The Irony of Free Time

trisected
trisected
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

The strangest thing about having time unoccupied, is wanting to occupy it with something else. Very rarely have I met anyone who would just sit there to literally do nothing. Instead, we would find every opportunity to cramp in activities or to give it to lower priority items on our to-do lists. And this brings an interesting question: what do I do with my free time? Is that question too much of a paradox?

I reflect on this as someone who loves to be busy. Case in point, I am writing this little piece because I had intended to spend my free travel time on the train, to read. Unfortunately, I had brought out a book which I read already. My unread book list has been growing past 10 books easily, and I eagerly wanted to spend the half an hour or so catching up on reading. Was my time free? Nope. But the mismanagement of my own logistics led to some available time.

This would be debatable about the “free time” idea, and thus, I would term it as “unplanned free time”. Same situation would happen if a meeting ended early, or if the starting of an event was delayed. “I’ve got some time to kill” would be the mentality of it.

On the other hand, pre planned free time is intentional. “I want to have time to do absolutely nothing” (irony once more). Or what I prefer to say in my planned free time, “I want to do whatever I want”. It doesn’t mean that I have freed myself up, but I intentionally set no agenda to specified amount of time.

Why address this, instead of just rereading the book I had accidentally brought along? You might ask. I realized that, as I work with younger adults, or youth, a number of them had said “I don’t have any free time”. This statement doesn’t really hold, as the time they intend as “free”, really means to have the liberty to do anything they want during that period of time. I observe this, with tactful conversational prodding, they reveal the “free time” is used for:

  • Mobile/digital games
  • Manga/reading
  • Television/YouTube/video series
  • Social media browsing

The irony of free time. The aim to do nothing in a period of time, and having done something would lead to a lack of said “free time”.

Then again, for the few who do hold to do absolutely nothing: I treasure you as the balance of my overly active personality. I really enjoy having friends who hold that zen like ideal in this modern age, rejecting the irony of free time.

My “free time” has ended, and thankfully, so has this post.

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trisected

Written by

trisected

Joel's trisected view of life: the Christian, the Creative and the Creature of Culture. I draw on Instagram @trisected

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