6 ms·

Millions of people see staying home and cleaning as their idea of a good time

55 points by lxm 3y ago

what-no-tests 3y ago
Considering all of modern entertainment has devolved into a lecture on correctness, yes, staying home and cleaning things up, organizing, and improving our living space does sound like the better option.
- jancsika 3y ago
  In Cocaine Bear nearly none of the people mauled by the bear in the first half of the movie were drug users. The maulings seemed randomly chosen, save for the two kids. I'll go ahead and speculate that aside from the kids, the second half didn't involve any lectures on correctness. Am I right? Perhaps more to the general point-- reality tv has rooted itself into the modern entertainment ecosystem at the speed of English Ivy. Other than the cooking shows, the cast are ostensibly chosen for narcissistic traits and then goaded into incorrectness for the pleasure of the viewing audience. Again, the outcomes seem randomized, probably to milk the endings for maximum intensity. It's almost like that entire reality genre were carefully cultivated in a lab as a counterpoint to your comment here.
  - what-no-tests 3y ago
    Degeneracy is positioned as "tolerance" while traditional morality is repositioned as "hate". "Reality TV" shows like "Ridiculousness" (hour upon hour of groin-shots) resemble what the movie "Idiocracy" portrayed in 2006 ("Ow! My Balls!"). When "hits" like "Jackass" are given platform and marketed toward youth who partially identify with Steve-O and his band of drop-outs, even though they aren't shown as heroes the emphasis is on the humor of their hijinks not the disastrous consequences of having given themselves wholly to wanton self-destruction. "The Bachelor/Bachelorette", "Married at First Sight", "Real Housewives of [place]", etc - play on the commoditization of intimate relationships, reducing life partners down to nothing except the degree to which they approximate the standard as presented within the media - a status symbol: as either a Sex Object or a Success Object, and only to the degree that it fits with one's need for narcissistic validation. I didn't see "Cocaine Bear" but I have heard of "Straw Man" - maybe it's the same thing.
    - midoridensha 3y ago
      >Degeneracy is positioned as "tolerance" while traditional morality is repositioned as "hate". >"The Bachelor/Bachelorette", "Married at First Sight", "Real Housewives of [place]", etc - play on the commoditization of intimate relationships, reducing life partners down to... either a Sex Object or a Success Object How exactly does this not fit with traditional morality? People have been using marriage for this ever since marriage was invented, it's actually the normal state, and the entire reason that marriage was invented. The idea that you should marry someone you love and have feelings for is a new concept.
      - astrange 3y ago
        Marriage is also a protection against inbreeding because your family/community gets to pick someone who isn't too related to you. Or if they decide to care about the inheritance more, they do the opposite and you get the Habsburgs. (And, for some reason, British Pakistanis.)
timmg 3y ago
I see you’ve met my wife…
noman-land 3y ago
Staying home and not cleaning seems like the best of both worlds.
XorNot 3y ago
It's an activity with a measurable standard of success which positively improves your life and provides a small but noticeable amount of exercise. I mean my idea of a good time is the same thing but with home improvement, which doesn't seem much different. You put up some shelves, those shelves are put up.
- mlhpdx 3y ago
  Indeed. I enjoy vacuuming (sorry iRobot) for the mindlessness, repetitive pattern and results. Likewise, mowing and hedge trimming. And, dubiously, I’m building a small wooden boat for something “completely different”. To connect with the technology theme, I think these tasks make me a better professional. Being able to enjoy the mundane makes code maintenance less awful (keep those patches coming!). Being able to quiet my mind leads to clearer thinking and creativity when problem solving and in crisis (code red!). And, there is some research that suggest fine motor tasks lead to better memory. Now I need to unload the dishwasher…
ggm 3y ago
1) It has almost immediate reward. So, it provides strong satisfaction. 2) It's a private pleasure. The doing, and the outcome can both be internally justified. I have no doubt much of it is done for approbation by others. 3) There are good indications cleaning, being motivated to clean, are signs of a healthy mental outlook. You can be quentin crisp and say "after the first 5 years the dust stops moving" and still be fine, but it's more usual to be in a mental decline. People are not stupid, they pick up on these clues. I don't think very much "cleaning for sex" actually happens.
- tomcam 3y ago
  > I don't think very much "cleaning for sex" actually happens. Now you tell me!
taneq 3y ago
If you've been time poor for a long time, just being able to take the time to de-cruddify your living space is a luxury.
- appleaday1 3y ago
  ahaha the amount of coffee cups I amassed was enough to fill the room at one point
- BLKNSLVR 3y ago
  I have a tolerance level for mess that usually gets breached soon after winter finishes (spring cleaning?) due to winter being more busy for my life. It's a boom and bust kinda cycle. It's a great feeling when you're finally back to clean and tidy and at least the illusion of future efficiency.
- ilaksh 3y ago
