Part of my usual breakfast takes twelve seconds in the microwave. This morning I hit start and picked up a dishrag (do they still call them that?) and proceeded to wipe up some crumbs off the counter. I realized that when coming into the kitchen I had tagged this small job as what I would do while waiting for the microwave to do its things. Twelve seconds? It seems I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing. But for only twelve seconds? Really? Yes, really.
As I thought about why I couldn’t waste twelve seconds, I came up with a number of reasons. Just two of them being: I had gotten a small job out of the way that either Lorraine or I would have had to do later, and in general life is too short to squander twelve seconds.
I didn’t say they were good reasons.
Then I got to thinking about our society in general. How many of us as we’re driving, can’t just enjoy the passing scenery, or, heaven forbid, just concentrate on the road, but have to be listening to some pod cast, or some such to improve our minds. Or at the very least our favorite radio station to bring more enjoyment into our lives. And if asked why? We would say something to the effect, “Well, I just can’t waste all that time.”
We fall back on the idea that we’re multi-tasking and feel proud of our capabilities. But usually, multi-tasking just means that we are not doing either task to the best of our abilities.
An example: If multitasking is such a great deal, why don’t we see surgeons doing more of it. If the surgeon who took out my gall bladder had been checking out his emails as I succumbed to the anesthesia, or if in the middle of the procedure he had stopped to call his bookie and check on how Slippery Scalpel had done in the fourth race at Belmont, I would have had reason to be somewhat concerned. Or if the operating room crew had been watching and yucking it up over an old episode of Green Acres while prepping me for surgery, I might have been concerned to the point of asking if they would at least wait for a commercial break before cutting me open.
But why is it that we feel that we must be occupied every second. When I sit and watch TV I need to be doing something at the same time or I feel like I’m wasting time. (Well, current TV what it is, that does have some validity.) Several things will do, writing, playing some simple computer game that requires at least part of my brain, eating, or reading.
Life has become so full of things to do, or that we feel must be done, that we can’t just stand still for 12 seconds.
This compulsion is not a recent thing for me. When I was traveling, the worst thing that could happen to me was getting on a plane with nothing along to read. A book, business papers, almost anything would do, excluding the airline magazine or the safety card.
Even if I planned to take that time to catch up on my sleep, I still had to have something along to read, just as a safety net against insomnia.
Even while sitting here right now with the ocean waves rolling in and crashing into the rocks, which is a continually changing scenic masterpiece, I feel better if I have my laptop on my lap (funny how that works), and can be writing or taking pictures of what I’m seeing, or watching for birds, or settling on tomorrow’s itinerary. But just to sit there and watch is good for only a very short time.
Am I the only one who is afflicted in this way? I think not.
The question is why do we need to be occupied all the time? And is that good, or bad?
