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The first day of Skooliepalooza concludes with a dramatic Arizona sunset and community bonfire. Skoolies believe they’re using their time more wisely now than in their “settled” lives. But when I asked Danny what he did with his new time, he wasn’t sure. “I’ve been trying to figure

that out a little bit,” he said. Even still, he wanted to cut back his hours. As someone who gets anxious not working—either on vacation, being sick, or even taking a long lunch—I became fixated with trying to understand this calm rejection of a society that equates stepping back with

falling behind. Several skoolie parents asked if I wanted to live on a bus someday. I told them no. I’d be bored, fidgety, and worried about wasting time—which is how skoolies felt in their more traditional lives. Bus life, then, seems like another symptom of our competitive culture. We’re compelled to fill our time doing something, anything, even if we fill it by moving from place to place. Otherwise we feel we’ve failed.One night at Skooliepalooza, I sat in Clarity with Rob and Robin discussing time. Rob, who is a financial planner, thinks being available for his children is a good use of time. So is taking a walk on the beach at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. Robin doesn’t care how her kids spend their time,

so long as they’re leading a “slow and gentle” life. This can include looking at bugs if they want. Robin paused to text some skoolie friends for vodka. No one had any. This sort of lifestyle is not to be confused with laziness, she said. “It’s not like we’re sitting at home twiddling our

thumbs.”Britta Lokting is a journalist based in New York. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Baffler, and elsewhere.