Why We Should Abandon The 24-Hour Economy

In these days we can’t live without the 24-hours economy. This means we can shop until we drop or going to stores at any time of the day.

Agnes Laurens
5 min readNov 27, 2019

Photo: Alina Grubnyak

What is a 24-hours economy?

A 24-hours economy is a service available at any time of the day. Every day. The numerals stand for 24 hours per day and every day of the week. So — as there are seven days per week — we have the opportunity to shop that many hours in a day. Or work 24 hours, 7 days per week, as people could work in shifts and the machines are turned on day and night 24/7/365.

People are working much longer than years ago when the standards were from 9 am until 5 pm. Now there are even shops open in the evenings and on the weekends. Sometimes in the middle of the night.

Every online shop is open 24-hours. Today, we have more online shops than offline shops. You are a few clicks away from your new jeans — which will be delivered tomorrow, by the way.

When it started

At the end of the twentieth century, people wanted to have more freedom to — when they’re not finished with their work — continue after working time. In America, it was going on already and this was sent to more countries in the world. There is no 9 am until 5 pm culture anymore. People are working at home too when they've not finished at the office.

People are thinking more about how we all can be more productive or increase working hours. They want to finish their work before going to sleep, whether they are at the office or at home.

The purpose of the 24-hour economy

There was a need to work longer to finish work. People needed more hours to work and finishing their work or make more products. It is not only working in the office. People are also working more at home. Thus the flexibility of working more hours per day.

For organizations and companies, the opening hours increased until nightlife. People working in shifts, like in hospitals. So the…

Agnes Laurens

Agnes Laurens is a writer. She writes for the local newspaper. Agnes lives in The Netherlands, with three daughters. https://linktr.ee/alaurens