What does the author mean by ‘degrading the time’ in para 6?

Class 12th English , Question Paper 2023 :What does the author mean by 'degrading the time' in para 6?

These are the options for the question :What does the author mean by ‘degrading the time’ in para 6?

(a) spending less time
(b) waste of time
(c) consuming more time
(d) saving time

The correct answer is -(a) spending less time.