Choose the correct letter, A, B or C. Understanding how people think about time can help us

Okay, let’s move on. You might ask ’how do these time zones affect our lives?’ Well, let’s start at the beginning. Everyone is brought into this world as a present hedonist. No exceptions. Our initial needs and demands — to be warm, secure, fed and watered — all stem from the present moment. But things change when we enter formal education — we’re taught to stop existing in the moment and to begin thinking about future outcomes.
But, did you know that every nine seconds a child in the USA drops out of school? For boys, the rate is much higher than for girls. We could easily say ’Ah, well, boys just aren’t as bright as girls’, but the evidence doesn’t support this. A recent study states that boys in America, by the age of twenty-one, have spent 10,000 hours playing video games. The research suggests that they’ll never fit in the traditional classroom because these boys require a situation where they have the ability to manage their own learning environment.
Now, let’s look at the way we do prevention education. All prevention education is aimed at a future time zone. We say ’ don’t smoke or you’ll get cancer’, ’ get good grades or you won’t get a good job’. But with present-orientated kids that just doesn’t work. Although they understand the potentially negative consequences of their actions, they persist with the behaviour because they’re not living for the future; they’re in the moment right now. We can’t use logic and it’s no use reminding them of potential fall-out from their decisions or previous errors of judgment — we’ve got to get in their minds just as they’re about to make a choice.
Time perspectives make a big difference in how we value and use our time. When Americans are asked how busy they are, the vast majority report being busier than ever before. They admit to sacrificing their relationships, personal time and a good night’s sleep for their success. Twenty years ago, 60% of Americans had sit-down dinners with their families, and now only 20% do. But when they’re asked what they would do with an eight-day week,they say ’Oh that’d be great’. They would spend that time labouring away to achieve more. They’re constantly trying to get ahead, to get toward a future point of happiness.
So, it’s really important to be aware of how other people think about time. We tend to think: ’Oh, that person’s really irresponsible’ or "That guy’s power hungry’, but often what we’re looking at is not fundamental differences of personality, but really just different ways of thinking about time. Seeing these conflicts as differences in time perspective, rather than distinctions of character, can facilitate more effective cooperation between people and get the most out of each person’s individual strengths.