Doing Nothing Anna Quindlein Summary
What is Loneliness and Companionship Today
Introduction
Anna Quindlein's article titled Doing nothing is something published on May 12, 2002 and William Deresiewicz's The End Of Solitude published February 30, 2009 seek to explain how modernity has changed the way man socializes and spends time. Quindlein views this change from the perspective of a busy scheduled life more so for children who now lack time for themselves while Deresiewicz looks at it from the angle of a lonely but an overly communicating people.
Quindlein's argument In her article, Quindelin paints up a picture in the readers mind of an approaching summer which in the past presented children with time to get bored. That personal time she explains provides an individual with the opportunity to be creative. She however states that the contemporary world has made children over occupied without time to reflect upon themselves or even think creatively. According to the writer, parents contribute heavily in forcing children to engage in unexciting activities to suit their own busy programs. She writes,". . . into the life of frantic and often joyless activity with which our children are saddled while their parents pursue frantic and often joyless activity of their own. . ." (Quindelin,2016). …show more content…
Deresiewicz's end of Solitude Deresiewicz picks technological advancements in communication as the main contributor to the modern lonely but busy man.
He brings out the irony of man coming up with innovation to kill boredom out of the fear of it but ends up with an unclear escape from solitude. Instead he gets a newer advanced way of getting busy on social networks yet remaining with a lonely soul after all the heavy communication."Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone" (Deresiewicz,
2009).
Similarity in the two authors views Using divergent approaches to the issues of boredom, both authors elucidate how people today make each and every time occupied with some activity even if the activity only insipidly helps them to pass time. They have both given the example of escape from boredom through television watching which in reality is an entry into boredom and state of torpidity. In Deresiewicz's writing, "Boredom is not a necessary consequence of having nothing to do, it is only the negative experience of that state. Television, by obviating the need to learn how to make use of lack of occupation, preludes one from ever discovering how to enjoy it. In fact, it renders that condition fearsome, its prospect intolerable" (Deresiewicz, 2009). Correspondingly, Quindelin writes that "For those who say they will only watch TV or play on the computer, a piece of technical advice; the cable box can be unhooked, the modem removed. Perhaps it is not too late for the American kids to be given the gift of enforced boredom for at least a week or two, staring into space, bored out of their gourds, exploring the inside of their own heads"(Qu indelin,2016).
Conclusion
A read through articles by Quindelin and Deresiewicz clearly informs of the disappearance of true personal time as a result of modernization. Most people today lack quality time to meditate or become creative because they preoccupy themselves with activities that in the long run leave them frustrated within.
Introduction
Anna Quindlein's article titled Doing nothing is something published on May 12, 2002 and William Deresiewicz's The End Of Solitude published February 30, 2009 seek to explain how modernity has changed the way man socializes and spends time. Quindlein views this change from the perspective of a busy scheduled life more so for children who now lack time for themselves while Deresiewicz looks at it from the angle of a lonely but an overly communicating people.
Quindlein's argument In her article, Quindelin paints up a picture in the readers mind of an approaching summer which in the past presented children with time to get bored. That personal time she explains provides an individual with the opportunity to be creative. She however states that the contemporary world has made children over occupied without time to reflect upon themselves or even think creatively. According to the writer, parents contribute heavily in forcing children to engage in unexciting activities to suit their own busy programs. She writes,". . . into the life of frantic and often joyless activity with which our children are saddled while their parents pursue frantic and often joyless activity of their own. . ." (Quindelin,2016). …show more content…
Deresiewicz's end of Solitude Deresiewicz picks technological advancements in communication as the main contributor to the modern lonely but busy man.
He brings out the irony of man coming up with innovation to kill boredom out of the fear of it but ends up with an unclear escape from solitude. Instead he gets a newer advanced way of getting busy on social networks yet remaining with a lonely soul after all the heavy communication."Technology is taking away our privacy and our concentration, but it is also taking away our ability to be alone" (Deresiewicz,
2009).
Similarity in the two authors views Using divergent approaches to the issues of boredom, both authors elucidate how people today make each and every time occupied with some activity even if the activity only insipidly helps them to pass time. They have both given the example of escape from boredom through television watching which in reality is an entry into boredom and state of torpidity. In Deresiewicz's writing, "Boredom is not a necessary consequence of having nothing to do, it is only the negative experience of that state. Television, by obviating the need to learn how to make use of lack of occupation, preludes one from ever discovering how to enjoy it. In fact, it renders that condition fearsome, its prospect intolerable" (Deresiewicz, 2009). Correspondingly, Quindelin writes that "For those who say they will only watch TV or play on the computer, a piece of technical advice; the cable box can be unhooked, the modem removed. Perhaps it is not too late for the American kids to be given the gift of enforced boredom for at least a week or two, staring into space, bored out of their gourds, exploring the inside of their own heads"(Qu indelin,2016).
Conclusion
A read through articles by Quindelin and Deresiewicz clearly informs of the disappearance of true personal time as a result of modernization. Most people today lack quality time to meditate or become creative because they preoccupy themselves with activities that in the long run leave them frustrated within.