  I recently experienced this in a way. My laptop was overheating a few months ago and finally a BIOS screen said that the fan was not working. I had also as usual used up all my meagre "runway" working on my "startup" and had to immediately pick up a new contract. So I panicked a bit and just got cheap Chromebook. Because of having both projects and needing to put a lot of energy into the contract, I assumed that fixing the laptop was going to be too involved. So I kept deciding "I don't have energy for it this weekend". Turns out, all I had to do was remove the back cover and then the heat sink. And then pull/blow out the piles of furry dust out that were totally blocking the air flow. I didn't need to buy or replace a fan and I already had the correct screwdriver (which I had assumed I needed to buy a new one along with a fan). I guess the point of the story is that after a certain amount of time, people might want to clean their laptop intake vents or open it up and clean inside in that area.
  - taneq 3y ago
    Oh man, I moved my old work desktop (built in 2015) from my home office to work recently. When I got it to work I gave it a good blast out with the air gun and oh my GOD there was so much dust in there. It was horrifying.
leetrout 3y ago
I am jealous of my friends who take care of their things not just enjoying the use of the thing. Motorcycles, for instance. I have friends that enjoy working on them and cleaning them as much as riding them. I have noticed I appreciate what I have a lot more when I spend time cleaning, performing routine maintenance, etc on the "thing" (whatever it may be)
- CapstanRoller 3y ago
  Tool restoration videos are another big thing related to this.
rhapsodic 3y ago
https://archive.ph/dOXT3 https://archive.ph/dOXT3
kylehotchkiss 3y ago
An hour of dishes daily isn’t my idea of a good time but laying in a bed that’s freshly made every night is. Take all the sheets off and put them back on nicely like you’re at a hotel.
jongjong 3y ago
I feel like I don't have enough time in my life to do even a fraction of I want to do. Even if I count only the free and low-cost things I want to do, I don't have enough time. Then there are expensive things that I can't afford to do which I definitely want to do as well... My problem is that I'm so greedy for my own time that I struggle to find enough of it to spare towards monetization in order to be able to afford to do slightly more expensive activities (like overseas travelling). I spend a lot of time reading books and articles, writing comments online, working on open source, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, gold fossicking, other outdoor activities (all free/very low-cost activities). If I had more money and time, I would tinker with electronics more. If I had even more money and time, I would travel more. I have so many things to do within my low-cost plane of existence that I don't even have the time to fully imagine what I would do with more money. I lost my job a few months ago and I like having extra time. Having time to do what I want to do is 100% worth being an employed loser IMO. Only issue is making it sustainable. That's why I'm working on a side project now.
- voisin 3y ago
  > gold fossicking Please expand!
  - colelyman 3y ago
    First I have heard of this term, but may be referring to searching for gold along a stream or River. Source: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/gold-fossicking/ https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/go...
    - jongjong 3y ago
      Yes. Fossicking is also more generally used for searching for gold or gems as a hobby. I live in Australia currently so there are lots of places I can go to. I personally prefer to use a metal detector and dig with a small pickaxe and hand shovel.
      - 3y ago
spondylosaurus 3y ago
Headline's a bit misleading; from what the article describes, staying home and watching other people clean is their idea of a good time! I've always found the "CleanTok" phenomenon fascinating (from a distance) because I'm a self-described clean freak and those kinds of videos do absolutely nothing for me. Compared to: > From her home in Yelm, Wash., 41-year-old Gretchen Barocio follows online cleaning star Jack Callaghan, who brings viewers along as he degreases the oven or scrubs the toilet. Barocio finds it calming. > “He uses the same products and follows the same routine,” says Barocio, a human-resources professional. “I like watching because it makes me feel like my life is organized.” What makes cleaning my go-to stress reliever is the fact that my shower is, in fact, actually clean after I've scrubbed it. Merely watching someone else clean their own shower doesn't offer me any catharsis... but for other people, it seems like it does.
- brucethemoose2 3y ago
  Its very misleading! I'm a bit disappointed in the WSJ here. An interest in watching is no surprise to me. In fact, there's a variety of cleaning simulators on Steam, moreso than most weird "simulator" niches.
  - spondylosaurus 3y ago
    Oh yeah, Power Washing Simulator had a fun speedrun at GDQ a while back. I'll admit I did enjoy watching them power wash a flying saucer...
    - philwelch 3y ago
      I’ve always found pressure washing fun and satisfying, but there’s only so much you can do in real life unless you want to make a side hustle of it. Also, lots of things that are fun to do in real life are also fun to do in video games.
  - m463 3y ago
    (I like GOG better than steam) I found the game "Unpacking" to be kind of fun and charming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpacking_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpacking_(video_game)
asdfqwertzxcv 3y ago
Its the same reasons why I like cooking so much: It has a definitive amount of time to accomplish and on top of the satisfaction of making something, I get to actually eat it.
Jigsy 3y ago
Vacuuming is alright. It's like a form of meditation since all you're doing is sucking up dust and crumbs.
BenoitP 3y ago
Having children will do that to you. Before, I considered a good time a lengthy amount of geeking something out. Wether it was a scientific topic or even just a video game. Now I have a small entity of continuous entropy generation, who is also a black hole of my time and attention. It's all for the better, but I can't deny that my world and priorities have entirely shifted. And no, son, putting that toy in the trash can is not cleaning up. Even if that looks a lot like what I'm doing daily.

