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me time or me-time noun [U]
a period when someone relaxes by doing something that they enjoy

‘There’s alone me time where I could go get a massage or a pedicure, or go for a drive. Then there’s fun and frolic me time when I get together with special people and laugh, eat, drink, talk. Both do wonders for me.’
(personal e-mail, February 2003)

Me time is a term which has been popularised by all forms of the media geared towards issues of female interest, in particular women’s magazines. The idea is that, amidst the stress of 21st century life, a woman finds it increasingly difficult to spend time which is exclusively for her and is not encroached upon by the non-stop demands of work and family. Me time, then, is a period of time when a woman can put herself first and do something that she particularly enjoys to aid relaxation and revitalisation. This might be as simple as having a bubble bath or sitting down with a cup of tea, or going on a trip to the gym or a weekend away. Though not used exclusively with reference to women, this term lies heavily in the female domain, mainly used by female writers for a female audience. Health education companies in the United States declared 28th March 2003 to be national Me Time Day, claiming the importance of focussing on the personal health and well-being of women everywhere. Women’s organisations have been using the term with the aim of embracing the idea that self-preservation is not self-indulgent.

Background
As demands on our time and the expectation of what we can achieve with it continue to grow, we have seen other expressions which compartmentalise the hours in our day. We’re now familiar with the expression quality time, the time spent with family doing enjoyable things (a term also used with sarcastic overtones when the prospect of this is not particularly desirable!). A couple of other recent coinings are face time which refers to time spent talking to someone in person, as opposed to using e-mail or some other electronic device, and windshield time, used both in the UK and the US to refer to work-related time spent in the car.
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