Pre-modern society was precisely like that. Agriculture on the level of, say, the 17th century, demands a lot of time, but only in specific periods dictated by natural processes. In the meantime, as a male peasant you are "almost free", with scattered duties here and there. Also, no commute and very little artificial light. Most people's workplace was within walking distance from their bed, if not in the same house. And a majority of work was stopped after sunset, given that artificial light was scarce (perhaps just one lamp for the entire household).
People like pastoralists who watch over grazing flocks are relatively free too, it is not a constant work comparable to a factory floor.
Traditional female works were a bit different. A lot of spinning, for example, that was a major time eater, and independent of season.
> Agriculture on the level of, say, the 17th century, demands a lot of time, but only in specific periods dictated by natural processes. In the meantime, as a male peasant you are "almost free", with scattered duties here and there
Yeah no. That meme came from estimation of some economist that completely ignored what actually male (or female) peasants done. And conditions they actually lived in.
So I am a rather late child and a late grandchild; my grandparents grew up in rural Slovakia and Bulgaria between 1900-1940, at which point those places were rather underdeveloped. None of them had electricity before 22 years of age and my oldest grandfather, a rural blacksmith, only had it in his 40ies.
I have some first-hand knowledge from them, which I consider quite reliable. They are all dead now, but their conditions were quite alike.
The work in the height of the agricultural season was very hard and arduous. A huge problem was the weather: if it rained too much, or not at all, food would become very expensive.
But I stand by my claim that they had a lot of free or semi-free time. Their entire rhythm of living was different.
For example, every Sunday, there was a market in a town 20 kms away. My grandma walked there and back to sell some eggs and cheese and buy whatever the village did not produce (e.g. kerosene for the kerosene lamp). It was 4 hours each way, but the time spent walking there wasn't work. The villagers went in a group, talked, told stories, flirted, sung etc. on the way. So the journey was a mix of leisure, exercise and bonding.
Or another example. Girls would often knit or decorate clothing together. It was an important activity, but under no hard deadline or quality pressure (unlike in a factory), and they usually gathered together and had a good time talking, sewing, relaxing for a bit. Someone could actually read stories aloud to pass time etc.
These days, we have rather hard divisions between "work", "hobby" and "leisure". Only a few moments in the day (the watercooler chit-chat) are somewhere in between.
That wasn't the case in premodern rural society and my grandparents yet lived in such a world.
Yeah I had grandparents too. Going to market for 4 hours is a work. I have good time working fairly often too and it is still work. I went to business trips, we chatted and had good time and it was work.
Decorating cloth is work. It just is and was. Nor something you can avoid and something you are judged on. I listen to music when coding and to podcast when doing repetitive work. Does not make it not work.
You know why we girls don't don't anymore? Because it is boring repetitive chore to large majority of us. And I actually did some embroidery - it is cool in small amounts. Emphasis on small.
And it was not all relaxing either. You are talking about period with huge pressures, periods of lack of food due to wars.
In generation in between, there are people who cant relax. They feel guilty and will badge you if you dare to sit and rest.
Its more of a spectrum but pre-internet, if you wanted to watch a movie you had to rent the VHS or order it somehow. You had to buy a book in a bookstore. Each limiting your range of exposure (you had magazines, papers, and peers which each were very important). On top of that, piracy took little amount of time and effort, and legal distribution eventually went to compete.
When exactly was supposed that be?