OK, so I have a confession to make. I have an addiction to a certain red pill. I’ve thrown away hours because of this pill and never felt good by the end of it. Yes. It’s true. I’m addicted to … YouTube. 

So, jokes aside, this is something I’ve been thinking about recently. Downtime is something that is essential to productivity - sounds counter intuitive, but it’s true. More recently, however, I’ve felt that I haven’t been using mine as effectively as I can. 

Let me preface this with a disclaimer that what fulfilling downtime means will differ from person to person - what it means for me is unique to me. Finding out how to better use your downtime will require you to do some “inner work” on yourself. That being said, what the heck is “fulfilling” downtime and why is it important?

Going back to where I started this post, I would spend a lot of time on YouTube (and I mean a lot of time). This was, in my mind, technically downtime. YouTube was an entertainment platform, I was watching entertaining videos (skits and so on), surely I would come away from that entertained. But I didn’t.

In fact, on days that I would spend hours (literally hours!) watching these “entertaining” videos on YouTube (or Instagram etc. - I’m just using YT as a “catch-all” term here) I’d end that binge feeling more bored, less productive and just … unfulfilled. I hadn’t satiated my boredom - exactly the opposite, in fact - I needed (wanted?) more. What really bothered me was, why? I technically had “fun” - my mind should be relaxed now, I should be ready to go back to work. But I wasn’t.

So, I decided to reflect on this - was YouTube actually “entertaining”? Was I actually having fun? Was boredom just my reality now? (OK, that last one got a bit existential 😅).

The answer I came up with was that, yes, the videos I watched were entertaining and creative, but they weren’t fulfilling, in terms of giving me the rest and downtime I yearned for. Jumping from one 5 minute skit to the next didn’t give me the satisfaction of feeling rested. 

Conversely, watching an episode of a show on Netflix was far more fulfilling. I’d watch just one episode and be ready to work again. Similarly, playing a video game for an hour or 2 was fulfilling - my mind would be ready to tackle the next productive task.

My current theory is that, on platforms like YouTube, the content is geared for quick, fast entertainment (it’s something you watch while waiting in a queue etc.), but it fails to offer any substantial rest for the mind. To put it another way, it provided short-lived highs, but not expansive, fulfilling downtime.

I think the reason I gravitate towards YouTube and other quick entertainment is that I live in a fallacy of not having enough time to do anything more expansive. 

But those 5 minutes add up - since each video is unable to quench my thirst for downtime, I watch another and another and another, until I’ve spent more time watching “quick” videos than I would have if I simply watched an episode of that show. 

I believe that the first step to breaking this pattern is to schedule my downtime. In doing so, I would know just how much time I can commit and prove to myself that, you know what, I do have the time for that 1 episode. I do have the time for that video game session. And it’ll be time well spent.

Have you ever felt the same? Or am I just crazy and overthinking this? 😋 If you're reading this after I've built a comments section (It's a work in progress, OK! 😅), lemme know in the comments! 

Until next time, remember to deliberately choose how you spend your downtime to maximise its positive effects!