Leisure time is an old and new phenomenon.

Prior to the agricultural revolution, the mercantile system, oppressive governments run by a single authority… or economics in general, our tribal and nomadic lifestyle lent itself to times of leisure.

There was a time to work and move and the rest of the hours were spent in social camaraderie. Unless it was a time of war.

Thanks to technological innovation, we are more prosperous now than our entire collective history. The outsourcing of our most mundane tasks has freed up an unprecedented amount of time.

We might not see it that way because we’ve filled the hours with activities we deem necessary, but don’t actually contribute to our immediate survival. However, even taking those into account, we do spend a lot of time wondering what to do.

The immediate gratification is to reach for a digital device and get lost in its distractions for hours of time (if one were to do an honest assessment of how much time they do spend on a digital device, they would be shocked the hours I suggested might be close to the truth).

The other time-fill is to think of what to do with the time available and make plans for it.

It’s strange to think we’re meant to feel guilty if we decide to do nothing. How horrible it would be to allow times of leisure to be treated as such.

For the most part – we just don’t know what to do.

As technologies continue to expand the bubble of the time we have available to us, we must learn to navigate the hours at our disposal.

At the very least, we should get comfortable with it.