13 ms·

I can only assume the "nothing to do" retirement crowd didn't do much when they were working, and therefore have no idea how to fill the time. Personally: 1. M

I can only assume the "nothing to do" retirement crowd didn't do much when they were working, and therefore have no idea how to fill the time. Personally: 1. More volunteer time at the dog shelter. 2. More reading. 3. More music playing, and finally really spend time on that violin that is currently a secondary instrument. 4. More time at "church" (read: Zen practice), yes, just like other old people. 5. Might finally have time to hike the Appalachian Trail, or at least large parts of it. 6. Finally find the time to sit down and decide what I want to do when I retire, 'cuz there's no way this list is complete. All but #5 should be able to be done by all but the most feeble. I hope I live so long as to get bored in retirement.

AstralStorm 7y ago
1. Not possible due to failing health. 2. Do you mean Braille? Yes, large print can suffice sometimes... Audiobooks if your hearing is adequate. 3. Add some motor coordination problems and this is not happening. 4. It is boring for many. 5. Sure, with failing healthy and being less able to move. Not impossible, just not likely. 6. Too late for many things. Most people forget that were talking 70 years old people or so. Some remain spry, but they are a minority. 6b. And what makes you think you will have better ideas then? Or have any actual energy? By the time they're 60, most people attain at least one chronic health problem. If they're lucky, it's manageable for normal full energy life without such excesses. Some fade much earlier than that. Finally, the main problem is gradual loss of connections, friends, family etc.
- xwdv 7y ago
  Personally, if I found myself toward the end of my life retired and hopelessly frail, confined to a bed all day, with no children or even a friend worth seeing, I’ve decided I’ll just live out the rest of my days hacking into systems, creating botnets, ransoming data, just seeing what’s out there and trying to build some sort of malware network that can live on for a while after I’m gone. For what? Who knows. I’m just cashing in on a lifetime of skills and knowledge that I never got to use to it’s full extent, simply because I wanted to live an honest life. It’s better than laying there watching a TV all day falling asleep with a dry gaping mouth. And if I slip up and get tracked, and I hear the law breaking down the door to get in, I’ll just swallow a pack of pills and be done with it, by the time they get to me, they’ll just find a deflating old corpse sunken into a bed, while thousands of compromised machines stand by to execute their final orders once the dead man’s switch goes off. This is how I fade.
  - goldenCeasar 7y ago
    I would read this novel.
    - Noumenon72 7y ago
      Maybe he should write a novel instead of the botnets.
    - aggie 7y ago
      You're in luck! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel_series) I enjoyed them.
  - badpun 7y ago
    I've read somewhere that there's a increasing trend of bitter, lonely old men in France who try to rob banks (yes!) because they're so bored and antisocial from lack of human connections. This would be a hacker version of that.
  - mythrwy 7y ago
    It might be hard to build ransom botnets when you can barely read the soup menu and have trouble remembering what year it is.
  - ecorithm 7y ago
    I've always just read the site and never posted. But what is wrong with you? You are clearly a disturbed individual with some serious moral failings. By the time you retire hopefully you've grown up enough to not give into your childish impulses. If you were being sarcastic then I'm sorry and I'll feel like a total idiot.
  - gscott 7y ago
    I agree! Stick it to the Man.
  - mycall 7y ago
    Thanks to this post, they will be knocking soon. Well done.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jmcqk6 7y ago
  The world is a gigantic place. Boredom is never caused by not having things to do. It's caused by not wanting to do anything, and that is a very different problem.
  - arvinsim 7y ago
    Different people have different things that they love. And people has different levels of access to doing the things they love. If you are really passionate about driving racing cars but you can't afford to do so, people telling you that you can play games or instruments doesn't really help.
mieseratte 7y ago
> I can only assume the "nothing to do" retirement crowd didn't do much when they were working, and therefore have no idea how to fill the time. Personally: Loads of folks derive personal value and meaning out of their work, and I'm one of them. I've been out of work once for a few months, and that was with a job waiting for me at the end of the tunnel. It was eye opening how depressive it was, to be robbed of your big "thing." I'm saying this as someone with a boat load of little "things," reading, outdoorsmanship, sports, etc. The second that surety of purpose is gone, so goes my wider motivation.
- moate 7y ago
  There's no reason your "thing" can't be volunteering or working for a cause that you find important pro bono. Most people would define "retirement" as "no longer working for money, while using savings or other existing means of income to pay for living expenses"
  - mieseratte 7y ago
