1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
|
\input mla8.tex
%\emergencystretch=1in
%\parskip=4pt plus 2pt minus 2pt
\numberfirstpage
\clas{AP Lang}
\name{Holden} \last{Rohrer}
\prof{Jones}
\header
\title{Quick Write 5: Is ``doing nothing'' a good use of your time?}
In the most concrete sense, doing nothing wastes time, definitionally.
Almost always, one could complete another task in the same duration, so to do nothing is to neglect that task.
But human psychology and physiology don't corroborate this simple idea.
Instead, sleep or rest (a necessary ``doing nothing'' component of daily life) reinvigorate to make up for their own ``poor use of time.''
But what's commonly meant by ``doing nothing'' isn't sleep; as discoveries about the value of sleep continue to rise, proponents of ``sleep less, work more'' dwindle.
Instead, opponents of unproductiveness and inefficiency manage their time so as to maximize working time---considering leisure to be the greatest waste of time.
Modern life affords a number of easy leisure activities, mostly digital, comprising movies, television, and mindless social media scrolling.
All of these are seen as a waste of time because of their opportunity cost, but their role in maintaining restfulness is notable: to do any of these is to rest because one is mostly inactive.
And, of course, one could be doing something ``productive'' in the same time, but it is critical to recognize the value of breaks, at minimum.
``Down-time'' (a time in which to do nothing) contributes to the overall efficiency of any person, so leisure must be considered valuable by those most willing to stifle it.
In fact, a more disciplined form of inactivity is practiced by some of the most successful people in the world: meditation.
The sense of relaxation meditation synthesises is far greater than any of the easy leisure activities listed above, and for good reason.
Doing nothing, in its purest form, is a good use of time in the same way that sleep is a good use of time.
And in its more common, relaxed forms, doing nothing has many of the same benefits---if those are only because of the absence of stressful work.
\bye
|
