Good observation. Not being busy is seen as being lazy in the US. Not working 10 hour days and commuting a couple of hours daily is seen as not being invested i

Good observation. Not being busy is seen as being lazy in the US. Not working 10 hour days and commuting a couple of hours daily is seen as not being invested in your career. Not running your kids to two activities per night and all-weekend athletic tournaments is seen as being a bad parent. Then we spend money on stuff we don't need as a reward for being so productive, such a good employee, and such a good parent. My daughter decided to stop playing Spring basketball, which entailed two 1.5 hour practices during the week and four games a weekend with travel involved. She made the very mature decision that she didn't want to sacrifice free time and friends to play a game. At first I was skeptical about her having so much downtime, but she's happier, doing better in school, and has a tight-knit group of friends. I'm enjoying it quite a bit too since I don't have to rush from work to drive her around and have every weekend tied up for months. I have a feeling a counter-cultural movement is going to start. Maybe not yet, but soon.