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I'm going to say something unpopular now, so be warned. Is wasting time on..TV, MMORPGs, the Internet, senseless magazines etc. really that much of a problem f

by marvin 19y ago

I'm going to say something unpopular now, so be warned. Is wasting time on..TV, MMORPGs, the Internet, senseless magazines etc. really that much of a problem for us as individuals? Procrastinating obviously robs time from "useful" activities like working, but how much use are these activities, really? Work applied correctly certainly brings humanity as a whole to new and better pastures, but I'm wondering whether this is really the case for me as an individual. Personally, I find it very pleasant to waste time. If I don't have anything in particular to do (when I'm on vacation, for instance), I get bored with whatever time-sinks I have in about two weeks and quickly move on to something that brings me forward as a person. But if there are demanding activities occupying my mind - when I study, or learn a new skill, or have a job - wasting time seems to become a natural and healthy part of my life. Four hours a day seems like a good ballpark figure - according to this I spend 28 hours every week doing nothing, in addition to whatever useful things I do the rest of the time. I fail to see how this is a problem. To me it seems as if recreation naturally follows from any demanding activity. If you get 8 hours of real work done every day, what is the problem if another four are spent doing nothing? Or even if you only get four hours of real work done every day, or two, you will still produce more wealth than an average Joe would be able to produce 80 years ago. I guess what I'm questioning is the aspiration of being great if you don't find it natural. Doesn't this apply even, as PG writes in "How to do what you love", if your work is the most interesting and rewarding part of your life? Even great minds need rest.

tyn 19y ago
I was also wondering whether web surfing is really a "waste of time". Would I be better off if I had never come to this site, never read hacker news comments and pg essays and using all this "wasted" time to become better in a programming language, instead? I know, you will probably be more succesful if you stay focused but there is so much interesting information in the internet and what the hell, you only leave once.
- albertcardona 18y ago
  Finding the right balance, that's the hard part.
pg 19y ago
This is a good point. I don't mean to imply one should do nothing but work. The problem with many types of procrastination is that they're not even all that fun. I think the right thing to do is when you work, really work, and when you're just having fun, really have fun.
- keating 19y ago
  Sounds like a job for the Fun Police. "Observance of 'Fun Time' will be strictly enforced."
  - ph0rque 18y ago
    obligatory pbf comic: http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF193-Fun_Bot.gif http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF193-Fun_Bot.gif
- baltoo 18y ago
  a.k.a Work Hard, Play Hard
- Xichekolas 18y ago
  > The problem with many types of procrastination is that they're not even all that fun. There was a period in my life, at my first job, where I was so fed up and bored with what I was supposed to be working on that I just avoided it by surfing the net all day, for months. You would think that goofing off all day on the internet and getting paid for it would be fun, but honestly it made things even worse. Procrastination seems to be like a drug... it can be refreshing (or at least not painful) in small doses, but after a while you just get strung out and depressed. I had this huge weight over my head about what I "should be doing," but absolutely no motivation to actually do it. It took a conscious act of avoiding my web browser to stop that pattern of self-destructive behavior and get some work done again. So yeah, anyway, just wanted to add my data point. Procrastinating can often make your mental well being worse off, by throwing in guilt on top of whatever was bothering you in the first place.
sjatkins 18y ago
The problem is that for most of us those four hours you feel ok about spending doing nothing are the only hours of the day that can be used for appreciably changing your life. For most employees those four hours are all their non-work hours that are truly discretionary and awake. If they don't use those productively they will be employees all their life until they retire. By then they will probably have forgotten what they really wanted to do in life and perhaps be too tired, run down, and or poor to do anything about it if they do remember or discover it. If you are doing what you really want to do in your "work life" then I could see it. But if you are really doing what you want to do I sort of doubt that their are 4 hours a day that you could do something with that you would blow doing something other than "what you really want to do". We are not talking hobbies, keeping up with literature, exploring interesting things here so much as like sitting in front of the Tube or the equivalent, vegging.

by marvin 19y ago

tyn 19y ago

I was also wondering whether web surfing is really a "waste of time". Would I be better off if I had never come to this site, never read hacker news comments and pg essays and using all this "wasted" time to become better in a programming language, instead? I know, you will probably be more succesful if you stay focused but there is so much interesting information in the internet and what the hell, you only leave once.

albertcardona 18y ago
Finding the right balance, that's the hard part.

pg 19y ago

This is a good point. I don't mean to imply one should do nothing but work. The problem with many types of procrastination is that they're not even all that fun. I think the right thing to do is when you work, really work, and when you're just having fun, really have fun.

keating 19y ago
Sounds like a job for the Fun Police. "Observance of 'Fun Time' will be strictly enforced."
- ph0rque 18y ago
  obligatory pbf comic: http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF193-Fun_Bot.gif http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF193-Fun_Bot.gif
baltoo 18y ago
a.k.a Work Hard, Play Hard
Xichekolas 18y ago
> The problem with many types of procrastination is that they're not even all that fun. There was a period in my life, at my first job, where I was so fed up and bored with what I was supposed to be working on that I just avoided it by surfing the net all day, for months. You would think that goofing off all day on the internet and getting paid for it would be fun, but honestly it made things even worse. Procrastination seems to be like a drug... it can be refreshing (or at least not painful) in small doses, but after a while you just get strung out and depressed. I had this huge weight over my head about what I "should be doing," but absolutely no motivation to actually do it. It took a conscious act of avoiding my web browser to stop that pattern of self-destructive behavior and get some work done again. So yeah, anyway, just wanted to add my data point. Procrastinating can often make your mental well being worse off, by throwing in guilt on top of whatever was bothering you in the first place.

sjatkins 18y ago

The problem is that for most of us those four hours you feel ok about spending doing nothing are the only hours of the day that can be used for appreciably changing your life. For most employees those four hours are all their non-work hours that are truly discretionary and awake. If they don't use those productively they will be employees all their life until they retire. By then they will probably have forgotten what they really wanted to do in life and perhaps be too tired, run down, and or poor to do anything about it if they do remember or discover it. If you are doing what you really want to do in your "work life" then I could see it. But if you are really doing what you want to do I sort of doubt that their are 4 hours a day that you could do something with that you would blow doing something other than "what you really want to do". We are not talking hobbies, keeping up with literature, exploring interesting things here so much as like sitting in front of the Tube or the equivalent, vegging.