Interesting topic but is this not just an advert for this guys book?
On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
11–20 of 91 posts
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#12Interesting topic but is this not just an advert for this guys book?
Is there information in the article that you find useful or interesting? Or that someone else might? If so, then what does it matter that he wrote a book on the same topic and mentions it? Would it have been better if he'd written exactly the same article but not mentioned the book?
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Boredom is what drives people to accomplish things.
Except when they are in the spot where they can accomplish nothing. Then boredom is an itch you can't scratch. Becomes torture.
You always have your mind. Are you incapable of just sitting and thinking about things? Do you need constant external stimulation?
There's a famous quote from Blaise Pascal that goes "All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room."
I wonder if someone like Richard Feynman would have accomplished anything at all if he had a phone to distract him and he was incapable of simply sitting and thinking. Einstein came up with the central ideas of the Theory of Relativity while he was day-dreaming at work or on public transport.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#14Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…
Maybe I'm just too old for it, but what is this "being bored" thing you're talking about? I clearly recall staring blankly into space while solving problems in my mind, or even just feeling the surroundings, as some of the most interesting moments of my life. I don't recall ever getting bored, not once.
I'm with you, fellow alien! I don't know how to be bored. Sitting, standing, breathing, thinking, observing - it all seems quite captivating to me, with or without further activity.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#15Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…
Boredom is what drives people to accomplish things.
Fits nicely with the Southpark creators views on Pot: it makes you feel fine with being bored and it's when you're bored that you should be learning a new skill or some new science or being creative.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#16Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…
I think that's a fair notice. I have reduced my reliance on digital tools for passing time and I'm starting to remember boredom and why I was avoiding it.
Many articles portrait boredom too much as being good instead portraying it like the necessary rest you need between work outs.
Allowing yourself to get bored is good but you should understand why and what's a good/bad way to stop being bored.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#17Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…
>I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when they have to wait staring blankly into space or trying to start up a monologue to random stangers because they can't stand how dull the inside of their head is.
Looks like you have it backwards. You should feel sorry for them for how "dull the inside of their head is" -- not for not being used to having smartphones to compensate.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#18Funny how younger people don't even know how the true boredom looks like. They think they get bored on their phones. Only after they go on screen detox they realise how much more fucking boring the life is. Especially if you don't have an obsessive hobby and do not want to bother other people just because you personally are bored. I feel bad for people older than me that never got adjusted to the smartphones when the…
Maybe I'm just too old for it, but what is this "being bored" thing you're talking about? I clearly recall staring blankly into space while solving problems in my mind, or even just feeling the surroundings, as some of the most interesting moments of my life. I don't recall ever getting bored, not once.
>Maybe I'm just too old for it, but what is this "being bored" thing you're talking about?
Something for people that lack all of: personal life, friends, interests, goals, and curiosity.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Boredom is what drives people to accomplish things.
Except when they are in the spot where they can accomplish nothing. Then boredom is an itch you can't scratch. Becomes torture.
You can accomplish all kinds of things with your mind.
Not to mention most people fight "boredom" with endless surfing at places where they have all the tools to accomplish tons of things -- in their home, in from of a screen.
Re: On the Pleasures and Sorrows of Life Without Screens
#20Interesting topic but is this not just an advert for this guys book?
Isn't everything these days a promo for something?
And this or that technical post is an advert for the company whose devs wrote it.