The Gift of Time-Wasting

By Arhon Strauss 

Columnist

Never did I think that I would be so unhappy to have less schoolwork. At Exeter, I complained every day about this assignment or that class. Yet, like many Exonians, I find myself bored out of my mind. Now, each one of us tries to make up for this boredom differently; some take up old hobbies, others pour themselves into extracurriculars and even more resort to the final frontier, sitting on a couch and doing absolutely nothing. 

How many of us have spent a whole day watching YouTube, binging Netflix or playing video games? The answer: a lot of us.

We Exonians are a microcosm of what society has turned into during this crisis. While some have used their newfound time wisely, an even larger portion of people have chosen to waste their time. This brings me to my main point—that the best way to spend this quarantine may be to “waste our time.” It is certainly a strange idea, but given the situation, I believe that that it holds true.

While staying inside during quarantine, we have found ourselves with an absurd amount of free time, something we almost never have because we are constantly trying to fill our schedules with “productive” activities. Prior to this epidemic, society transformed us into a collection of busy bees. Overall, this is good—productivity benefits society, which, in turn, benefits us. Yet, too much of a good thing can turn sour fast; though our constant work has increased employee output, most metrics show worker health on the decline.

Why? The most prominent health effect of overwork is extreme stress. A study from  Northwestern Medicine demonstrated that two effective ways to relieve stress are to take a break and clear your head. Basically, the best way to relieve stress is simply to relax. It is an obvious solution, and yet, it is easier said than done.

So what do things like gaming and watching television have to do with this? Well, they all have something in common that makes them perfect for the job—they are things that encourage a person to mentally take a break. When someone is doing these activities, they block out any trace of the outside world and give in to indulgence. Such activities get people to relax, a state quite difficult to accomplish in the modern world. 

Right now is the perfect time to participate in “mindless” activities. In a normal situation, people have things like work or school, almost all year round, but we have a few months where nearly everything is canceled. Yet, people are still trying to be productive, and at the root of this mentality is the toxic environment created by a society that coerces people through pressure to push themselves to and beyond their limits. In the end, it is not good for anyone to be on a constant hunt for work. It will only lead to stress and eventual burnout.

I am not trying to say that using the quarantine time should be exclusively for gaming and watching television. Rather, I was just using those two pastimes as examples for the broader scope of relaxing activities. Another great way to use this quarantine time is to exercise. Physical activity improves physical and mental health and will probably be harder for a lot of us to do back on campus. I believe that a portion of this extra time should also be used for “productive” interests—but only so long as people don’t go overboard. The same goes for recreational activities; it would be just as bad to spend all of our new time doing nothing productive. Moderation in all things means, though, that we should be comfortable with some free time, just “doing nothing.”

So, while our quarantine may feel hopelessly unproductive, it is not necessarily a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with taking a break from our cramped schedules to sit on our couch, turn on the television and turn into a couch potato for a day. As a matter of fact, in the long run, this sort of relaxation can improve our overall mental health and productivity when we get back in the fall.