Easy Sunday: Idle Moments
"I got no deeds to do, no promises to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep. . . ."
Paul Simon, "Feeling Groovy," 1966
Sometimes you just want to kick back.
I installed the TikTok app to see what young people like about it. They look at TikTok instead of doing their homework or sleeping or looking up from their phones to engage IRL.
IRL means in real life.
I prefer YouTube's version: "Shorts."
TikTok is owned by a Chinese company and allegedly they are brainwashing our youth. YouTube is owned by Google and I figure that Google already knows everything about me because it knows what I search for and it reads my email.
Look at the bottom of the screen on your YouTube app. Next to the Home icon there is the word "Shorts." Click or press. It brings you to an endless succession of little videos ten seconds to a minute in length. By liking some and disliking others, you train YouTube to send you stuff you wlll probably like.
What kind of stuff? Well, like this, young athlete cheerleaders:
Or this, an alert and kind dog rescuing a cat:
Or this funny bit of fake lip-reading of a heated conversation between Kevin McCarthy and Matt Gaetz:
If you click "like" on snappy ten-second videos of college girls jumping rope to dance music then you will get more of those. If you "like" videos of fighter jets landing on aircraft carriers, you will get those. Cute animals. Go-pro dare-devils. Bloopers.
There are lots of demands on our time and energy. Watching short videos is the least demanding thing I can think of other than napping.
It's OK to take a break.