What do you think about the issue of leisure time spent in solitude vs leisure time spent with family or friends? I want you to kick back and think about it. Leisure time is a time where you put down all necessary work and do something that you want to do instead of the rigorous schedule you may have at work. It is best for one to achieve the goal of positive and effective leisure time by spending the time with family and/or friends. I believe that one achieves ultimate happiness when one is accompanied by a loved one or great friend. Why shouldn't this apply to leisure time? I also believe that spending time alone, only relates to the tedious work one may do throughout the day; all alone behind one's own cubicle doing solo work. I don't believe that it isn't possible to have leisure time by yourself, but I think that leisure time with an accomplice positively affects someone more than one who were to spend leisure time by themselves. Great evidence to support my argument is provided by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Finding Flow. Csikszentmihalyi is a professor of psychology and education at the University of Chicago, and has much experience in the field of psychology. Another source that supports my argument is a journal titled Sociology of Leisure on the JSTOR database by John Wilson. Wilson is a member of the sociology department at Duke University and talks about nearly every aspect of leisure. What do you think?
4 comments:
By far leisure time is more effective when it is experienced socially.I spend alot of time by myself and too much time by myself tends to drive me crazy, but when I am with my friends all my issues melt away. There have been several studies done on depression in people that do not have effective social situations or environments. People are more likely to be depressed if they spend alot of time alone, or people are more likely to be depressed if they do not have many friends. This relates to my topic on popularity. My arguement is that people should have a few good quality friendships and not try to focus on having alot of friends. Do you think people with quantity could be happier than people with quality as related to depression studies? I don't think so because studies have also been done on students who become depressed because their friends don't provide stable problem solving skills. So maybe it is not just hanging out with people that makes leisure time pleasant, but hanging out with people you care about, are loyal to, and can trust that makes it worth while. I think that was basically your point.
I think you have a good basis for argument. But I have a counterargument that you might want to consider as well. Csikszentmihalyi does make an important point in his book. He argues that we need to learn to like being alone, as well as enjoy time with friends. The fact of the matter is, we will spend a lot of time in our lives alone, and a useful "skill to acquire is the ability to tolerate solitude, and to even enjoy it" (43). I agree with you that time spent with friends may be more rewarding, but that doesn't mean that it's the only rewarding way to spend our time. If we can balance solitude/time spent with friends, and learn to enjoy both, we will live more fulfilling lives.
This is an easy fix for your argument. Simply address the fact that some people can enjoy solitude. Your argument will be that time spent with friends is better than time spent alone, maybe not such a black and white (time spent with friends is the ONLY rewarding time). Hope this helps.
I agree with you but also think interesting point makes a very, well, interesting point. I there are a lot of variables in this argument. It depends on the people you are spending the time with (i like playing golf with my dad ten times more than with my mom) and what the activity is- back to my golf example, i enjoy golf much more by myself than with my dad but more with my dad than with my mom. There are some leisure activities that can be much more enjoyable when done alone. I love to journal....however, journaling with other people around would not be a great time! I'm a little disappointed you chose to use a scene from Super bad, by the way, but I'll let it slide!
I also agree it is much better to spend your leisure time with friends. They take your mind off of pressing issues and allow you to truly relax. However I feel that sometimes leisure time by yourslef is crucial. It simportant to have time to yourslef to colect your thoughts. Sometimes those good distractions by your friends can quickly turn to bad distractions. A time and a place. For example, when you break up with your girlfriend you should be with friends to help you get through it. But if your life is a mess sometimes you need time alone to organize everything so you can get back on track.
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