    > There's no reason your "thing" can't be volunteering or working for a cause that you find important pro bono. There absolutely is a reason that it can't be my "thing," it's because it isn't!
    - moate 7y ago
      What is it about working that makes it so depressing for you to not do it? Is it the earning of money for yourself? If so, you're greedy. That's fine. Be greedy. Not a great look, but we're just being honest with ourselves. If it's "doing work that changes the way things are", once you've reached a point where you are able to retire and no longer need to work for money, there's plenty of options in just about every sector (I'm assuming yours is tech or tech adjacent being on HN and all that) where you can do meaningful work and which people would gladly accept the help of an expert on even if they can't pay them. If it's some other 3rd thing that you feel differentiates jobs from non-jobs, I'd be interested to hear what you think that is.
ryandrake 7y ago
Yea, I can’t wait to retire. There are so many things I’m missing out on because I commute 4 hours a day and work 8. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 4 or 5 hobbies I’d do daily if I ever manage to retire—stuff I have to frantically cram into nights and weekends now. This idea of having nothing to do is so foreign.
- arkano 7y ago
  Four hours a day? You need to do something about that ASAP, don't just wait for retirement, have a shorter term plan.
starpilot 7y ago
I tried this. What happened was that I was so lonely, I didn't have the focus to do any of it. I couldn't sit and read a book, I was so anxious all the time. I missed my "tribe" of coworkers however superficial that may be. I ended up watching lots of tv and movies all the time and was glad when I started a job again.
the-dude 7y ago
Are you actually retired?
- mikestew 7y ago
  Oops, too late to edit, but it does read as if I'm already doing those things. No, that's the wish list I hope to start working on in about four years. But to answer directly: yes; money is no longer the motivator, and one does not have to do those things to eat. Which, I suppose, a jobby-job once you have enough saved counts as "retirement". But as much as I like my work, there's a lot of other things I like, too, and don't do them as much as I'd like because I'm not yet "retired".
  - sokoloff 7y ago
    There's a pretty broad range of what "enough" is in the phrase "enough saved". For some people, it might be $1MM in investments plus a paid off house and the promise of Medicare and Social Security. For others, that might be a small integer multiple for that $1MM figure to be either multiplied or divided to be "enough".
repomies691 7y ago
> I can only assume the "nothing to do" retirement crowd didn't do much when they were working, and therefore have no idea how to fill the time. Well, the common pattern seems to be for those who retire early that it was preceded with a lots of work. That was also my case. At some point I just realised that I want to do something else, and I had enough savings for lifetime so money wasn't any kind of motivator any more. So, previously I was working 24/7, then suddenly I was working only couple of hours a week. Slowly I started picking things to do, but it takes a lot of time to find hobbies etc.
efa 7y ago
Key is to maintain physical and mental health into retirement. Then you can really enjoy it.
stevesimmons 7y ago
You are absolutely right about the "nothing to do" retirees. My grandfather was just like that. Fortunately for my mum and dad, both of them are as busy now in retirement than when they were working. Take for instance my dad.... - He was offered an early retirement package at age 55, hated being idle, and six months later returned to full-time work as a consultant. - Fast-forward 15 years, to age 71, when he finally decided to properly retire, ... - ... to do a full-time Masters of Mechanical Engineering. He just graduated, at 75 the univesity's oldest full-time student. - After a six month's break (to focus on gym circuit training and boxing classes), he has returned to university again, doing a 50% Masters of Aeronautical Engineering.
- Aeolun 7y ago
  Oh man, going to university again when I retire actually sounds like a great way to spend time.
  - sokoloff 7y ago
    Some states have free tuition for senior (typically 60+) students to audit [and sometimes to attend] courses at the state public universities.
    - stevesimmons 7y ago
      When the university wanted him to pay the standard course fees, he somehow convinced them to give him a postgraduate scholarship so he could do it for free. During the course he got two concessions: - He was given 4 hours to do the 3 hour exam papers. After all, it had been 53 years since his undergrad math days. - Exemption from the engineering work experience requirement. Instead in the Project Management course, he did a guest lecture slot on 'real-life project management in the offshore oil and gas industry'.
  - kazinator 7y ago
    Programming term projects done in one evening, haha!
- 7y ago
kogir 7y ago
I thought I had things I wanted to do if only I had time. When I had the luxury of taking the last year off I found out that the idea of doing those things was far more appealing than actually doing them. I started to go a little crazy. Now I’m looking for work, not because I have to right now, it because I’m bored.

