I conducted three interviews to test my hypothesis that students face problems maintaining friendships due to lack of available time between university and work, which was based on my earlier secondary research from forums and statistics.

The first interview was in the form of a phone call with a 20 year old student from Argentina.

Q- How many hours a week do you work, and how long do you spend in university?

A- I have to go to university from Monday to Friday for 6 hours each day, it’s quite demanding, and on top of that I work for about 30 hours a week.

Q- Is there any particular reason you work for so long?

A- In my country it’s quite hard to find part time work, and I like to travel a lot. Prices for everyday things like food and rent are very low here and the wage is scaled to that, but planes are as expensive as they would be in Europe, and it’s hard to afford hotels and restaurants on an entry level wage.

Q- How satisfied are you with your friendships?

A- I don’t really have much time for friends at all, any time I have left I’m doing university work, I’d only get to meet people less than once a month. Because of that I don’t really have any real friends, just people I work with at uni.

Q- If you could would you rather have more of a social life?

A- Sometimes I do wish I could socialise a bit more but I put up with the stress of working all the time for the reward of getting to travel during my summer and winter breaks.

Q- If you got to socialise more, do you think you would be less stressed?

A- I’m not sure, I certainly would be if I had more free time, but the obligation to fit time for people into my schedule also makes me anxious. I don’t think it’s about being able to socialise more but just having more time for myself.

This interview tells me about an extreme case of work overcoming a student’s social life. This person has stated that she wishes she had more free time. Although a product may not be able to balance her time better while allowing her to keep her goal of travelling more, I believe this is an interesting case to look into. Perhaps her free time could be increased by providing an opportunity to do remote work for an international company that pays a higher rate per hour, due to the necessity of working longer to match the necessary spending abroad in a more expensive economy.