Exposure order fragments free time

This proposed hypothesis asks why a cultural practice can persist after recommendations are reset, even with the same real free time. It proposes that exposure order leaves tentative private plans, mental reservations of future time, that divide one interval into perceived gaps. Short actions may fit, while a long indivisible practice can feel impossible to place. The test would reverse exposure order, reset the recommendation allocator, and offer identical short and long options. It would compare neutral rearrangement of tentative plans with an equally effortful review. If rearrangement selectively restores long enactments while real opportunities stay equal, that pattern would support subjective fragmentation. Boundary perception, planning costs and ordinary choice remain rival explanations.