p. 69.
  4. 1 2 John Robinson; Geooffrey Godbey (1997). Time for Life: The Surprising Ways Americans Use Their Time. Penn State Press. ISBN   978-0271034263.