Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest.

"Eight hours labor, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest." A quote and rule made by Robert Owen in 1810. On my way home from work today i was wondering who had decided that we should all work 8 hours? Who decides this rule, and what is it based on? Was it based on how much money we would make, on how much time we needed to do other things out side of work or on something else? I looked it up and it seems that most of the decisions/ theories on why to have an 8 hour work day were made in the 1800. As time has passed and things have changed; ways of life, values, culture the way we operate should the time allotted to working be readjusted? If we are able to accomplish things faster at work, email, internet, computers etc, shouldn't the work day be shorter? Since the value of family, recreation, exercise has decreased so much should the work day be shorter so we have more time for these things? Its an anomaly though, that the work day has since increased, people are working more hours than ever to make money. We went from working 10-16 hour days in the 1800s to getting a legal 8 and now some people are working 14. Clearly people just aren't paid enough. Its all about money , companies will keep you 24/7 if they can make more profit. I think that we should get paid more and have to work less, or get paid for 8 hours and only have to work 5. 5 hour shift for example would mean that, for example; a factory would need more workers to cover the work load, thus decreasing the unemployment rate and increasing worker satisfaction and maintaining the amount people get paid.