Comment by 🖥️ mrrobinhood5
Re: "Talk to me about 90's kid leisure time existential crises"
Here's what I've found so far: We've forgotten how to be bored.
I grew up in the 90s. There was nothing to do but go out and find your neighborhood friends and hang out. TV was a thing but there weren't endless options for streaming. You'd watch a show at a designated time then you'd move on to something else.
One of the things I miss is being bored. Being alone with your thoughts, being creative, and the most important two things: Exploration and Discovery. Now as a 40-er, the 9-5 grind, social media, and general people operate on a high operational tempo society, where sitting still and doing nothing is seen as lazy or unproductive. We want everything fast and in an instant. Transportation, entertainment, food, work, deadlines, and success.
Doing nothing and doing nothing are two different things. Ask yourself why does it bring anxiety to have nothing to do? We forgot how to be bored, how to slow down, and bring back the slow tempo and enjoy the sounds and sights right in front of us. Being alone with our own thoughts. Why does our inner voice sound like a YouTube video or tiktok?
Allow yourself to be deliberate in the slowing down, and really think, about those days and why it made you so happy doing nothing.
2024-10-21 · 2 years ago
15 Later Comments ↓
☕️ tenno-seremel · 2024-10-21 at 08:10:
I learned that learning languages is pretty fun, if you have time. Specifically, Esperanto, but others too. Trying, slowly, to learn Spanish currenly.
🚀 Pollard · 2024-10-21 at 11:55:
And now we live in podcast world.
"I love that instead of mindless scrolling we now have videos packed with really useful stuff delivered at a rate such that you retain nothing." Brett Weinstein
🚀 Pollard · 2024-10-21 at 12:03:
And now we have podcasts galore.
"I love that instead of mindless scrolling we now have videos packed with really useful stuff delivered at a rate such that you retain nothing." Brett Weinstein
I took up gardening. Playing in the dirt so to speak. Then I decided to build a high tunnel. Then I decided I needed automation to open it when hot and close when cold. It went past the original "playing in the dirt" aspect but I enjoyed it all and now that the tunnel is about done, I'll be back to just growing things. It amazes me what comes from a tiny seed. Now I get to battle bugs and diseases which requires learning but that's something I've loved ever since getting out of school.
🖥️ mrrobinhood5 · 2024-10-21 at 13:51:
@daruma I love anonradio and the folk from com. it's very slow and enjoyable and random
🚀 digler [OP] · 2024-10-21 at 20:43:
Thanks for the responses, lots of insight and some validation on things I've been kicking around myself. Not as a defense, but just more exposition I do want to mention I'm also trying to engage in more strictly 'personal' activity that's not passively receiving internet content. I've picked up Latin again and have been slowly progressing my garden - it did well this year for being largely neglected. I want to highlight the comments from pista and mrrobinhood5 for what they expressed to me.
Both ring true, and it's a fact that my 'second time around' can't be made to become the first. Perhaps I shouldn't find fault with my attempt but it's probably best to accept it and move on. The 'second childhood' effect that gave me so much enjoyment from what my parents grew up with is something I look forward to with my kids, but they're still growing into that phase. For now it seems my answer is to stop avoiding the 'nothing' it is best for me to do. Lord knows I would benefit from silence, stillness, and some extra sleep. A little empty time is good, and it's not as if I can 'boredmaxx' into hopping back on the productivity treadmill.
@Pollard what are you growing? What are your worst pests? Squash vine borers hit me hard this year.
🚀 Pollard · 2024-10-21 at 22:27:
@digler - Being Fall with me at 37.9 latitude, there's not a lot I can grow right now. I started various Asian greens and Bok Choy plus some lettuce and Mesclun mix over the past month and a half and what I have now. CabbageWorms got the Asian greens. I think tere's time to start more - Tatsoi and Chijisimai.
We have very acidic soil here and blueberries grow wild. Low/mid 5 in pH. I know I need to lime but want to try everything first to see what will grow here. Tomatoes and potatoes do great and disease free and is mostly what I've grown but I'm trying new things. Peas, ok. Green beans, pretty bad.
🚀 stack · 2024-10-22 at 02:11:
I find that I still really enjoy 8-bit computers, esoecially 6502-based ones. Sometimes I write assembly on my Apple][ or Atari800, or some emulator. Other times I wire-wrap a homebrew computer, or code one up in an FPGA. There is some good tech content on youtube regarding this. 6502.org is a really good community with some incredibly smart
and helpful people.
I love playing music, although I hardly touched my mando last year. Arthritus is a bitch.
I've also been learning Spanish, to ungeek a little - maybe an hour or so per day.
🍀 gritty · 2024-10-22 at 23:24:
As a someone in their 40s, I feel the same way. I recently did an internet and smart phone detox and wrote a gemlog about it.
Warning, it's a bit of a read
🚀 digler [OP] · 2024-10-23 at 02:07:
Thanks gritty, and yes these devices really can re-wire the way we think and live our lives. I have a bunch of apps for work and security cameras, etc. but so far staying logged out of facebook has been enough of a barrier to keep me out of my phone. I know I'm capable of finding something else to do on my phone though so I'm considering a device/app like this to lock me out of the browser and email. My wife is about ready to make the plunge as well.
🚀 Pollard · 2024-10-23 at 12:03:
Check out TheLightPhone.com
🍀 gritty · 2024-10-23 at 16:42:
I checked out the light phone and it was too limited for me. Sunbeam Wireless has flip phones with increasing levels of tech in them. i picked the bluebird because i wanted navigation, hotspot, and voice to text if I needed it.
👾 jecxjo · 2024-10-24 at 00:04:
Honestly the biggest thing I miss is having less responsibilities and more time not filled with something. Even as a teen i was working a ton while going to school but my overall to-do list was so small that when i had a hobby i actually had space for it. Now with a home and kids and a wife any sort of me time doesn't start until 1AM. At that point i go weeks or months actually doing something i enjoy.
🚀 digler [OP] · 2024-10-24 at 12:35:
@jecxjo I hear ya. Some people tell me it's easier when the kids are a little older, others tell me it's just different.
One of my "comorbidities" with this whole issue is a tendency to take on too much, especially with the house. Thankfully this is quieting down, but I probably would have been better served by only treating actual emergencies with urgency and balancing the rest against making sure I'm not pushing myself too hard to continue the day-to-day.
🍀 gritty · 2024-10-24 at 16:20:
it's good to see I'm not alone in this lack of time.
🖥️ mrrobinhood5 · 2024-10-24 at 16:40:
@gritty I think that the nature of Gemini IS the slowing down of something that's too complicated, and also many feel like this but haven't put their finger on it until topics like this come out and are encouraged to explore their own thoughts
Original Post
Talk to me about 90's kid leisure time existential crises — I've linked above what I had meant to include here but it's too long for a single post. Let me know what you think and where you've found something to enjoy simply for yourself without the expectation of gain or enrichment. How do you have fun as an adult amidst a stream of real life concerns? Help me regain my lost sense of interest in people on the internet and let's shout into the void together.