When I was in college, my elderly psych professor told me a la The Graduate “plastics” speech, that leisure time counseling was the career to pursue. With the aging of Baby Boomers and advancements in medicine, people were going to be living a long time and need counseling on keeping busy.
How prescient.
But it’s not just Babyboomers. Kids need it too. They are playing video games every minute they’re not engaged with TV, the computer, or sports. Some of these pastimes they do simultaneously. Like a shark that dies if it is not swimming, kids today can’t sit down without some sort of stimulus. God forbit, they should talk to a parent.
Soduko is a new craze among adults, who also cannot sit for a minute without stimulus. Maybe it’s because book, newspaper and magazine content is so poor and predictable. I’m no better, I can’t drive in my car without the radio on, flipping channels and programs. I have to force myself to drive and think. It’s not a reflex.
What were we like before we left the savannah?
Why do we hate to be alone and unoccupied? Can’t we just sit and think, or sit and talk?
