Over the last few decades, it has become increasingly normalized to come across extended opening hours in shops and virtual everyday life in many parts of the world. While this trend may appear beneficial when it comes to convenience for customers, I believe that we should also take some potential drawbacks into account, like loss of family time among employees and increased traffic congestion.
To begin with, proponents of prolonged working hours in shopping malls can cite various positive factors for their stance. One of the main driving forces behind this is the flexible time for those who live a hectic lifestyle, meaning that busy clients can have such a chance to go shopping at any time when they have a sufficient amount of spare time. For instance, in Uzbekistan, many shopping centers, which serve for over 18 hours per day, are managed perfectly to help an overwhelming number of busy individuals, thereby fostering personal fulfillment, reducing stress levels, and promoting relaxation among shoppers. In contrast, if it were not for these long working hours in shops, perhaps many people could not enjoy their shopping experiences, and this would spark dissatisfaction among clients. It can therefore be said that extended working hours have a positive impact on society as a whole.
Nevertheless, despite the arguments above, I think that there are several disadvantages of prolonged shopping hours, engendering some difficulties associated with leisure time spent on family members. In other words, it is obviously clear that people who work as sellers in shopping malls often want to allocate free time for their family in the day off, engaging in some activities, such as playing football, basketball, running, swimming, or having a picnic, in turn. Unfortunately, if they work in extended opening hours, this will have a detrimental effect on the staff’s free time for their family as well as themselves, reducing the amount of time in terms of relaxation. Additionally, not only can extended opening hours in shops result in a loss of family time, but it can also trigger traffic jam issues on the roads. That is, the majority of customers commute to the shops through their automobiles without ceaseless at any time, and increased traffic may contribute to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which have a detrimental effect on the environment and public health. As a result of this, these kinds of emissions would lead to environmental calamities, expanding the working hours in shopping centers. Thus, extended opening hours is not a desirable change and might pose a negative implication on the entire society.
In conclusion, for the reasons mentioned above, it seems to me that although clients can be provided with flexible time when shops are open extensively throughout the day, I assure that we should consider its counterproductive consequences in the realm of reduction in spare time with family as well as increased traffic jams.