55 points by lxm 3y ago

Considering all of modern entertainment has devolved into a lecture on correctness, yes, staying home and cleaning things up, organizing, and improving our living space does sound like the better option.

jancsika 3y ago
In Cocaine Bear nearly none of the people mauled by the bear in the first half of the movie were drug users. The maulings seemed randomly chosen, save for the two kids. I'll go ahead and speculate that aside from the kids, the second half didn't involve any lectures on correctness. Am I right? Perhaps more to the general point-- reality tv has rooted itself into the modern entertainment ecosystem at the speed of English Ivy. Other than the cooking shows, the cast are ostensibly chosen for narcissistic traits and then goaded into incorrectness for the pleasure of the viewing audience. Again, the outcomes seem randomized, probably to milk the endings for maximum intensity. It's almost like that entire reality genre were carefully cultivated in a lab as a counterpoint to your comment here.
- what-no-tests 3y ago
  Degeneracy is positioned as "tolerance" while traditional morality is repositioned as "hate". "Reality TV" shows like "Ridiculousness" (hour upon hour of groin-shots) resemble what the movie "Idiocracy" portrayed in 2006 ("Ow! My Balls!"). When "hits" like "Jackass" are given platform and marketed toward youth who partially identify with Steve-O and his band of drop-outs, even though they aren't shown as heroes the emphasis is on the humor of their hijinks not the disastrous consequences of having given themselves wholly to wanton self-destruction. "The Bachelor/Bachelorette", "Married at First Sight", "Real Housewives of [place]", etc - play on the commoditization of intimate relationships, reducing life partners down to nothing except the degree to which they approximate the standard as presented within the media - a status symbol: as either a Sex Object or a Success Object, and only to the degree that it fits with one's need for narcissistic validation. I didn't see "Cocaine Bear" but I have heard of "Straw Man" - maybe it's the same thing.
  - midoridensha 3y ago
    >Degeneracy is positioned as "tolerance" while traditional morality is repositioned as "hate". >"The Bachelor/Bachelorette", "Married at First Sight", "Real Housewives of [place]", etc - play on the commoditization of intimate relationships, reducing life partners down to... either a Sex Object or a Success Object How exactly does this not fit with traditional morality? People have been using marriage for this ever since marriage was invented, it's actually the normal state, and the entire reason that marriage was invented. The idea that you should marry someone you love and have feelings for is a new concept.
    - astrange 3y ago
      Marriage is also a protection against inbreeding because your family/community gets to pick someone who isn't too related to you. Or if they decide to care about the inheritance more, they do the opposite and you get the Habsburgs. (And, for some reason, British Pakistanis.)

