Ultraprocessed time is the time you spend on something that feels compelling in the moment but leaves you with nothing real to show for it afterward, no rest, no connection, no growth, no learning, just a faint, sugar-crash-esque sort of emptiness. And much like ultraprocessed food, ultraprocessed time is everywhere.

For decades, it’s been used as a gentle dig at people who earnest, well-meaning, maybe a little over the top, and care deeply about the natural world. But here is what we now know with a fair degree of scientific certainty: those tree huggers are onto something.