This book (like a review of it) has shown up in HN before https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42771901-how-to-do-nothi...
One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
11–20 of 86 posts
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#12Who do they think they are? Time is money, they might as well be lighting dollar bills on fire
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#13I forget the comedian but I found this observation funny: - a lone person leaning on a building having a smoke: no problem - wandering in circles in the park talking on the phone: no one gives a second thought - sitting on a bench by yourself doing nothing: who the hell is this psycho?!
This is funny, but one of my favorite parts of New York City is how solo idle bench sitting is socially normalized. I've had many more nice serendipitous chats with other solo idle bench sitters in NYC than other American metro areas where I have idle solo bench sat.
Perhaps it has to do with the implicit communal assumption that everyone in public is a potential psycho.
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#14A distinction is made between being idle and napping, but are the researchers sure they aren't just resting? When I work outside on hot days I often take breaks in the shade where I just sit and stare. I'm not hungry or thirsty and it's not time to clean up yet, but I need a break. >The median adult spent ~27% of their waking time doing nothing 20-30% idleness sounds like a perfect description of the cumulative break…
It's another study typical of social scientists who don't understand statistics trying to pass off their political views as science. If you look at the graphs presented the 95% confidence intervals range from no correlation to positive to negative correlation, sometimes in the same graph. And R^2 is sub 0.3 which means even the correlative effect is incredibly weak. Yet somehow the authors come to the conclusion that there is a "strong positive association [between commercial labor and total work time]". Did they look at the same graphs we're looking at?
edit: on top of that, they assume a linear relationship between commercial work and total work when half their graphs display extremely nonlinear behavior and the data clearly does not support a normally distributed regression coefficient. This is really bad science.
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#15> Living in fast-paced, industrialized societies with constant access to entertainment, it’s easy to lose sight of the value of doing nothing what is the value? Why is this part of the conclusion? Also, why isn't "thinking" a category? Are the people doing nothing really doing nothing.
Humans should be allowed to have leisure as they see fit. A life exists to be experienced as one wishes, not in pursuit of some abstract alleged collective goal of societal efficiency.
I'm not sure how that relates to what I said - who said value means "to society"?
It's this article trying to link the difference to industrialisation/capitalism lifestyle (versus high-labour and hot climate, for example).
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#16Isn't this study just comparing Apples to Oranges? Doing nothing isn't doing nothing. If you're doing a manually intensive task and and sit down and do nothing you might be (1) resting or (2) thinking about how to proceed. > random individuals or groups of age 15 y and above were selected for observation at random times in the day using tables of random numbers. The anthropologist located the relevant individual and…
> If you're doing a manually intensive task and and sit down and do nothing you might be (1) resting or (2) thinking about how to proceed.
No on your point 2. Anxiety about the future isn't a downtime, this has been all but proven with many modern studies. Stress kills, I don't think this is debatable nowadays.
"Doing nothing" is a stress free time, whatever it is that your physical body is doing during the time e.g. people tending to their garden.
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#17Isn't this study just comparing Apples to Oranges? Doing nothing isn't doing nothing. If you're doing a manually intensive task and and sit down and do nothing you might be (1) resting or (2) thinking about how to proceed. > random individuals or groups of age 15 y and above were selected for observation at random times in the day using tables of random numbers. The anthropologist located the relevant individual and…
> If you're doing a manually intensive task and and sit down and do nothing you might be (1) resting or (2) thinking about how to proceed. No on your point 2. Anxiety about the future isn't a downtime, this has been all but proven with many modern studies. Stress kills, I don't think this is debatable nowadays. "Doing nothing" is a stress free time, whatever it is that your physical body is doing during the time e.g.…
It's not about the definition, it's about the methodology of collecting the data.
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#18There's similar material on how much time is spent 'doing nothing' in https://mattlakeman.org/2021/07/27/shadow-of-the-sun/ and _The Discovery of France_.
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you're doing a manually intensive task and and sit down and do nothing you might be (1) resting or (2) thinking about how to proceed. No on your point 2. Anxiety about the future isn't a downtime, this has been all but proven with many modern studies. Stress kills, I don't think this is debatable nowadays. "Doing nothing" is a stress free time, whatever it is that your physical body is doing during the time e.g.…
It's not about the definition, it's about the methodology of collecting the data.
What about it? It's hard to gather 100% accurate data on an entire tribe of people.
What are your reservations against the tweets?
Re: One of the most popular activities in non-industrial societies: doing nothing
#20Doing stuff expends energy. Which means more time collecting and preparing food and water - you know, the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth most common tasks on that list.