timmg 3y ago

I see you’ve met my wife…

noman-land 3y ago

Staying home and not cleaning seems like the best of both worlds.

XorNot 3y ago

It's an activity with a measurable standard of success which positively improves your life and provides a small but noticeable amount of exercise. I mean my idea of a good time is the same thing but with home improvement, which doesn't seem much different. You put up some shelves, those shelves are put up.

mlhpdx 3y ago
Indeed. I enjoy vacuuming (sorry iRobot) for the mindlessness, repetitive pattern and results. Likewise, mowing and hedge trimming. And, dubiously, I’m building a small wooden boat for something “completely different”. To connect with the technology theme, I think these tasks make me a better professional. Being able to enjoy the mundane makes code maintenance less awful (keep those patches coming!). Being able to quiet my mind leads to clearer thinking and creativity when problem solving and in crisis (code red!). And, there is some research that suggest fine motor tasks lead to better memory. Now I need to unload the dishwasher…

ggm 3y ago

1) It has almost immediate reward. So, it provides strong satisfaction. 2) It's a private pleasure. The doing, and the outcome can both be internally justified. I have no doubt much of it is done for approbation by others. 3) There are good indications cleaning, being motivated to clean, are signs of a healthy mental outlook. You can be quentin crisp and say "after the first 5 years the dust stops moving" and still be fine, but it's more usual to be in a mental decline. People are not stupid, they pick up on these clues. I don't think very much "cleaning for sex" actually happens.

tomcam 3y ago
> I don't think very much "cleaning for sex" actually happens. Now you tell me!

taneq 3y ago

If you've been time poor for a long time, just being able to take the time to de-cruddify your living space is a luxury.

appleaday1 3y ago
ahaha the amount of coffee cups I amassed was enough to fill the room at one point
BLKNSLVR 3y ago
I have a tolerance level for mess that usually gets breached soon after winter finishes (spring cleaning?) due to winter being more busy for my life. It's a boom and bust kinda cycle. It's a great feeling when you're finally back to clean and tidy and at least the illusion of future efficiency.
ilaksh 3y ago
I recently experienced this in a way. My laptop was overheating a few months ago and finally a BIOS screen said that the fan was not working. I had also as usual used up all my meagre "runway" working on my "startup" and had to immediately pick up a new contract. So I panicked a bit and just got cheap Chromebook. Because of having both projects and needing to put a lot of energy into the contract, I assumed that fixing the laptop was going to be too involved. So I kept deciding "I don't have energy for it this weekend". Turns out, all I had to do was remove the back cover and then the heat sink. And then pull/blow out the piles of furry dust out that were totally blocking the air flow. I didn't need to buy or replace a fan and I already had the correct screwdriver (which I had assumed I needed to buy a new one along with a fan). I guess the point of the story is that after a certain amount of time, people might want to clean their laptop intake vents or open it up and clean inside in that area.
- taneq 3y ago
  Oh man, I moved my old work desktop (built in 2015) from my home office to work recently. When I got it to work I gave it a good blast out with the air gun and oh my GOD there was so much dust in there. It was horrifying.

leetrout 3y ago

I am jealous of my friends who take care of their things not just enjoying the use of the thing. Motorcycles, for instance. I have friends that enjoy working on them and cleaning them as much as riding them. I have noticed I appreciate what I have a lot more when I spend time cleaning, performing routine maintenance, etc on the "thing" (whatever it may be)

