5 ms·

The trick seems to be to identify your various different out-of-energy states and what activity is consistently restorative for each. Then, get experience with

by kd5bjo 7y ago

The trick seems to be to identify your various different out-of-energy states and what activity is consistently restorative for each. Then, get experience with those activities when you’re fresh so that you have less of a hurdle to jump over when you really need them. The biggest issue, of course, is that it requires you to experiment with new things when you’re dead tired in order to figure out what helps in the first place. A more subtle problem is that some activities help at first and then cause problems later- Television/YouTube is like this for me; sometimes, it’s the most effective way of resting but if I’m not careful I’ll go straight through energetic into a different, harder to escape lethargy.

alltakendamned 7y ago
I think the benefits of active versus passive leisure time is an interesting area to explore.
scotty79 7y ago
I think there are two problems. Tiredness and boredom. TV's sweet spot is when you are mildly bored and pretty tired. It tires you even more but alleviates boredom a bit. I had after-school routine. When I was comming back from school I was bored and tired but too bored and not tired enough to go to sleep immediately. So I watched TV for an hour or two becomming slightly less bored and completely tired. After that I slept for few hours and after that wake up and be semi-funtional human again, able to do homework or enjoy myself for a bit. The problem was I got addicted to TV and I watched it even if I wasn't that tired and theoretically had energy to entertain myself with something that had better joy/effort ratio than TV. Instead I always defaulted to TV which costed me too much energy for enjoyment provided. Eventually I had to ask my mom to put a parental lock on TV and even then after school I was lying in front of turned on TV that showed no channel (due to parental lock) pushing buttons at random trying to unlock it. I even managed to unlock it once (3 digit code) but couldn't repeat it. Eventually my dumb brain learned that lying in front of a TV no longer gives me any joy (because I can't turn the channels on) and I shook the addiction.
- kd5bjo 7y ago
  In my experience, there are a lot more than two sliders but the general idea seems right. By choosing the right program, television can help fulfill all sorts of emotional needs: social, excitement, creativity, escapism, curiosity, etc. The problem is that it’s effective for such a large range of needs, it promotes the illusion that, if you only found the right thing to watch, it can fix anything. So you end up channel surfing, wondering why you can’t find anything you’re interested in, when what you really need is a stroll outside.
  - scotty79 7y ago
    > television can help fulfill all sorts of emotional needs: social, excitement, creativity, escapism, curiosity, etc. Yes. I totalle agree. I think social was most important for me. The problem with TV is that it fulfills those needs but very inefficiently. It takes a lot of time of lying inert in front of TV to get any significant fulfillment. And the insidious part is that because people are lying down they think they are resting. But that's rarely true. Lying down especially for hours tires you even more. So TV provides you with versatile fulfillment but at very slow rate and at a significant cost that's not easy to notice.
- wpietri 7y ago
  Spot on. My last year was terrible, and I had developed the habit of watching video as way to self-soothe. I wasn't really enjoying it or getting anything out of it, so when my major source of stress ended, I decided to kick the TV/Netflix/Prime habit. For all of June, I eliminated it and video games. It was hard at first, but it has been great. When June ended I was curious to see if I'd pick those back up. So far, nothing. It turns out if I let myself be bored, it will drive me to do something more interesting.
- jedrek 7y ago
  Being tired ("I don't have the mental or physical energy to do engaging things") and sleepy ("I want to sleep") are completely different things.

by kd5bjo 7y ago

alltakendamned 7y ago

I think the benefits of active versus passive leisure time is an interesting area to explore.

scotty79 7y ago

I think there are two problems. Tiredness and boredom. TV's sweet spot is when you are mildly bored and pretty tired. It tires you even more but alleviates boredom a bit. I had after-school routine. When I was comming back from school I was bored and tired but too bored and not tired enough to go to sleep immediately. So I watched TV for an hour or two becomming slightly less bored and completely tired. After that I slept for few hours and after that wake up and be semi-funtional human again, able to do homework or enjoy myself for a bit. The problem was I got addicted to TV and I watched it even if I wasn't that tired and theoretically had energy to entertain myself with something that had better joy/effort ratio than TV. Instead I always defaulted to TV which costed me too much energy for enjoyment provided. Eventually I had to ask my mom to put a parental lock on TV and even then after school I was lying in front of turned on TV that showed no channel (due to parental lock) pushing buttons at random trying to unlock it. I even managed to unlock it once (3 digit code) but couldn't repeat it. Eventually my dumb brain learned that lying in front of a TV no longer gives me any joy (because I can't turn the channels on) and I shook the addiction.

kd5bjo 7y ago
In my experience, there are a lot more than two sliders but the general idea seems right. By choosing the right program, television can help fulfill all sorts of emotional needs: social, excitement, creativity, escapism, curiosity, etc. The problem is that it’s effective for such a large range of needs, it promotes the illusion that, if you only found the right thing to watch, it can fix anything. So you end up channel surfing, wondering why you can’t find anything you’re interested in, when what you really need is a stroll outside.
- scotty79 7y ago
  > television can help fulfill all sorts of emotional needs: social, excitement, creativity, escapism, curiosity, etc. Yes. I totalle agree. I think social was most important for me. The problem with TV is that it fulfills those needs but very inefficiently. It takes a lot of time of lying inert in front of TV to get any significant fulfillment. And the insidious part is that because people are lying down they think they are resting. But that's rarely true. Lying down especially for hours tires you even more. So TV provides you with versatile fulfillment but at very slow rate and at a significant cost that's not easy to notice.
wpietri 7y ago
Spot on. My last year was terrible, and I had developed the habit of watching video as way to self-soothe. I wasn't really enjoying it or getting anything out of it, so when my major source of stress ended, I decided to kick the TV/Netflix/Prime habit. For all of June, I eliminated it and video games. It was hard at first, but it has been great. When June ended I was curious to see if I'd pick those back up. So far, nothing. It turns out if I let myself be bored, it will drive me to do something more interesting.
jedrek 7y ago
Being tired ("I don't have the mental or physical energy to do engaging things") and sleepy ("I want to sleep") are completely different things.