Looking back on our lives, there are inevitably chunks of time that we will dismiss as “wasted.”
I have probably given at least four months of total time to the computer game StarCraft. Do I regret it, overall? Yes. I may also regret the many other computer games, card games, and board games that I have obsessed over. To think, I could be a guitar virtuoso, an accomplished painter, if I had only taken time to practice worldly skills, rather than go to L5R tournaments (see: L5R). I could have seen the world, read hundreds of classic novels. Did I? No.
But I can’t regret it. I was bound to do it, by my very drive to compete. Through all of that wasted time, I learned to think strategically, to fight off trash talk, to touch-type, and to always search for the best route towards my goals.
What “wastes of time”, when you think about it, could you not live without?
This one right here. The Straight Dope Message Board.
Hours each day that I’m not composing music or booking my band or learning something new (though I do often learn things here) or teaching myself to speak spanish.
This is my biggest time waster and I’ve thought about giving it up but I can’t. I’m hopelessly addicted.
I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent zombie-clicking from profile to profile on MySpace, but I’m pretty sure it’s the sole reason that I’m still not an Astronaut-Super Hero-Princess.
I would second SDMB, but I don’t look at that as a waste. I’ve learned alot from here than I would’ve otherwise never thought to learn about… and I’ve met some pretty rad people along the way.
Putzing around the internet and video games in general. Granted I learn a good amount of stuff putzing around the internet, but it’s not stuff that I need to know or stuff that will ever come in useful. As for video games… I see few redeeming qualities.
Why is it a waste if you’re enjoying yourself? Isn’t recreation important? I don’t consider any time a waste if you’re having fun.
One could also bemoan the amount of time we “waste” sleeping. One of my Hubby’s professors in college trained himself to sleep only four hours a night because he hated to “waste” those extra four hours. Me-- I enjoy sleeping. It’s comfortable and there’s a lot of pleasure in snuggling down into a warm, soft bed. Could I be using those extra four hours to learn another language or work on a cure for cancer? Sure-- but I don’t feel like every hour of my day has to be productive. There’s no one keeping track, after all.
I don’t think anyone goes to their deathbed wishing they would have worked more. Generally, I think people probably regret that they didn’t take more time to just enjoy life. That’s what I’m doing with my “wasted” time and I don’t regret a bit of it.