That additional recreational shopping and those new commercial mechanisms for using the additional time? Contributes to the economy, and creates job opportunities. On a massive scale, if a 20-hour work week became standard.
Not all of those 20+ extra hours everyone has will be devoted to shopping and commercial entertainment, though. As the article, and some of the other commenters, have said - the reason people do so much recreational shopping and commercial entertainment (including TV, restaurants, movies, whatever) is because so much of their time is spent at work, they’re looking for the easiest entertainment fix in their few off-work hours. Many people don’t even feel like they have the energy (mental or physical) to even read the internet, much less a book.
If you have an extra 20 hours a week, eventually you get bored with shopping and TV, and you look for something else to do - and that’s where you find fulfillment. Not everyone, maybe, but that’s not the point. The point is you have that time if you want to use it. Nowadays, few people do.
