Why a canceled meeting feels so liberating

Unless your employer is Lumon Industries where the Severance workday never ends, a canceled meeting can feel like a gift of limitless time. A Rutgers University study published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research explains why: Unexpectedly gaining time alters our perception of how that time passes, which in turn affects how we spend it. “An hour gained feels longer than 60 minutes, and that deviation from expectation creates a unique sense of opportunity,” said Gabriela Tonietto, an associate professor of marketing at the Rutgers Business School and lead author of the study.