Wasting Time In America: On The Homefront
Is the Shakeweight a weight loss product or a method for sturdier hand...shakes? Image by Steven Depolo.
By Wayne Schutsky
Special for Modern Times Magazine
March 22, 2011 — Up until this point, I have discussed the ways in which outside forces (school or work) waste the time in our lives. Through the use of monotonous and needless activities, these entities take years away from us, one wasted hour at a time.
In both of those arguments, the general populace takes the role of the victim. We are all just reacting to what I perceive as a jihad against individuality and a productive use of time waged by the educational system and big business.
Read Part One or Part Two
However, beyond work and school, we still retain a semblance of control over our personal lives. And that is where the time wasting has to stop. Because — in all reality — as long as methods for wasting life away have existed within the confines of work and school, they have also existed in the social and personal realms.
And that is where we all have to take a stand. We have to resist the shortcuts our society has thrown at us in order to maintain some sense of individuality. This might not be as easy as it sounds, because those cheats are everywhere.
Take meals for example. Fast food and pre-packaged dinners have turned what was once a communal and very personal experience into a rat race. Dream Dinners and the like are now perpetuating what began over 50 years ago with McDonalds and T.V. dinners. All the recipes and ingredients for a meal are provided for you, ready to stuff into a freezer-ready zip lock.
Families and friends used to decide on recipes together. Whoever was in charge of making the meal would add their own ingredients. There was some form of personality in the meal. It wasn't some mass-produced, bland food patty.
The time and effort put in can also be seen in the actual consumption of the food. Fast food encourages speed. It says, "We need to get this done as soon as possible." On the other hand, home cooked meals eaten around a table encourage conversation and communion.
And the extra time put into creating this meal is not wasted because the positive results are exponential. They extend beyond, but certainly include, the nutritional benefits.
Read Part One or Part Two
With the continual growth of the manufactured food industry, we are losing that sense of community. And we have no one to blame for that loss except ourselves. McDonalds would not profess to have over 2 billion served without our participation.
It is simply a lack of personal responsibility on our part that allows this to continue. We don't want to put in the necessary work involved in creating a meal. While some of this can be blamed on the amount of hours a day wasted by school and work, the crux of the blame still falls squarely on our shoulders. We need to make an effort to change.
This lack of personal responsibility extends beyond the table, though. Look at the weight loss industry. For every viable weight loss method such as running or participating in sports, there are a thousand ideas like the shakeweight that, for some reason, find success.
Honestly, why would shaking a rod back and forth in your hand help you lose any weight. I think a plethora of overweight teenage boys could attest to the fact that it won't.
If the shakeweight manufactures have their way, we will have a country full of overweight people with huge forearms that give very sturdy hand…shakes.
Sitting next to the shaker on the shelf of irresponsibility are a million other products and drugs and synthetic hormones that really do more harm than good, mentally and physically.
People would rather ignore rationality in order to do something the easy way, rather than actually put some effort into their intended goal. They end up wasting months working with a faulty method.
Read Part One or Part Two
But I guess we don't really have to get to know people anymore or try and stay healthy because a number of methods exist to help you find personal connections anyway.
There are tons of websites out there that will help anyone looking for a spouse, a friend, or a hookup. You no longer have to leave the ‘comfortability’ of your computer screen to get laid. It is almost as if the world's oldest profession has moved off of Van Buren and onto dating websites.
In the past, a person would actually have to meet other people if they wanted any sort of physical and/or emotional relationship. Now, a computer program on the Internet can tell you whom you are best suited to marry before you ever meet the person.
We are moving backwards into a new version of the old arranged marriage system. One question: Do you have to give eHarmony 10 sheep and a tract of land when you get married?
I don't know about you, but I have met more than a few people in my life who share my interests and many of my personality traits that I wouldn't want to marry. I think that is because I don't want to marry myself. Find someone that compliments you.
We all need to get off of the couch and try to actually live a little. Stop coasting through life on pre-made meals, too good to be true workouts, and pre-determined marriages. Experience life through your own experiences, not through a mass-produced kit.
It may seem like wasting time at first, but spending an extra 30 minutes cooking a meal or sweating it out or talking to someone who seems special to you can change your life.
Nothing can replicate authenticity, especially when it comes to living your life. And participating in any imitation is just a waste of time.
Read Part One or Part Two
Wayne Schutsky is an English major at Arizona State University.
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