Wasting Time
The following is just a ramble on various things which have been clanking around in my head for some time now. I figured it would be good to break the monotony of this blog with an opinion post out of left field. However, it’s quite relevant in a meta kind of way. In any case, for most readers, the stuff I state here should be self-evident, so this is by no means a breakthrough kind of post which would elicit a paradigm shift in thinking, but rather, just bringing out into the light the truths which most are consciously or subconsciously aware of.
My train of thought was triggered by a question posed by my family: “Why do you blog/take photographs when you do it at such a massive financial and temporal loss?”
My answer, as always, is “For fun.”
The assumptions behind such questions are often regarded as common-sense. After all, if what you are doing does not advance your position financially or professionally, why bother? Things like going to college, training classes, and having jobs serve to directly enhance your skills and provide an income, with which one may climb the social ladder or fulfil various needs and desires.
Doing unprofitable things “for fun”, however, serves to deplete your time and energy, without benefits other than the fun of the process – or so it seems to the casual observer.
While not seeking to boast, I am the most technologically adept in my immediate family (though I am by no means endowed with the skills necessary for a computer science graduate or network administrator).
Given the nature of this blog, I suspect most readers would be in a similar position. Thinking back, though, how did you become so good at technology?
I was a relatively late starter in technological matters. In fact, I didn’t really start in earnest until I was 14. Prior to that, the computer was a tool necessary for my education, and one I was clumsy with.
However, in high school, my parents bought a new computer, a Pentium II 350MHz running Windows 98. Lacking much by way of entertainment, I took to the system, mostly to download nifty applications and those little games.
To my parents, all I was doing was sitting at the computer hours per day, ostensibly playing games into the late hours of the night. Pure and useless entertainment, which I thought it was at the time too. I was doing it to relax and have fun after school.
But fun facilitates learning. I started my journey by learning about zip files, floppies, shareware, cracks, GBA emulators, ROMs, etc. I’d buy computer magazines for the demo games and stuff on their CDs (still in dialup era back then), or call up Windows tech support (apparently free back then to Windows customers) when I had problems – they taught me about msconfig and startup items.
Now, I look back and recognise the process for what it was – a heavy investment in time and interest which endowed me with curiosity and various skills. These I now leverage professionally and personally.
This investment in interests is applicable to a wide range of activities and skill sets. I read a lot of books for entertainment, acquiring an instinctual grip on the English language. Others play a lot of sports and start to excel in them. Some are interested in films and music, becoming highly knowledgeable in those areas. Yet others socialise and go to parties a lot, building their people skills.
I am by no means saying formal education is useless, but learning on your own terms and of your own volition can be a very satisfying and no less productive process. Your interests may also lead you to pursue academic and professional development in that area to extend the scope of your expertise.
In the end, the power of interest cannot be underestimated. It can be a powerful and long-term motivator, with the end result being very useful sets of skills. In the meantime, though, aren’t you having fun?
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Of course we’re having fun Icie, aren’t you? The things you do are simply great, in fact, I envy you… taking photos of those sexy cosplayers and such.
Keep up the good work!
Well said.
I happen to be a huge fan of formal education, but I have a healthy respect for self-teaching and take delight in learning new things out of unadulterated interest, rather than out of a desire for career advancement or anything of that kind. Never mind that others seem to think it’s a monumental waste of time.
Heck, I learned more about forensics and the Japanese criminal justice system doing research for a half-baked piece of fanfiction than I ever did from doing coursework.
And who knows, one of your random shots of cosplayers in action might just land you a big fat Pulitzer. (Give it a pretentious title like “A Visual Commentary on the Meido-Obsessive Structural Decay of Modern Japanese Society”, then send it in. Who knows…)
True that, but if you have too many hobbies and center of interests you might not be able to capitalize on it, Icie. Also those who enjoy collecting “pillows” might have trouble making anything of it… :D
There’s also the cases where the general population skill increase alongside yours, think about the many people able to do basic CGI/PS work nowadays compared to what it was 15/20 years ago. I wouldn’t try to work in that field unless I had some very precise plan.
But hey like you said it’s for fun anyway.
Now keep the scans coming, I’m watching you >.>
Wow, a really good post. I completely found myself there. I’ve been attracted to technology since childhood and had spent most of my free time playing games. To my parents I was just wasting time. But some years later it turns out I can understand English perfectly. I learned German similarly, through TV by watching anime on German channels. So yeah…even things which seem completely useless can be pretty useful.
One things a little bit annoying when you are an adult. For the parents, being on computer is always like playing, even if it’s to earn money.
I learned by myself the basic of programming and Photoshop when I was 14. I must have been influenced by family of geek. I have been interested in technology before, but not specifically about computer. Nowadays, what I learned helps me in my web design course, especially with some lesson Java which are terrible. Being interested allows people to learn easily and practice on their own. My course now is just method to improve some points.
Now, I’m trying to learn drawing on my own. It’s a very long and time consuming but I hope I will manage to make some cute girl one day. I’m using the same improvement philosophy I had when I learned Photoshop: do better than last time.
The problem with focusing too much on “profitable” ventures like study and work is that you never know when you’re going to “eat it”, and it might just be that all of your investments will be for naught. fun is very important, and you pretty much say, fun leads to focus. Fun is focus, focus is fun…
I saw the figure of myself when I read this ^^
I’m not so good as you at technology, but better than most people around me.
One can never have too much knowledge, and maybe one day it can become “profitable”, or I should say “useful”.
Actually,Anime and comic not accept by ordinary people.
Most of us still need some other skills or achievement to prove ourselves.
I know lots of “ACGer” have Respectable job or excellent skill.
You have the ability,too.
In my opinions,you just need to balance fun with life.
Real life is as splendid as loli,too!
PS:please don’t laugh at my broken English.
My friends and family have asked me the same question too, “Why do you run a website when it’s not getting you anywhere?” and I usually answer, “To build up a port folio” since I’ve got more than one site running, not just the blog. Now I do it to share opinion too with my reviews.
Anyway, it’s not a bad question since it’s one of those questions that reminds yourself whether you should be doing something or not.
As you say, I think their idea of “fun” is an activity where you’re socially involved with others so that you might have an opportunity of advancing to a higher quality of living or, getting to know more friends that can help if you if you ever needed it – Not sitting indoors keeping to yourself.
But hobbies are good since you do learn from them – Not at the same level as in a structured course that gives you professional qualification but still.
Bottom line – You have to ignorant of other people to really have real fun =P
@Merun
I know about the fooling around a computer feeling. I get that a lot. Once I finally completed a piece of coursework and when my parents heard me crying out with joy they said, “Yeah, just keep fooling around on the computer and wasting your time.”
But oh well… As long as you know what you’re doing yourself.