#How to Do Nothing

[emgoesmed]

4/13/2024

Hung out at a local Serbian cafe and the coffee and food were delightful.

I’m chipping away bit by bit at residency onboarding requirements.

I’m currently reading How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell which is excellent, so far I really recommend it!

[oshen26]

“In the face of the increasingly materialist and pragmatic orientation of our age … it would not be eccentric in future to contemplate a society in which those who live for the pleasures of the mind will no longer have the right to demand their place in the sun. The writer, the thinker, the dreamer, the poet, the metaphysician, the observer … he who tries to solve a riddle or to pass judgement will become an anachronistic figure, destined to disappear from the face of the earth like the ichthyosaur and the mammoth.”

giorgio de chirico 

[lovesongofjrrtolkien]

Literally 2 Cents: How to Do Nothing, Vol. 2

Information overload is a type of sensorship -- a new episode from Literally 2 Cents! #podcast #content #literally2cents

We put up our most recent episode this weekend, the second part to our series exploring “How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell. This week, we talked about context collapse… you know, how you’ll be scrolling Twitter and see several disparate events that have nothing to do with each other — or with you? Social media and other online content has taken a lot of the context out of how we interact with…

[softfolks]

“In After the Future, the Marxist theorist Franco “Bifo” Berardi ties the defeat of labor movements in the eighties to rise of the idea that we should all be entrepreneurs. In the past, he notes, economic risk was the business of the capitalist, the investor. Today, though, “‘we are all capitalists’…and therefore, we all have to take risks…The essential idea is that we should all consider life as an economic venture, as a race where there are winners and losers." ... "In the global digital network, labor is transformed into small parcels of nervous energy picked up by the recombining machine…The workers are deprived of every individual consistency. Strictly speaking, the workers no longer exist. Their time exists, their time is there, permanently available to connect, to produce in exchange for a temporary salary. (emphasis mine)"

How to Do Nothing (Jenny Odell, 2019)

[hinamie]

newest issue of first years fashion just dropped

[egophiliac]

missed the mark by (looks at calendar) uhhh. hm. but I really wanted to do something for the 5th anniversary! happy five years to these idiots 🎉

[pyrus-salicifolia]

“Normal” test results are not the relief people think they are. When you wake up in pain and continue to be in pain for hours every day and your tests come back normal you don’t stop being in pain.

[baristabomb]

...weird amount of dunmeshi fans have been saying being a caretaker in a relationship is the worst thing ever..marcille must want to killl everyone soo bad because doing things for people suuuucks sooo muchh

it's an act of love, not just a job i promise. we all want someone who's willing to take care of us in some way, just like how senshi shows care for others by cooking for them :'|

[thepantyreckless]

not just loving people who can't work, but also people who also choose not to work. good for you. great anti-work praxis.

choosing not to work reinforces the systems that exist to support people who cannot work. using those resources strengthens their cause to ask for more budget. it makes you aware when those resources change or are taken away. It also makes you sexy and more interesting (1 of 10 things employers don't want you to know about unemployment!)

we should be allowed to not have to work all the fucking time

P.S. ALWAYS fucking apply for unemployment. Even if you were fired. Even if you were forced to quit. You may still qualify AND might increase your employer's UI tax rate.

since ive regularly needed these reminders over the past month or so since i quit: not working is completely morally neutral. everyone deserves respect and dignity regardless of employment status. ones ability to work should not determine their worth etc etc. i love my unemployed baddies

[fujoreads]

Weekly Update (1/9/2024)

Hello hello! I'm late to this update yet again, but it is what it is. I had a nice week, though :)

I started reading again! I read 30% of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy... and then just skimmed through it—it wasn't what I was looking for. Same thing happened with Digital Minimalism in Everyday Life, a book more about the practical side of digital minimalism. However, I was expecting an approach other than "you don't need to ditch modern tech, just use it in moderation!! productivity!!1!!11!", especially after reading How to Do Nothing. I am tired of looking at screens and doing so much every single day, and would love to find a read on people like me, who are embracing older tech (or just ditching modern alternatives altogether); I'm aware it's not practical, but for folks who don't work with tech for a living, you don't really need to be online 24/7, be it in your digital life or in real life.

It's kinda baffling my family (and even past friends) saw me not wanting to be on whatsapp or social media, or even going as far as ditching my smartphone, and thought "he doesn't want to talk to us". It's not like I'm the most sociable person to begin with, but if you want to talk to me, you can talk, call, or even message me directly through the phone, instead of relying on an app.

Anyway, I'm also reading Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window and it's sooo lovely! I miss being a kid and being in the countryside. I never visited Japan, but I only want to visit its countryside, if I'm being honest. There's something about the calm of it all—not exclusive to Japan, fortunately.

Unfortunately I have no VN readings to comment on since my job has been so tiring that I can't look at screens for very long. My sleep schedule is a mess and I can't wait to get back to my early schedule.

I'm still playing Needy Streamer Overload—only 2 endings left!—and I'm enjoying it a lot :) I can't wait for Yunyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis uuuugh

Still watching Serial Experiments Lain and really enjoying it!! I didn't make much progress this week due to work, but I am determined to finish it this week, and today is my final day of work :)

I finally started the famous Avatar: The Last Airbender and I'm enjoying it a lot!! I'm on episode 3 (Part 1) and I had forgotten how fun these types of series are. Last time I remember being this invested and entertained with a cartoon is with 2016's Voltron: Legendary Defender. In a way, Sokka reminds me of Lance and the internet tells me I wasn't the only one thinking that.

So, I watched Carol! I'm noticing I'm going through a lot of queer movies these past days, and they are all so depressing and bittersweet. It's like a guilty pleasure: it upsets me and I love it at the same time. That is to say, I'll give this a 3/5—it wasn't a bad movie by any means, but it didn't stand out to me.

On that note, I also watched Ammonite! This was a more interesting movie to me, although I wish they could have maybe developed it more. It felt to me like their relationship was somewhat rushed, although the ending was pretty good food for thought: 3.5/5 stars.

And that is it for the week! Tell me what you've been doing these days in the comments~

[viktors-sternomastoid]

Viktor's confident smiles - 2/?

[rooniearts]

Consider: Silver with hearing loss

[makingcontact]

Jenny Odell and Discovering Life Beyond the Clock (Encore)

Excerpt from the book cover, reading “Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock” superimposed on top of orange and pink geological features. Credit: Penguin Random House Have you ever really considered how we view time as a society? From work to leisure to appointments, we schedule every minute of our days, but how often do we think about why we treat time the way we do, our relationship…

[chloesimaginationthings]

The true meaning behind FNAF princess quest

[egophiliac]

the gang's all here! commence slumber party

[astraystayyh]

They have since left four premature babies to decompose on their beds. They have since kidnapped, stripped, tortured civilians and tried to frame them as Hamas fighters for their propaganda. They have since shot people at refugee camps execution style. They have since targeted academics and poets and directors. They have since killed 86 journalists. Still no ceasefire.

psa: i know that many of us did NOT doubt this for a second, neither did i. this is targeted at the people who educated themselves for the first time about this genocide and discovered the absolute horrific things that Israel is capable of doing to Palestinians, with the unwavering support of its allies.