Is Doing Nothing a Good Use of Your Time?

My favorite days were the ones where I got nothing done. The ones where I did “nothing”. But there is a big difference between doing nothing and not doing anything. Doing nothing is when you procrastinate, watch too much tv, etc. Doing nothing is fun. Everyone needs a break once and a while, but stuff needs to get done and so you can’t do nothing forever. That’s what makes doing nothing so enjoyable. On the other hand, not doing anything is a very different feeling. Nowadays, I never find myself doing anything other than sitting down and not doing anything. 

Despite its joys,  doing nothing can become annoying sometimes. I can only watch so much tv in a week before feeling like garbage. I (+ many others) became well acquainted with when doing nothing goes too far during COVID-19 quarantine. I found myself doing a whole lot of nothing. It’s not as if there was nothing to do. There was still homework to be done and tests to study for. Instead of being productive, I simply procrastinated by watching all of Futurama and playing Tetris. An unfortunate reality of my life so far is that, as fun and needed as breaks are, it is incredibly difficult to properly balance a short, helpful, and productive break, where you return to working afterwards, with the long stretches of time where you do nothing and nothing gets done. 

My phone makes it easy to do nothing instead of working. However, I’m still able to focus, work, and do something. My phone makes it impossible to not do anything. How long has it been since you sat down for a long car ride as a kid and stared out the window staring at the rows of corn. Your eyes focus on a point until it leaves view. Then your eyes jump to the next point repeating the process. During this time your mind works slowly. 

I look back on this time with nostalgia for no reason. The opportunity hasn’t left me. Why don’t I not do anything anymore? I can blame my phone, tv, and any number of technologies that have been blamed with ruining the attention span of children. But that’s too easy. And ultimately wrong. It’s so easy to find something mindless to do, but not not doing anything requires you to simultaneously turn off and engage your brain which can be just as rewarding as it is challenging.