What('s) A Waste Of Time?

"What a waste of time!"

How many times have you made that statement about something you or, more likely, someone else, were doing?

I'll bet the answer is, "a lot." It's a commonplace judgment; one we rarely think about.

This morning, I asked this question on Twitter:

Not surprisingly, to me, the responses I received were mostly on the order of, "hell yeah, they suck"!

So, I responded with this observation:

Which yielded this reply, which caught my eye:

Now, that one interested me. Why? Let's let Hamlet and his buddies try to explain:

Hamlet:
What have you, my good friends, deserv'd at the hands of
Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?

Guildenstern:
Prison, my lord?

Hamlet:
Denmark's a prison.

Rosencrantz:
Then is the world one.

Hamlet:
A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and
dungeons, Denmark being one o' th' worst.

Rosencrantz:
We think not so, my lord.

Hamlet:
Why then 'tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.

So, to Hamlet, Denmark's a prison; to Rosencrantz, it's just fine, thanks; to me, Facebook apps are annoying; to others, lots of fun.

But @blurgroup's more pointed assessment is that these endeavors are activities undertaken by those with "lots of time to waste."

Hmm, at first glance most of us would be inclined to agree.

But, what, exactly, is "wasted time"? And, how do we know it when we see it?

Well, Western culture has a pretty sturdy set of guidelines about activities that are not, de facto, a waste of time:

1. Economic - anything leading to personal financial gain
2. Education - anything leading to fulfilling requirements for a diploma, certificate or degree
3. Exercise - physical activity for the sake of maintaining bodily fitness (this is a relatively recent addition to the Western canon of acceptable endeavors)

Activities in either of these two categories (let's call them "productive") are safe from the charge of wasting time.

Time spent doing things that fall in other categories is more "questionable," i.e., if you do, it's likely that someone or other will think that you are being "unproductive"; wasting time (and, by "thinking make it so").

1. Entertainment - anything done for personal enjoyment/amusement
2. Expression - any creative activity that is not directly tied to vocational/economic/educational/fitness purposes
3. Exploration - anything done out of curiosity; i.e., doing things "for no good reason"
4. Philanthropy - anything done for the benefit of others

Now, the percentage of time each of us spends on activities in these groups is a kind of unspoken yardstick of our "seriousness." Of course, the specific judgments we make about others' seriousness are highly cultural and personal: "for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

And, yet, we almost never recognize the cultural/personal nature of those judgments. To each of us, the criteria for the productive or wasteful use of time is simply self-evident.

Of course time on the treadmill is productive; of course playing Facebook games is frivolous.

But I can't shake this lingering feeling that...as far-fetched as it may seem to you or me...that some people actually do get something beneficial out of playing Facebook games; that, to them, this is not a waste of time at all. To them, the seemingly endless stream of (to me, inane) Mafia hits or Farmville chores is fulfilling a purpose, providing pleasure, enabling meaning.

And so, at the end of this (wasteful?) post, I find myself a little less willing to make judgments about what's a waste of time for you, while sharpening my definition of what's a waste of time for me.

Oh, and one more thing: did you notice how many of the things that so many of us call "enjoyable" are very likely to be characterized by someone else as a waste of time?

The Internet is an infinite source for reflection.

Comments

[Phil Davis]

The reason why people do not live alone and do not spend hours doing nothing is because they can hear time ticking by. Then they develop hobbies, which drive them mad. You may ask them, "Why do you do this?" They ultimately say, "Well, it helps kill time."

I don’t want my time dead.

Quentin Crisp

[Mike Wagner]

To my father studying Homeric Greek was a waste of time. To me it was a meaningful way to learn the power of words.

He had a destination in mind for me that was different than the one I picked for myself.

You've stirred things up again! Thanks for this Thanksgiving musing.

Write more! Please.

Keep creating,
Mike

[Ken G.]

My comment got a little long... you'll find it over on my blog...

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Very good posting. I just love it.
Good work. :)

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