Examining the highly organized lives of long-distance commuters

When both parents face lengthy commutes to work, how do families handle the additional stress' An EPFL scientist took an in-depth look at the strategies these parents use for managing their time wisely and dealing with unexpected challenges. "Most studies on long-distance commuters focus on high-ranking executives who live and work in different countries. But I wanted to look more specifically at families where both parents have to travel long distances day in and day out," says Guillaume Drevon, a geographer at EPFL's Urban Sociology Laboratory (LaSUR). His research has been published in a new book titled Proposition pour une rythmologie de la mobilité et des sociétés contemporaines (available in French only). Drevon has developed a new approach that investigates how the fast pace of modern life is affecting people's behavior and society more broadly. His work analyzes the frequency and geographic dispersion of a given community's activities and how individuals within the community perceive time. With his approach, scientists can obtain a better understanding of how new technology like email, 24-hour news channels and social networks - coupled with the increasing pressure to work quickly and always be productive - have accelerated the pace of life.