Sometimes, you just had to suffer being bored. And it gave you time to really think.

• Watch tv.
• Read a book.
• Play single-player pc games.
• Literally go outside and touch grass.

You ever stand behind a couple of geezers in line somewhere and they start talking about some random stuff? They didn’t know each other. They were just bored.

I used to grab anything I could to read when taking a shit. Even reading shampoo bottle labels. Now I’m here typing this mess to you guys as I take a dump.

Some tropes of the 80s and 90s: Teenagers ignoring their family while listening to a Walkman. Dads reading the newspaper and ignoring their family. Moms talking on the landline phone with friends and neighhbors. Nerds reading comic books. Dads playing golf. Mom shopping. Teens just “hanging out” at some random place like a parking lot, near a lake, under a bridge, behind the band hall, etc. Smoking. Crossword puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles. Cards.

Had conversations. Went outside. Did stuff. Had real hobbies. People were much less lame. Smartphones aren’t even smart. They just have The internet. If they were smart, people wouldn’t spend the entire time scrolling through dumb shit

We had something like e-readers and they didn’t need recharging as they were made out of dead trees. But each one held just one book, so you had to take a bunch of them to the bathroom with you.

We used to interact physically with other people…