What activities do you think are wastes of time, esp. ones that other people seem to get heavily involved in? Maybe I should confine this to people who have (or should have) jobs, and not that much time to waste.
OK, I can’t understand full-grown adults spending so much time on:
Star Trek fandom
Star Wars fandom
Watching TV sitcoms
Pursuing and collecting crap like Beanie Babies
Spending time and money on pornography instead of on the real thing
Reading the tenth consecutive book in some lame-o science fiction series (raised to the nth power if it happens to be a Star Wars/Star Trek book).
Psychic hotlines, astrology, and other fortune-telling mumbo jumbo
Watching half the movies that Hollywood has put out over the past ten years
Masturbatory paeons to Baby Boomer culture or “Children of the 80s” culture–web sites, e-mail, you name it.
I think around 90% of the time getting mad is a waste of time and energy. Some people get so worked up over stuff and then regret it later (or even worse – they don’t! lol) Whenever I see some irate customer throwing a fit over their burger order or something I want to say. “You know it’s JUST A HAMBURGER, right? You’re scarring some kid’s psyche over a couple PICKLES?” Road rage fits nicely into this “what’s the point” category. I watch people making fools of themselves and think “there…now you cut HIM off. Aren’t you the greatest? Wasn’t that quite an accomplishment?” Sheesh.
Ann Landers
Dear Abbey
Mary Worth
Marmaduke
The 5-day weather report (always wrong for days 2-5)
The “New Home” section. All the “articles” are thinly disguised ads “positioned” by various manufacturers.
Finally! Someone else who feels the same way I do!
Anger and panic are almost always a waste of time – if you can change the situation, then that’s a better thing to do; and if you can’t, why waste the energy freaking out over it?
[list]
[li]Pity, self or otherwise[/li][li]Self-congratulatory actions/words[/li][li]Ego/Megalomania[/li][li]Arrogance[/li][li]Condescension/Patronization[/li][li]Visiting a psychiatrist/psychologist/psychotherapist[/li][li]Any gathering for the purpose of worshipping as a group[/li][li]Social Security[/li][li]Baseball/Basketball[/li][li]“Reality” television shows[/li][li]MTV[/li]Company Picnics
Big agreement with VV on the reflexive rage thing. I’m not dismissing the value of honest outrage, just the knee-jerk hostility that seems rampant nowadays. I don’t see the point.
Others:
television: I’ve enjoyed some documentaries, movies, etc. in the past, and very few “shows”, but I clean out of the habit and don’t miss it a bit. To be honest, I’m not sure the batteries in the remotes even work anymore.
sports: I can “get it” intellectually, i.e. ritual combat, special skill sets, etc. but in practice? Nah. Seems a total waste of time to me. The necessary skills seem completely pointless, the games too artifical and the hype over professional sports utterly ludicrous. (“Go, Corporation X! We’re number 1! Tax me to build you a new stadium!”)
fashion-chasing: “gotta haves” in clothes, cars, foods, electronics, the whole shebang. Expensive, incredibly time-consuming and stupid exercise in groupthink waste.
Putting my clothes away. I see no difference between having them just stuck into drawers and leaving them in the basket after I brought them in. Okay, so in theory if they’re NEATLY stuck into drawers I MIGHT be able to find stuff quicker, but it takes me all of 20 seconds to find clothes in the morning as it is, so I’d rather have the time I would have spent putting them away. Unfortunately Mum doesn’t agree with me on this one.
(NOTE: this doesn’t apply to things you have to hang up to avoid them getting creased and stuff… I think those clothes are just a waste of time full stop, mostly)
Driving to work. Here in California, public transportation is almost non-existant so a lot of times there is no alternative. But geez, many people spend an hour or more each way driving to work! At least on the bus or train you can read a book, socialize, or even catch up with paperwork. But in a car you’re pretty much stuck with listening to the radio or talking on the phone. OK carpooling is a good alternative, but still it’s not a very flexible option.
[ul]
[li]Having to do grocery shopping (especially when it is for things like light bulbs and laundry detergent, that you forgot to get while buying food).[/li][li]Trying to use an umbrella to stay dry when the rain is coming in horizontally.[/li][li]Trying not to worry before an important event[/li][li]Trying to go to sleep when worried[/li][li]Finally trying to perform well at a big event after failing to get any sleep the night before.[/li]
[/ul]