On New Year's day I was at friends for a glorious brunch. The table was laden with wonderful nuts, quiche, salads of one kind and another, cinnamon buns, roasted potatoes, mimosas, and coffee. About ten of us, young, old and older, sitting around the festive table laden with delicious foods, happy to be in each other's company, and talking about every subject imaginable. Not surprisingly, we came around to the subject of Facebook. Or was it about wasting time? I cannot remember the order that it happened. All I remember is that suddenly I declared that I really have to give up Farmtown on Facebook. Through the laughter and amazement of friends gathered around the table, I described how I waste hours of valuable time harvesting, planting and plowing on my virtual farm, all the while trying to acquire enough experience points to finally buy the mansion of my dreams. My frustration, I explained, comes from the levels being constantly moved higher and higher just when I think I am about to achieve my goal. At that point just as we were all about to get into defining the concept of wasted time, the conversation turned to other things.
This morning, I awoke determined to get things done before the work week begins again. Before I knew it, two hours had passed while I tinkered away at my Farmtown! For today was the day I achieved the necessary experience points to acquire the mansion of my dreams. Naturally, once the mansion was bought with my cyber coins, I then had to widen the fences, add stone paths, patio furniture ... and on and on it went ...
Soon it became noon and nothing else had been done. Plants still needed watering and I had not made it to the gym. Then, a friend emailed me that she no longer found her photograph in my friends album on my blog, and I realized with horror that even my blog had become undernourished these days. Farmtown had taken over my life. Indeed, it felt like an emergency situation had emerged. Time to take control of my life.
And so, I sat down to think about the concept of wasted time. First, I checked out the photo albums, and updated my connections and interests column, stroking and poking, dusting and cleaning my beloved, neglected blog.
And now, here I am, facing the computer and thinking about time and, more specifically, the wasting of it. Indeed, what is wasted time? Is it merely guilt at being frivolous? I think about what I get out of playing on my virtual farm. There is pleasure in creating the imaginary home, setting goals and meeting them, even if they are all illusions. All of a sudden, and for some reason not apparent to me as I write this, I am reminded of a handout I once received at a conference or during a class in college:
Let us redefine measures of success by Harry Emerson Fosdick:
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.
I wonder.
Where or how do my hours of playing with Farmtown fit into Fosdick's definition of succeeding? Why do I suddenly make a connection with this quotation and wasting time? Do I waste time when I do yoga breathing exercises? Or if I sit still for an hour or so watching the birds feeding ravenously by the feeder out on a cold, blustery day? Was it a waste of time throwing Ada's little mouse back and forth with her in play as she sat with me at the computer this morning? Is sex a waste of time? Collecting this or that nick-knack? Walking in the park? Listening to music of one kind or another? Making snow angels, snow people, throwing snowballs at one another?
Is the useful spending of time in the eye of the beholder, beholden, or doer, or not-doer?
I wonder, is this very blog-post, wondering about wasting time, a waste of time?
And finally, is this little video clip (taken this morning with my new Flip Video received for Christmas) a waste of time?
Recent Comments