A while back, I read an article or blog that resonated with me so much that, years later, I still kinda quote from it while talking to people. Now, if your like me, most of the stuff you've heard or seen through your (very interesting I'm sure) life has made you what you are today. So like me, when talking about certain things, your brain pukes out little bits of relevant material that either you have done, witnessed, read, watched or any other vehicle that you digest your knowledge. Ok, now that we understand that I'm writing something about something that I've read, then formed some of my own ideas, we can move on to what I'm getting at (credit where credit is due).
The topic was about technology. I love technology, you love technology, and even if we are not crazy advanced in understanding the best of it, we use it every day. The biggest thing that most of us use it for is to keep from being bored. There are awesome ways it's changing our world, I know, but when I think of it outside of medicine and communication, I think games, music, etc.
Ok, so technology has changed our lives, mostly for the better all and all. We can be at home by ourselves, but not be alone. How great is that? I'll tell you. It's fucking wonderful. There's more out there than outrageously social people that can talk to anyone. There are people who stay at home and don't go out, they aren't great with interacting with people, maybe they have a disorder of somekind, or a phobia, whatever, but they're out there, and we don't see them. This is not to say, they are not interesting people, with interesting ideas, they just don't do the face to face thing well, and this is the best thing since sliced bread for them, and quite frankly, all of us too.
Now, how could technology be a bad thing Jessica? Well, boys and girls, I'm not so sure what I'm getting at is bad per say, but I'd like to put it out there anyway. Tell me more. Oh, I will.
Back when I was a teenager, we had the internet, but as far as cell phones go, they weren't really anything more than a phone, and maybe had a few basic games on them. I wasn't that interested in the net yet. I had email, and one (what I called back then, and now realize I'm old) pen pal that I wrote, maybe, once a week. So other than that, I ran the streets with my friends, listened to music on a bulky stereo, or portable cd player (what is that?), did some bad stuff, some good stuff, or sat bored until the next thing came floating by.
And that, boys and girls, is what we have lost. Boredom. Seems like a dirty word doesn't it? We use it in a bad way, cause it sucks to feel that way. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like maybe we did lose something important, and I'll tell you why.
When I was a teenager and was sitting around bored for an hour or two, I would daydream (get the title now?, YYEEEAAAH! slid that right in there). I think about stuff all the time, but I usually daydream when I'm bored, and it's quiet. Now it seems, I don't day dream as much as I used to. Mostly, I do it when I am outside smoking, and before I moved here, I didn't smoke outside, so I day dreamed even less.
When was the last time you had a day dream? What do you day dream about? Is it about something you want to happen? Off the wall things that never could? Are you in your own day dreams, or are they like watching a movie? Are you a famous rock star that everyone is cheering on? Scenarios of what you will say to someone?
It doesn't matter really. Day dreaming is your creative side working its magic. It's more that just thinking, it's ideas with a vision. Even if you day dream about things that are in the past and can not be changed, that same dream can lead to ideas that work for you now. As it turns out, boredom breeds creativity.
Creativity breeds almost everything awesome we know and love. Because of it we have music, movies, games, and technology. It's kind of ironic, me make things to keep us from being bored, but being bored can make us creative, can make us create.
I love tech, I do. I don't know where I'd be without little do dads to keep me company most of my day. But I think that maybe, for an hour or two a day, we should try to find time to day dream a little. I know after snapping out of a vivid day dream, I usually find myself in a better mood. When was the last time you saw someone staring at nothing an smiling that wasn't drooling in a hospital? That person might just be brainstorming the next thing that helps 100s of people. Or comes out with the most rockin lyrics to ever blow your face off.
So, dream a little dream for me.
...and that dear Jess, is why I LOVE spending time in my craft room. Being creative is prolly the biggest part of who I am.
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent point. These days you can't just sit and day dream you have to have an agenda. You have to be waiting for something, or drunk, or meditating, or engaging in some kind of organized hobby.
ReplyDeleteThis very real process you've commented on reminds me of the transformation of the weekend in popular culture.
Like how the rest of the western world as machin productivity increased, opted for more spare time, Americans opted for more productivity, more money, less time. And so the weekend because a vital part of your job.
You have to hurry up and out, get fucked up have fun as rapidly as possible because time is money. Sitting around day dreaming when you could be DOING something "fun" like buying this or passively watching that, or competing in those, has come to be seen as a massive waste.
Bird watching for example people without a phd in ornithology or a birthday in the last half to he 20th century has ceased being a strange habit and turned into a full blown psychosis as far as the common person is concerned.
Spending time on just sitting and thinking has being a social sin. If you're not doing something cool, well you're just not living, and daydreaming just isn't cool.
Probably because the TV tells us what's cool and the TV only ever tells us to make and then spend money.
In many demonstrable ways you're absolutely correct. Many historians and anthropologists credit increased leisure time afforded by agricultural as the single most important factor in the rise of civilization. Indeed the Renaissance it could be argued stemmed largely from a surge in leisure time brought about by expanding trade.
Maybe this country wide obsession with work, propriety, and doing as we're told is the reason we as a nation have fallen so far behind on every scale of social importance from education to music.
There was another person to write about this topic jess, you're in good company.
http://www.zpub.com/notes/idle.html
And that is what makes us who we are. We are bits and pieces of everything we've ever encountered. But its the way we use those pieces, and form new ideas that makes us unique.
ReplyDeletekinda like your scrap books!
@ brandon. Your right. Dreaming has become "wasted time". We were founded on being a nation of dreamers. How can you be a doer without being, or having dreamers?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the post. Makes me smile!