One can be as authentic on Facebook as on a piece of land for 80 years (Hazra 2008). Where authenticity used to be a property of being in one place for long stretches of time, in today’s world this notion is replaced by being engaged in an activity for specific durations of time. Duration of engagement qualifies participation, validates contributions and therefore deeply influences human lives. Consequentially, it is not enough to be just present any more. Individuals need to proof existence by doing transactions all the time (Abraham 2008).
The formulation of ‘duration of engagement’ stresses the fact that there is a beginning and an end to activity. From simple time designs to more complex situations in which time emerges, people have to adapt to beginnings and endings continuously. Just as being born and dying are fundamental to human existence.
For human beings the transformation between start and end of engagement is crucial to their well-being because it generates ‘empty time’ in between. In empty time, whether one is bored or not, feelings, emotions and a different thinking surface and human presence emerges. When such empty time is not granted, as in the Global Service Delivery model in the outsourcing industry in India in which people are monitored 24/7 hours a day, human beings well-being is seriously jeopardized (Ilavarasan 2008).
To generate empty time, robust structures of time design are needed (Feigl 2009). Only in moments of empty time people can experience the situation they are in and act to be well.