Re:Study links too much free time to lower sense of wellbeing
by ergot_vacation on Thursday September 09, 2021 @02:50PM
(#28473186)
Learning how to spend an abundance of time is something that TAKES time. If you take someone who is used to having their whole life structured for them by their job and other responsibilities and suddenly free up a bunch of time, of course they're going to struggle at first, even if money isn't an issue. This is one reason why newly retired people often have so much trouble adjusting.
But I can't help reading this whole article between the lines as "back to work wage slave!" Free time is good. Not being forced to waste your time for others is good. You just have to learn how to structure your life, and that's a muscle that atrophies when you're enslaved in the current economic system.
Re:Study links too much free time to lower sense of wellbeing
by Delk on Thursday September 09, 2021 @02:18PM
(#28472853)
This is a personal experience and fully anecdotal. However, I think the results also depend on whether people know what to do with their free time. Personality might also matter.
I think most people need something to do for good well-being. It doesn't have to be paid work, or any kind of work, but it should feel meaningful in one way or another. Usefulness (whatever that means) might correlate with that but it's likely not the only requirement.
I've had times in my life when I didn't really need the feeling of being overly productive in terms of work or academically and when unproductive days (in the traditional sense) didn't necessarily bother me very much because I had hobbies that genuinely interested me and gave me a good feeling. Passion is an overused buzzword, but I think if you've genuinely got a passion for something (and it doesn't necessarily matter that much what it is), that can improve your well-being even if it's not something productive in the sense most people understand the word.
If you don't have something like that, though, it's much easier to fill the extra time with something meaningless, and I think that negatively affects well-being.
But I can't help reading this whole article between the lines as "back to work wage slave!" Free time is good. Not being forced to waste your time for others is good. You just have to learn how to structure your life, and that's a muscle that atrophies when you're enslaved in the current economic system.
I think most people need something to do for good well-being. It doesn't have to be paid work, or any kind of work, but it should feel meaningful in one way or another. Usefulness (whatever that means) might correlate with that but it's likely not the only requirement.
I've had times in my life when I didn't really need the feeling of being overly productive in terms of work or academically and when unproductive days (in the traditional sense) didn't necessarily bother me very much because I had hobbies that genuinely interested me and gave me a good feeling. Passion is an overused buzzword, but I think if you've genuinely got a passion for something (and it doesn't necessarily matter that much what it is), that can improve your well-being even if it's not something productive in the sense most people understand the word.
If you don't have something like that, though, it's much easier to fill the extra time with something meaningless, and I think that negatively affects well-being.