Wasting Time

The interesting thing about the internet is that it has given everyone a unique new way to waste time. I don't mean that the internet is new. What I mean is, in the ever-expanding interweb, there is something to be found that will interest you. Something that will catch your attention for hours at a time without you even realizing it. Perhaps you are a person who loves Facebook. I know I have spent more time browsing that damn book that I ever should have. Or if that doesn't catch your fancy, maybe you are a blog reader. Some of us are forum-hounds. Some of us are gamers. Some of us spend hours browsing the internet and reading scholarly research. The point is, every person you or I know can find a way to waste time on the interwebs, and probably already has.

Why?

Let me relate a conversation I once had:

Friend (probably girl): "Why do you waste so much time playing video games?"

Me (probably boy): "I don't really. Well, maybe I do. I don't know. They are fun? Do you not waste time?"

Girl: "Not really. I never play games."

Me: "You don't waste time on facebook?"

Girl: "Well, some...."

(This conversation may or may not have happened. I might be making it up.)

The point of this conversation has nothing to do with games. I couldn't care less how you waste your time. The point is that we do waste our time. Before I had video games, I had books. Before televisions, we had the newspaper. Before the newspaper, we had the rocking chair. We humans always find ways to waste our time. And it would seem that all of our effort goes towards finding ways to free up more time for wasting. Industrialization? Freed up lots of time, which Americans promptly began to waste. We have an enormous entertainment industry whose soul purpose is to make our wasted time more enjoyable. It is an entire industry based around our desire to do nothing. What is it about humankind that makes us want to waste our time? I honestly have no idea. But I would love to hear what your thoughts are.