AstralStorm 7y ago

1. Not possible due to failing health. 2. Do you mean Braille? Yes, large print can suffice sometimes... Audiobooks if your hearing is adequate. 3. Add some motor coordination problems and this is not happening. 4. It is boring for many. 5. Sure, with failing healthy and being less able to move. Not impossible, just not likely. 6. Too late for many things. Most people forget that were talking 70 years old people or so. Some remain spry, but they are a minority. 6b. And what makes you think you will have better ideas then? Or have any actual energy? By the time they're 60, most people attain at least one chronic health problem. If they're lucky, it's manageable for normal full energy life without such excesses. Some fade much earlier than that. Finally, the main problem is gradual loss of connections, friends, family etc.

xwdv 7y ago
Personally, if I found myself toward the end of my life retired and hopelessly frail, confined to a bed all day, with no children or even a friend worth seeing, I’ve decided I’ll just live out the rest of my days hacking into systems, creating botnets, ransoming data, just seeing what’s out there and trying to build some sort of malware network that can live on for a while after I’m gone. For what? Who knows. I’m just cashing in on a lifetime of skills and knowledge that I never got to use to it’s full extent, simply because I wanted to live an honest life. It’s better than laying there watching a TV all day falling asleep with a dry gaping mouth. And if I slip up and get tracked, and I hear the law breaking down the door to get in, I’ll just swallow a pack of pills and be done with it, by the time they get to me, they’ll just find a deflating old corpse sunken into a bed, while thousands of compromised machines stand by to execute their final orders once the dead man’s switch goes off. This is how I fade.
- goldenCeasar 7y ago
  I would read this novel.
  - Noumenon72 7y ago
    Maybe he should write a novel instead of the botnets.
  - aggie 7y ago
    You're in luck! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_(novel_series) I enjoyed them.
- badpun 7y ago
  I've read somewhere that there's a increasing trend of bitter, lonely old men in France who try to rob banks (yes!) because they're so bored and antisocial from lack of human connections. This would be a hacker version of that.
- mythrwy 7y ago
  It might be hard to build ransom botnets when you can barely read the soup menu and have trouble remembering what year it is.
- ecorithm 7y ago
  I've always just read the site and never posted. But what is wrong with you? You are clearly a disturbed individual with some serious moral failings. By the time you retire hopefully you've grown up enough to not give into your childish impulses. If you were being sarcastic then I'm sorry and I'll feel like a total idiot.
- gscott 7y ago
  I agree! Stick it to the Man.
- mycall 7y ago
  Thanks to this post, they will be knocking soon. Well done.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
jmcqk6 7y ago
The world is a gigantic place. Boredom is never caused by not having things to do. It's caused by not wanting to do anything, and that is a very different problem.
- arvinsim 7y ago
  Different people have different things that they love. And people has different levels of access to doing the things they love. If you are really passionate about driving racing cars but you can't afford to do so, people telling you that you can play games or instruments doesn't really help.

mieseratte 7y ago

> I can only assume the "nothing to do" retirement crowd didn't do much when they were working, and therefore have no idea how to fill the time. Personally: Loads of folks derive personal value and meaning out of their work, and I'm one of them. I've been out of work once for a few months, and that was with a job waiting for me at the end of the tunnel. It was eye opening how depressive it was, to be robbed of your big "thing." I'm saying this as someone with a boat load of little "things," reading, outdoorsmanship, sports, etc. The second that surety of purpose is gone, so goes my wider motivation.

