BRIAN & RUTH
Bias #7 · Parkinson's law
Why does one Instagram post take two hours?
Work expands to fill the time you give it.
What happened to Brian
“One photo. One caption. Two hours. Filter number nine. Still not posted.”
The study
Parkinson wrote it in The Economist in 1955. His example: a lady who spends all day sending one postcard.
THE MOVEGive it half the time.
Exactly. And it can't see how long you took. So give it half the time.
And with AI?
AI writes captions in a second now. Will we still spend an hour on filters? Are we prepared for a full AI life? Tell us in the comments on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.
Source: Parkinson, C. Northcote (1955). Parkinson's Law. The Economist, 19 November 1955. Read the original