I recently saw a new movie called “In Time” starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. The premise of the movie was strange, but intriguing: Imagine living in a world where you knew how long you had left to live, down to the second.

In the movie, not only do you know how much time you have, but time is what makes the world turn. Instead of money, society uses time as a means of currency. Worked all day? You added x amount of time to your life! Want a burger for lunch? Ouch, that might cost you an hour or so. Need to pay the rent or the electric bill? Say goodbye to a week.

So basically, the rich have the power to live indefinitely, while the poor can time out at any moment. When your clock hits zero, you fall where you stand and meet your maker.

After seeing the movie, every second I spend on something suddenly seems much more valuable. I’m not watching my clock tick away, but I still have to ask myself: is my time being put to good use?

The characters in the film literally spent the time in their lives on every single thing they did or purchased. I suppose we “spend” time too, although not exactly in the same way.

I guess whether or not your time is being spent wisely or wasted depends on your definition of what a good use of time is. I’m in college getting an education; I like learning, so I suppose that’s a good use of my time. I hang out with my friends and soon will be going home for winter break to see my family; I love them and being in their company, so again, I’d say that’s a good use of my time.

But what about all that in-between time? The time I spend procrastinating,  watching television, sleeping or surfing the Internet: is that a good use of time? (Alright, sleeping is necessary- but if it wasn’t, think of all the extra time you would have!)

It is true that everyone needs a break. Sometimes, you just need to recharge and watch a movie or take a nap. But sometimes, you need to take a step back, reevaluate, and think about what exactly it is you want to do in life and whether or not you are working to make that happen.

You also need to make time for your loved ones and not let what you want to do get in the way of having good relationships with the people that mean the most to you. 

Although “In Time” was an action-thriller, it really made me think twice about how quickly time goes by, how much can really be accomplished in a day and how much time I might be wasting on things that really don’t matter.

Now, I’m not saying we need to live in fear that every day is our last day and that we should lead totally impractical lives just doing whatever the heck we want. But I am saying that we should realize that our time is indeed limited and that we should be thankful for every second that we get. Every once in a while, it’s nice to remind ourselves that we are lucky for each moment spent doing the things we really enjoy with the people we love most. 

In the movie, Justin Timberlake’s character is having a hard time living from day to day. He says to a rich man with a century’s worth of life left, “If I had all that time, I sure as hell wouldn’t waste