It’s interesting that you seem to take the OP as trying to optimize productivity. I assume this because you first point out that French culture is more product

It’s interesting that you seem to take the OP as trying to optimize productivity. I assume this because you first point out that French culture is more productive, and then link to the discussion about toxic productivity. But to me, it sounds like they just prefer to defragment their day regardless of productivity. I think the whole idea of escaping toxic productivity is to not worry about maximally optimizing it in the first place. I’d bet you’re both on the same page about that.