Sorry if my title does not feel accurate; the title subtext was really long. It's kind of a rambly article, but I like it. It reminds me of things I've already read but also provides a bit more...
Sorry if my title does not feel accurate; the title subtext was really long.
It's kind of a rambly article, but I like it. It reminds me of things I've already read but also provides a bit more depth.
‘Leisure … is outside of work and outside of inactivity,’ explains Byung-Chul Han. ‘It is not a practice of “relaxation” or of “switching off”.’ Han continues: ‘Thus, St Augustine distinguishes leisure (otium) from passive inertia: “The attraction of a life of leisure ought not to be the prospect of a lazy inactivity, but the chance for the investigation and discovery of truth”.’
This part reminds me a bit of Mark Fisher's No One is Bored, Everything Is Boring and some Instagrammed Socrates on how leisure is neither empty pleasure nor meant to be dogged hobby work. My takeaway from Mark Fisher's essay was that capitalism robs us of creative boredom and turns us into pure consumers of creative derivatives-- I find I look for something familiar and yes, someone is always producing that familiar-yet-new thing I can consume instead of being left with my brain. (Tildes is in part an effort towards that end-- forums without the constant feedback.)
There's a lot to digest here, so I'll probably reread, but I am curious what others end up taking away from this.
I'm currently three weeks out of my new job and I finished my old one some weeks ago. I've been throughly enjoying my "do whatever the fuck I want" approach to my life. I've been napping on the...
I'm currently three weeks out of my new job and I finished my old one some weeks ago.
I've been throughly enjoying my "do whatever the fuck I want" approach to my life. I've been napping on the couch, I've gamed a lot, I've found new music, I'm played my bass guitar more in the past few weeks than I have in years. I've just lived.
Covid Lockdown1 in the UK was weird. We had wonderful weather and my wife and I did up our garden, we figured we needed space for each other and gave each other all the time in the world. We both recognised our good friends and stuck with them digitally, but we never really 'relaxed' as I was running a business and I just ... couldn't?
So I've taken this time and I'm writing a bit of an article that I want to submit to a few places simply titled "In defence of living in a world that wants you to work" that speaks volumes to this article too. Infact, I've got this very article saved to my bookmarks because I think it's SO important to just take time off and do... whatever it is that relaxes you.
I can't help point out the ironic picture this conjures of a person sitting across the room behind a laptop typing these judgements about the people around them. There seems to be a fight within...
The work began as I sat in a café one morning. This is what I wrote about my observation: Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY is so disconnected from one another. Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their own phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online. Twice he goes on about a large fish that was caught. No one replies. I am saddened by the use of technology for interaction in exchange for not interacting. This has never happened before and I doubt we have scratched the surface of the social impact of this new experience. Mom has her phone out now.
I can't help point out the ironic picture this conjures of a person sitting across the room behind a laptop typing these judgements about the people around them.
There seems to be a fight within this very article, to at once disengage from a certain world, but to engage "properly" or "in my way" with another.
Sorry if my title does not feel accurate; the title subtext was really long.
It's kind of a rambly article, but I like it. It reminds me of things I've already read but also provides a bit more depth.
This part reminds me a bit of Mark Fisher's No One is Bored, Everything Is Boring and some Instagrammed Socrates on how leisure is neither empty pleasure nor meant to be dogged hobby work. My takeaway from Mark Fisher's essay was that capitalism robs us of creative boredom and turns us into pure consumers of creative derivatives-- I find I look for something familiar and yes, someone is always producing that familiar-yet-new thing I can consume instead of being left with my brain. (Tildes is in part an effort towards that end-- forums without the constant feedback.)
There's a lot to digest here, so I'll probably reread, but I am curious what others end up taking away from this.
I'm currently three weeks out of my new job and I finished my old one some weeks ago.
I've been throughly enjoying my "do whatever the fuck I want" approach to my life. I've been napping on the couch, I've gamed a lot, I've found new music, I'm played my bass guitar more in the past few weeks than I have in years. I've just lived.
Covid Lockdown1 in the UK was weird. We had wonderful weather and my wife and I did up our garden, we figured we needed space for each other and gave each other all the time in the world. We both recognised our good friends and stuck with them digitally, but we never really 'relaxed' as I was running a business and I just ... couldn't?
So I've taken this time and I'm writing a bit of an article that I want to submit to a few places simply titled "In defence of living in a world that wants you to work" that speaks volumes to this article too. Infact, I've got this very article saved to my bookmarks because I think it's SO important to just take time off and do... whatever it is that relaxes you.
I can't help point out the ironic picture this conjures of a person sitting across the room behind a laptop typing these judgements about the people around them.
There seems to be a fight within this very article, to at once disengage from a certain world, but to engage "properly" or "in my way" with another.