CapstanRoller 3y ago
Tool restoration videos are another big thing related to this.

rhapsodic 3y ago

https://archive.ph/dOXT3 https://archive.ph/dOXT3

kylehotchkiss 3y ago

An hour of dishes daily isn’t my idea of a good time but laying in a bed that’s freshly made every night is. Take all the sheets off and put them back on nicely like you’re at a hotel.

jongjong 3y ago

I feel like I don't have enough time in my life to do even a fraction of I want to do. Even if I count only the free and low-cost things I want to do, I don't have enough time. Then there are expensive things that I can't afford to do which I definitely want to do as well... My problem is that I'm so greedy for my own time that I struggle to find enough of it to spare towards monetization in order to be able to afford to do slightly more expensive activities (like overseas travelling). I spend a lot of time reading books and articles, writing comments online, working on open source, hiking, swimming, snorkeling, gold fossicking, other outdoor activities (all free/very low-cost activities). If I had more money and time, I would tinker with electronics more. If I had even more money and time, I would travel more. I have so many things to do within my low-cost plane of existence that I don't even have the time to fully imagine what I would do with more money. I lost my job a few months ago and I like having extra time. Having time to do what I want to do is 100% worth being an employed loser IMO. Only issue is making it sustainable. That's why I'm working on a side project now.

voisin 3y ago
> gold fossicking Please expand!
- colelyman 3y ago
  First I have heard of this term, but may be referring to searching for gold along a stream or River. Source: https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/gold-fossicking/ https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/go...
  - jongjong 3y ago
    Yes. Fossicking is also more generally used for searching for gold or gems as a hobby. I live in Australia currently so there are lots of places I can go to. I personally prefer to use a metal detector and dig with a small pickaxe and hand shovel.
    - 3y ago

spondylosaurus 3y ago

Headline's a bit misleading; from what the article describes, staying home and watching other people clean is their idea of a good time! I've always found the "CleanTok" phenomenon fascinating (from a distance) because I'm a self-described clean freak and those kinds of videos do absolutely nothing for me. Compared to: > From her home in Yelm, Wash., 41-year-old Gretchen Barocio follows online cleaning star Jack Callaghan, who brings viewers along as he degreases the oven or scrubs the toilet. Barocio finds it calming. > “He uses the same products and follows the same routine,” says Barocio, a human-resources professional. “I like watching because it makes me feel like my life is organized.” What makes cleaning my go-to stress reliever is the fact that my shower is, in fact, actually clean after I've scrubbed it. Merely watching someone else clean their own shower doesn't offer me any catharsis... but for other people, it seems like it does.

brucethemoose2 3y ago
Its very misleading! I'm a bit disappointed in the WSJ here. An interest in watching is no surprise to me. In fact, there's a variety of cleaning simulators on Steam, moreso than most weird "simulator" niches.
- spondylosaurus 3y ago
  Oh yeah, Power Washing Simulator had a fun speedrun at GDQ a while back. I'll admit I did enjoy watching them power wash a flying saucer...
  - philwelch 3y ago
    I’ve always found pressure washing fun and satisfying, but there’s only so much you can do in real life unless you want to make a side hustle of it. Also, lots of things that are fun to do in real life are also fun to do in video games.
- m463 3y ago
  (I like GOG better than steam) I found the game "Unpacking" to be kind of fun and charming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpacking_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpacking_(video_game)

asdfqwertzxcv 3y ago

Its the same reasons why I like cooking so much: It has a definitive amount of time to accomplish and on top of the satisfaction of making something, I get to actually eat it.

Jigsy 3y ago

Vacuuming is alright. It's like a form of meditation since all you're doing is sucking up dust and crumbs.

BenoitP 3y ago

Having children will do that to you. Before, I considered a good time a lengthy amount of geeking something out. Wether it was a scientific topic or even just a video game. Now I have a small entity of continuous entropy generation, who is also a black hole of my time and attention. It's all for the better, but I can't deny that my world and priorities have entirely shifted. And no, son, putting that toy in the trash can is not cleaning up. Even if that looks a lot like what I'm doing daily.