Non constructive activities

[hawkal]

What are your thoughts on non constructive activities like playing games, watching television, etcetera?

Should they be eliminated? If they don't help you to get further in life then are they just leaches?

Should life only revolve around constructive (being anything that you could define a goal to that could help you in life e.g learning an instrument, language, or any skill that you would benefit from in real life) activities?

[spacecadetglow]

Dude no, we need to have fun! Play is highly underrated. Why would you want to eliminate enjoyable things from your life?

[hawkal]

but couldn't it be said that you could just find fun constructive activities? There are lot's of non constructive activities that aren't really much fun but entertain I guess just through distraction.

[Elrond]

If you already do enough productive activities to "get ahead", why would you need to do more?

[Elrond]

I've thought the same thing too: why not do something productive and fun, instead of something unproductive and fun? Why not work 12 hours a day in a fun job, rather than work 8 hours a day and 4 hours of "unproductive" activities? Why not just learn to play drums and bass guitar, rather than laddering SC2? Then I thought "what if there was nothing to work for, what if it was all given?" and realized that (for me) I work to have fun, not work to work. "Productivity" always is there to serve "non-productivity". I don't have fun to "recreate" so that I am in a better shape to work - I work in order to have more fun.

Journey or the destination? Is there even a destination?

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by hawkal

What are your thoughts on non constructive activities like playing games, watching television, etcetera?

Personally I don't play video games and don't watch TV at all. But I have periods when I spend quite some time on this website. There are people who say this is not constructive. However, since this is what I want and it makes me happy, who cares if it is constructive or not?

Your question made me think and realize that I don't actually do things which I don't find interesting or constructive in a way. It is only you who can define an activity as being constructive or not. My brother plays lots of video games, this is how he learned English and made lots of great friendships.

[James81]

I believe that anything you give your focus to has a constructive purpose for you.

When I was a kid, I used to read comic books all the time. I had a huge stack of them that I would tote around with me. My dad used to say that I was wasting my time reading such things because there was nothing worthwhile that you could learn from a comic book. I used to tell him that he'd be surprised what you could learn from a comic and he just scoffed.

The comic I read most was Archie comics, and for anybody who ever read Archie, you would know that there was the brainy character Dilton Doiley (I think that was his name) that talked about science and physics once in a while. I also remember there was one with Archie and Jughead where their slang was bad grammar and their English teacher kept trying to catch them doing it, but when they spoke to her they used perfect grammar. I remember another one with little word puzzles that made me think a little to solve them.

I also used some if the stuff in them to get some laughs with friends, which was a confidence builder back then and taught me a bit about humor.

Nowadays my thing is movies, and I like to use movie quotes sometimes to inspire people.

"Non-constructive" is something you decide about the things you do. And when you make that decision, you shut yourself off to the constructive possibilities that exist on anything and everything you do.

[Mounds]

I say build in the time for relaxation.

When I relax, I go all the way. I try to be 100% in the relaxation, just as I try to be 100% into productivity when I'm working. Mindless video gaming, lounging around, endless surfing... I don't consider that relaxing. That's time killing.
When I play video games, I block off a few hours for that purpose alone. When I lounge, I make sure I have an entertaining read or I've got a good movie. When I surf... I tend to surf too long . No one's perfect.

[ChrisGinsburg]

Our minds need rest and that is all there is to it for me. If everything you do is productive you are never really getting a break. Even in times where people had to pretty much be productive all day except for sleep, they still sought temporary escape from reality through drugs and rituals. You could still argue that these activities are productive though because they find valuable insight.

[James81]

Originally Posted by ChrisGinsburg

Our minds need rest and that is all there is to it for me. If everything you do is productive you are never really getting a break. Even in times where people had to pretty much be productive all day except for sleep, they still sought temporary escape from reality through drugs and rituals. You could still argue that these activities are productive though because they find valuable insight.

There is a book by Terrance McKenna called " Food of the Gods" that makes a case for drugs being the cause for apes evolving into humans. Namely, shrooms and any other mind altering drug found in nature.

[spacecadetglow]

Originally Posted by Elrond

I've thought the same thing too: why not do something productive and fun, instead of something unproductive and fun? Why not work 12 hours a day in a fun job, rather than work 8 hours a day and 4 hours of "unproductive" activities? Why not just learn to play drums and bass guitar, rather than laddering SC2? Then I thought "what if there was nothing to work for, what if it was all given?" and realized that (for me) I work to have fun, not work to work. "Productivity" always is there to serve "non-productivity". I don't have fun to "recreate" so that I am in a better shape to work - I work in order to have more fun.

Journey or the destination? Is there even a destination?

I thought your post was really interesting. Made me stop and think.

I've been trying to write out a paragraph in response but I guess I've been too "productive" today, for my brain is dying.

"Then I thought "what if there was nothing to work for, what if it was all given?" "

Beautiful.

[aelle]

There's no way of telling in advance if a hobby is productive or not. When Steve Jobs audited a typography class instead of getting a job, it probably looked like a complete waste of time...
Set your goals and work to be productive enough, and the rest of the time do things you enjoy. They might turn out to be constructive in the long term, they might not. Consider yourself lucky if they do, and remember that you had fun anyway if they don't.

[spacecadetglow]

I think maybe it's limiting to think about this in dichotomies of productive/unproductive or constructive/unconstructive. You're still creating a reality either way, whether that reality looks like you are working towards something or if it looks like you're sitting on your couch watching TV. Both are creative and inherently constructive in their own right.

It's kind of wacky to think that lazing around is unproductive, therefore undesirable. Everyone needs chill time, otherwise you burn out. The body has its limitations... if I spend the day working, running errands, and doing chores, and then go out to the bars with no break... whew! I feel so much better when I get some downtime in between. It's taken me a long time to admit this to myself, that I am not Superwoman, but do in fact require rest as any living being does. Tough pill to swallow, PDers!

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by spacecadetglow

I thought your post was really interesting. Made me stop and think.

I've been trying to write out a paragraph in response but I guess I've been too "productive" today, for my brain is dying.

"Then I thought "what if there was nothing to work for, what if it was all given?" "

Beautiful.

Thanks