I’ve spent a staggering amount of time on video games, watching pro sports, movies, concerts, Wordle, etc.
Lots of other folks have too.
Lucky me, I have time for that crap. I’m fueling some big industries I guess. But when I read about underemployment it makes me worry that we haven’t figured out how to use our available resources very effectively.
Should I just forget about it?
I don’t see the connection, unless you’re saying you’re personally underemployed.
I’m retired now, but the same was true when fully employed. I’m just musing on the massive amount of human capacity that is spent (at least in the “first world” ) on wanking. Both consuming diversion and producing it. Brilliant software enginerrs, lots of them, making games. Movies, TV, sports, just enormous use of talent on keeping the least needy among us occupied, mentally. The Dope too. Is there a better way to channel all this intellectual wealth towards something more, um, beneficial?
Recreation is beneficial.
Agreed! I should have been more specific: can all this benefit for me be put to use for others who need it more?
I do not see that effort is a simple limited resource that is directly fungible across industries. As in, all the video game developers should be working on curing cancer instead.
Sure. But I marvel that there is so much value in engaging our spare time, both from the creators and from the consumers. Those cancer patients (including me recently) might get a kick out of us figuring out how to shade some of that effort towards their needs.
I used to run some background process on my computers that crunched SETI data. Neat.
If recreation is valuable, and it is, is it infinitely so? I certainly behave as if I can use as much as I can possibly get. Can some of the staggering amount of talent directed towards folks like me also serve those who aren’t in a position to slurp it down? I’ll bet there are plenty of stressed out folks who could use some recreation.
Or is it a drug, like everything else subject to abuse?
There’s a similar conundrum in capitalism: even if we all agree that quality of life is a universal good, we can’t seem to integrate that into our value system for economic enterprise. That’s just an illustration, I’m more interested in the issue of abundance of resources dedicated to “art” while so many folks struggle to meet their more basic needs.
You seem to be under some illusion that if there were less movies/video games/entertainment made then that same money would be given to the poor. That’s… not how things work.
Well what percent of our resources should be invested towards curing cancer vs fixing roads & schools, vs producing Netflix films of questionable quality? Fighting cancer is important, but I don’t imagine I would want to spend every penny I have and every waking moment fighting cancer, even if I had the expertise to do so. And for every person fighting cancer, there are thousands of people who need to work on other aspects of society like roads and schools and iPhones. And when their job is done at night, they probably want to relax and unwind.
Ultimately the free market will decide where resources get invested based on the collective input of everyone in the economy.
Exactly so. Our leisure continues to expand, decade after decade. It is what it is and merely noticing it get’s folks a bit testy about “the same money would be given to the poor” and “video game developers should be working on curing cancer instead” and “I don’t want to spend every penny I have.”
So, I should just forget about it?
From the discussion in the thread about why people aren’t working and all the stress associated with holding a living wage job, I’m distracted by the number of recreational person-hours spent by folks of all circumstances. There are a lot of such conundrums in a wealthy society.
I really don’t understand what it is you think is so terrible about people not wanting to work 24/7 like an automaton. Humans want recreation and relaxation and to enjoy life.
I’m reminded of the Pink Floyd song Time
From wiki-
The song’s lyrics deal with Roger Waters’ realization that life was not about preparing yourself for what happens next, but about grabbing control of your own destiny .
@sunacres I do agree that we or many of us have become obsessed addicted and dependent on entertaining ourselves to distraction at a loss to our full potential.
Is your concern that people ought to be working more? Or spending their leisure time differently?
As you and others observe, society has progressed that most of us do not need to work as long hours as the dawn-to-dusk 24/6 or 7 of the subsistence farmer, or the 12 hr days of early factory work.
Does it make a difference to you whether you or another person spends their free time consuming electronic media, as opposed to other activities such as gardening, woodworking, learning a musical instrument, other education, reading…?
One thing I find curious - and not wonderful - about so much current media - whether entertainment, social media, or other - is that a huge portion of that media is aimed at making you consume more and more, spending more time and $ on it and divulgine more and more personal info.
Good questions. Neither. And I’m not concerned at all about how people want to spend their leisure time. It’s all “good.” And, it all drives the wheels of our economy one way or another whether it’s ad sponsors paying the actors in the TV show I’m watching or the supply chain getting paid for the hand trowel I buy to do my gardening.
It’s just that there’s so dang much of it!
My partner travels the world hooking up families to resources to help them deal with the negative consequences of the revolution in food availability - tooth decay, diabetes, obesity, etc. Most of the time I stay home on my fat ass to feed the cat. I enjoy my free time enormously.
But if 0.01% (that’s one hundredth of one percent) of the value of the time I spend playing Satisfactory could magically be converted into something that helped other folks out, that’d be sweet.
Well, you could go do something productive with that time instead of “staying home on your fat ass feeding the cat” and “playing Satisfactory” if that’s something you really care about.
You are basically asking questions about what gives people a sense of meaning, if they don’t get it from work. Or whether meaning is important. More people are getting more leisure time, just because it does not seem as tho as much “work” is required to provide for peoples’ needs.
I think what you are seeing supports that people inherently tend towards laziness and selfishness. If you are warm and your belly is full, should you exert yourself for the common good, or just maximize your comfort/contentedness.
And entertainment is not really different than just about any other production. Producers don’t necessarily make quality goods that are desperately needed and that will enhance any particular comunity. Instead, they make what people will pay for. So you see so many poor quality, single use, disposable goods.
Yes, seems that way doesn’t it? We just haven’t figured out how to mitigate the “haves” and “have nots” problems. What I notice is that, particularly with video games, people work longer, more intensely, and sometimes even more creatively in their leisure time than at “work.” I guess some YouTubers have found a way to turn that effort into cash, but I suspect many of them suffer from the problem of turning something you love and are passionate about into a job. Sorta spoils it.
I’m just yearning for the “crack the code” technique for turning quality of life into part of the profit incentive for all commerce. Kind of like the idea of reducing waste by requiring anyone who sells an object to take it (and its packaging) back when the user is done with it. When we go to the market, we take back all the packaging that we took home with us last time, along with broken or otherwise unmarketable stuff. That would cut down on packaging waste pronto.