Illustration by Tim Enthoven

In 1930, the British economist John Maynard Keynes suggested that by 2030 societies in developed nations would be defined by leisure, with workers only having to clock in for a 15-hour week. If only.

Things aren’t quite shaping up to be this idyllic. In reality we’re spending even more time tied to our work desks. According to US labour historian Benjamin Kline Hunnicutt, leisure time in the country hasn’t increased since the Great Depression and in 2005 people inthe US were working five weeks longer than in the seventies. The top quintile of earners – the educated and rich once considered the“leisure class” – have actually seen their work hours increase by14.4% between 1979 and 2002.

This puts us at dangerous risk of burning ourselves out. Overwork brings stress, unhappiness and depression, with less time to enrich ourselves with the things that really matter. And this may be set to grow as our work and leisure time continue to blur. While technology has empowered people to work remotely and flexibly, the downside is that it’s making it harder for us to clock out. The millennials, a digitally always-on generation, also suffer from being always-on-the-job. According to a study by the American Psychological Association,millennials are now the most stressed out demographic. Perhaps an indicator of how bad this has got, for those who really can’t tear themselves away, the Bergen Work Addiction Scale can now measure the extent of workaholism.

And it’s not just adults who are playing less. The American Journal of Play recently reported that children’s play time has declined since the fifties, partly because adults have had greater control over children’s activities. According to their findings, this has heightened the risk of depression, anxiety and could cause problems related to self-control. It also reduces the benefits that play brings, such as social bonding and happiness – unsurprisingly, children consider time spent playing as their happiest moments, according to the research.