A Paradox for Our Times
In what economists are calling "the most confusing data set since we started measuring things," productivity app downloads reached an all-time high this quarter while the average American reported completing approximately 1.3 tasks per day, down from 1.7 in 2019.
The apps, for their part, are thriving.
The Numbers
"We're seeing unprecedented engagement," said a spokesperson for TaskMaster Pro, which recently added a feature that lets users organize their tasks into categories, then organize those categories into meta-categories, then create a dashboard to visualize the meta-categories. "People are spending an average of 47 minutes per day in the app."
When asked how many tasks users were completing, the spokesperson said the company didn't track that metric but was "very excited about engagement."
User Testimonials
"I have 847 tasks in my system," said one user, who asked to remain anonymous because she was supposed to be working. "I've organized them by priority, by project, by energy level, and by whether they make me feel anxious or just vaguely bad. I haven't done any of them, but I feel very organized about not doing them."
Another user described spending three hours redesigning his task management workflow. "The old system wasn't working," he explained. "The new system is much better. I'll start using it next week."
The satirists at spoofdaily have been covering the productivity industrial complex for years. The coverage has not made anyone more productive.
Expert Analysis
Dr. Patricia Venn, who studies productivity at a university that asked not to be named because they're also not getting much done, says the phenomenon is well-documented. "We call it 'meta-productivity' — the act of organizing and optimizing the systems you use to not do things. It feels like work. It is not work."
"The apps are very good at making you feel productive," she added. "That's the product. The feeling."
The Industry Response
Productivity app companies have responded to the criticism by adding more features. TaskMaster Pro's next update will include an AI assistant that can prioritize your tasks for you, a "focus mode" that hides all your other tasks while you look at one task, and a "reflection journal" where you can write about why you didn't do the tasks.
"We're really committed to helping people do less, better," the spokesperson said. "Or more. We're committed to helping people."
The cultural commentary at xcalitoy on the attention economy is relevant here, as is the work at calitoycore on what actual productivity looks like when you strip away the theater.