moate 7y ago
There's no reason your "thing" can't be volunteering or working for a cause that you find important pro bono. Most people would define "retirement" as "no longer working for money, while using savings or other existing means of income to pay for living expenses"
- mieseratte 7y ago
  > There's no reason your "thing" can't be volunteering or working for a cause that you find important pro bono. There absolutely is a reason that it can't be my "thing," it's because it isn't!
  - moate 7y ago
    What is it about working that makes it so depressing for you to not do it? Is it the earning of money for yourself? If so, you're greedy. That's fine. Be greedy. Not a great look, but we're just being honest with ourselves. If it's "doing work that changes the way things are", once you've reached a point where you are able to retire and no longer need to work for money, there's plenty of options in just about every sector (I'm assuming yours is tech or tech adjacent being on HN and all that) where you can do meaningful work and which people would gladly accept the help of an expert on even if they can't pay them. If it's some other 3rd thing that you feel differentiates jobs from non-jobs, I'd be interested to hear what you think that is.

ryandrake 7y ago

Yea, I can’t wait to retire. There are so many things I’m missing out on because I commute 4 hours a day and work 8. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 4 or 5 hobbies I’d do daily if I ever manage to retire—stuff I have to frantically cram into nights and weekends now. This idea of having nothing to do is so foreign.

arkano 7y ago
Four hours a day? You need to do something about that ASAP, don't just wait for retirement, have a shorter term plan.

starpilot 7y ago

I tried this. What happened was that I was so lonely, I didn't have the focus to do any of it. I couldn't sit and read a book, I was so anxious all the time. I missed my "tribe" of coworkers however superficial that may be. I ended up watching lots of tv and movies all the time and was glad when I started a job again.

the-dude 7y ago

Are you actually retired?

mikestew 7y ago
Oops, too late to edit, but it does read as if I'm already doing those things. No, that's the wish list I hope to start working on in about four years. But to answer directly: yes; money is no longer the motivator, and one does not have to do those things to eat. Which, I suppose, a jobby-job once you have enough saved counts as "retirement". But as much as I like my work, there's a lot of other things I like, too, and don't do them as much as I'd like because I'm not yet "retired".
- sokoloff 7y ago
  There's a pretty broad range of what "enough" is in the phrase "enough saved". For some people, it might be $1MM in investments plus a paid off house and the promise of Medicare and Social Security. For others, that might be a small integer multiple for that $1MM figure to be either multiplied or divided to be "enough".

repomies691 7y ago

> I can only assume the "nothing to do" retirement crowd didn't do much when they were working, and therefore have no idea how to fill the time. Well, the common pattern seems to be for those who retire early that it was preceded with a lots of work. That was also my case. At some point I just realised that I want to do something else, and I had enough savings for lifetime so money wasn't any kind of motivator any more. So, previously I was working 24/7, then suddenly I was working only couple of hours a week. Slowly I started picking things to do, but it takes a lot of time to find hobbies etc.

efa 7y ago

Key is to maintain physical and mental health into retirement. Then you can really enjoy it.

stevesimmons 7y ago

You are absolutely right about the "nothing to do" retirees. My grandfather was just like that. Fortunately for my mum and dad, both of them are as busy now in retirement than when they were working. Take for instance my dad.... - He was offered an early retirement package at age 55, hated being idle, and six months later returned to full-time work as a consultant. - Fast-forward 15 years, to age 71, when he finally decided to properly retire, ... - ... to do a full-time Masters of Mechanical Engineering. He just graduated, at 75 the univesity's oldest full-time student. - After a six month's break (to focus on gym circuit training and boxing classes), he has returned to university again, doing a 50% Masters of Aeronautical Engineering.

Aeolun 7y ago
Oh man, going to university again when I retire actually sounds like a great way to spend time.
- sokoloff 7y ago
  Some states have free tuition for senior (typically 60+) students to audit [and sometimes to attend] courses at the state public universities.
  - stevesimmons 7y ago
    When the university wanted him to pay the standard course fees, he somehow convinced them to give him a postgraduate scholarship so he could do it for free. During the course he got two concessions: - He was given 4 hours to do the 3 hour exam papers. After all, it had been 53 years since his undergrad math days. - Exemption from the engineering work experience requirement. Instead in the Project Management course, he did a guest lecture slot on 'real-life project management in the offshore oil and gas industry'.
- kazinator 7y ago
  Programming term projects done in one evening, haha!
7y ago

kogir 7y ago

I thought I had things I wanted to do if only I had time. When I had the luxury of taking the last year off I found out that the idea of doing those things was far more appealing than actually doing them. I started to go a little crazy. Now I’m looking for work, not because I have to right now, it because I’m bored.