Leisure time is not the same as freedom, as a recent survey of 200 families commissioned by the BAT Leisure Research Institute confirmed.

Leaving work marks the beginning of leisure time, and the journey home essentially signals the end of the workday or the weekend. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that free time is actually available.

Tasks such as shopping, housework, repairs, etc., are on the agenda. In other words, everyday tasks resembling work, but with an obligational character.

And finally, the family also demands its rights.

According to the research study, at least 63% of respondents complain about having too little free time, with younger people reporting this figure rising to 76% and working people to 67%. Only housewives are significantly more likely to express satisfaction with the amount of free time they have available.

The main reasons given for feeling like there's too little time for oneself, for hobbies, etc., are transitional activities (commuting, showering, dinner, housework, etc.), with the "normal end of the workday" subject to an almost standardized ritual. Even after work, people remain in an organized routine, just like during the workday, and subdivide their "free time" so that everyone and everything gets its due.

However, the family plays a rather ambivalent role, because on the one hand being together with it is enjoyed, but on the other hand the pressure to have family contact and to be considerate creates a number of problems.

If the activities between work and "true" leisure time, including family obligations and recovery from the past and future workday, are unpleasant or bothersome, then they certainly qualify as leisure time in terms of experience. Unlike paid work, they are not externally dictated. While household chores must be performed, individuals are more able to determine the type, timing, and extent of these tasks. Work and leisure are more easily interchangeable.

The dominance of work is cited as another important reason for the impairment of leisure time. Factors frequently associated with employment, such as unfavorable, rigid working hours and long commutes, can restrict available free time. The normal evening after work is particularly affected, leaving hardly any genuine leisure time.

In addition, there is the primary aspect of relaxation after work. One is not free for new or different things, but must relax, regenerate, and maintain one's energy levels in order to be fit again the next day.

Those surveyed rarely break out of their daily routine, because leisure time should ideally mean freedom. All too quickly, they return to the orderly world, without escapism, readjust to the stable rhythm, and content themselves with the feeling of being free. This, however, further reinforces the strong ritualistic tendencies of the "normal" evening. The pattern tends to be uniform, with little flexibility or variation.

As the study by the BAT Leisure Research Institute reveals, specific leisure activities are very limited and essentially consist of watching television, reading, and having a drink. The need for rest, switching off, and thus passivity, is paramount. And most people feel disturbed in this regard by family and friends (28.5%), work after hours (11.5%), or other factors such as the pressure to be considerate (18.5%). They are simply too busy to be able to relax.

The leisure ideal recognized and desired by many respondents – activities outside the home, hobbies, time for self-development and self-realization, etc. – often falls by the wayside.

A bank director with a six-figure annual income sits at the lathe and asks his "colleague", the chairman of the supervisory board of a large automotive group, to also drive the late shift with him.

The saleswoman studies the stock prices, sells shares and buys others.

The tile layer designs delicate chains and rings in the goldsmith's workshop, shaping golden treasures.

The architect takes care of the household, irons, washes dishes and bathes the children.

The teacher is filming her first movie, and the housewife is making cabinets, tables, and chairs in the carpentry shop.

A topsy-turvy world? Or dreams that are just froth? Not at all! This is the solution to leisure problems – and to work problems too.

The magic word is "fullern," meaning that everyone should do what they want to do. Everyone should have the opportunity to develop creatively, regardless of prestige or income. This also means being able to do what you might have always dreamed of as a little boy or girl: tram conductor, pilot, model, film star, inventor, etc.

That this won't lead to creative chaos is demonstrated by the American Jim Haynes, a champion of the architect, poet, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller (born 1895). According to Haynes, intelligence and technology now allow, for example, 20 people to cultivate 1,000 fields where previously 1,000 people would have been needed. Fuller recognized this 50 years ago and implemented it accordingly. Today, this development is even more pronounced due to rationalization, computer technology, and the displacement of humans from their jobs. According to Haynes, humans can therefore choose to "Fullerize." And "Fullerizing" is certainly a form of work, a creative form.

Work itself, as a tedious and unpleasant activity, is antiquated and should therefore be abolished.

Fullern, on the other hand, is fun and offers the possibility of doing it only when you feel like it. Fullern isn't always the same activity, but always whatever you feel like doing at that moment.

„The (real) difference between working and fullering is: when working, you feel trapped; when fullering, you know you can stop at any time,“ says Haynes. And: studies have proven that a fullering person has 1,000 times more labor-saving ideas than a routine worker who is merely going through the motions.

There you go, then the remaining 20 people in the fields could also do some fulling.

Abolish work!

The idea that dreams are a way of processing what was experienced during the day is a common opinion among psychologists and psychotherapists.

But what if the day was boring and, in a sense, uneventful?.

Or if you've had a lot of trouble all day, perhaps disagreements with your family in the evening, because you're tired and worn out, stressed by the trouble and simply don't feel like dealing with your wife and children anymore.

When the evening's television viewing has once again brought only bland entertainment or crime series into the living room.

And now into dreams! As I said: the dream is "only" the subconscious "dealing" with the events and things seen/heard of the day.

For such cases, the English sleep researcher Dr. Hearne has now come up with a solution. A dream machine that sends electrical impulses to the brain is supposed to ensure that everything you wish for before falling asleep subsequently comes true in your dreams. Dreaming on demand, then…