# Wastes of Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 5, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastes-of-time/375428 "2006-10-05T20:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AlDiMiFingOla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AlDiMiFingOla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlDiMiFingOla)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastes-of-time/375428/1 "2006-10-05T20:40:44Z")
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](http://www.l5r.com)). 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? ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastes-of-time/375428/2 "2006-10-05T20:48:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastes-of-time/375428/3 "2006-10-06T23:22:11Z")
Oy, MySpace. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastes-of-time/375428/4 "2006-10-06T23:31:11Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wastes-of-time/375428/5 "2006-10-07T15:29:59Z")
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.