If Technology Saves Us Time, Why Do We Feel Busier Than Ever?
- Alison Nissen
- Jul 6
- 4 min read
From Artificial Efficiency to Human Wisdom
Remember when email was supposed to reduce paperwork?
Or when smartphones were supposed to make life easier?
Now AI promises to save us hours every week.
So why does it feel like we're working more than ever?
That question has been bouncing around in my head since my sister Marcy Stoudt and I wrapped up a recent episode of the ABOVE CENTER Leadership Podcast with author and AI strategist Robin Green.
As we were closing the conversation, Marcy observed that "AI isn't really saving us time. It just fills the space we create."
I realized she wasn't really talking about AI. She was talking about people. For more than a century, we've measured progress by one word: efficiency.
Do it faster.
Do it cheaper.
Do more.
I wonder if the biggest misunderstanding about AI isn’t what it is, but what we’ve asked it to become.
Most of us aren't using AI to become more intelligent. We're using it to become more efficient.
Robin's new book, The Intelligence Loop: A New Model For Growth and How We Get Smarter Together, challenges that thinking. For too long, we’ve been asking, “How can we do this faster?” Robin invites us to ask a different question: “Why are we doing it at all?” (Green, 2026)
One sentence from his book perfectly captures that shift: "Efficiency asks, 'How well can we perform?' Intelligence asks, 'Why does this matter?' "
That question changes everything; it shifts our focus from doing more to deciding what deserves more.
Every gain in efficiency creates something even more valuable: capacity.
Whether that capacity becomes an opportunity or an obligation depends on our judgment.
No technology can answer that question for us.
That isn’t a new challenge. It’s one leaders have faced with every major technological advance.
For generations, efficiency wasn't just a business goal. It was survival. Assembly lines made products affordable. Railroads connected continents. Scientific management measured every movement.
Efficiency meant fewer wasted materials.
Less wasted time.
Lower costs.
More output.
It changed the world. And it should have.
Efficiency wasn't the villain. It was the solution to the problems of its day.
The problem is that solutions often become philosophies.
Somewhere along the way, efficiency stopped being a means. It became the measure.
The Capacity Trap
Once efficiency became the measure, it was only natural that we’d keep chasing more of it:
Computers. Email. Smartphones. Cloud computing. Every innovation promised the same thing: Save time.
But what happened?
Instead of working 8 hours...we answered emails at night.
Instead of fewer meetings...we scheduled Zoom meetings back-to-back-to-back.
Instead of empty calendars...we filled them; and that is what Marcy meant.
Efficiency created more capacity. More often than not, we filled that space with the next task.
Why would we treat AI any differently? It’s the latest chapter in a story we’ve been writing for generations.
Artificial Efficiency
The challenge isn’t AI itself. It’s how we’re using it. We’ve spent the last few years treating Artificial Intelligence like Artificial Efficiency.
We ask it to draft emails. Summarize meetings. Create presentations. Analyze data. Organize information. In other words, we’ve largely measured AI by one question: How much time can it save me?
Rather, we should be asking: What deserves my attention? Efficiency isn’t the destination, it’s the invitation.
The invitation to think.
To lead.
To decide.
To create.
To care.
AI expands our capacity. Capacity creates space. Wisdom decides what belongs there. That’s where leadership begins.
The New Competitive Advantage
Technology expands what’s possible. Only humans can decide what deserves their attention.
That’s where wisdom becomes a competitive advantage.
More than a century ago, technology promised to save us time. Henry Ford understood something we’ve forgotten. Machinery wasn’t the goal. It was the means. As he wrote, “Power and machinery, money and goods, are useful only as they set us free to live. They are but means to an end” (Ford & Crowther, 1922, p. 7).
Overtime, we forgot the second half of that idea. We became so focused on creating more efficiency that we stopped asking what that efficiency was supposed to make possible.
Technology has always promised to save us time. The question has never been how much time technology creates. It’s what we choose to do with it.
The defining leadership challenge of our generation is no longer “How can we do this faster?”
It’s asking, “What is worth doing in the first place?”
The future won’t be shaped by artificial intelligence alone. It will be shaped by the people wise enough to use it well.
Artificial intelligence expands what’s possible. Human wisdom decides what’s meaningful. Perhaps time was never the scarce resource. Wisdom was.
References
Ford, H., & Crowther, S. (1922). My life and work. Doubleday, Page & Company.
Green, R. (2026). Intelligence loop: A new model for growth and how we get smarter together. The Intelligence Loop, LLC.
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About the author: As the co-founder and Chief Storytelling Officer of Revel Coach, a career growth platform, Alison Nissen helps leaders perfect their business pitches and online presence through storytelling. Successful executives use key storytelling points to engage their audience and gain market share because they know good storytelling is the best form of marketing, recruiting, and fundraising. Write Your Book NOW! Mastermind enrolling now.
The Revel Coach™ Blog is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not mental health, financial, business or legal advice. The information presented here is not intended to diagnose, treat, heal, cure or prevent any medical, mental or emotional condition. The information presented here is not a guarantee that you will obtain any results or earn any money using our content.
