There are times when we want to do nothing. But is doing nothing easy?
About a month ago, I came across an Indonesian blogger who posted a video of himself doing nothing for 2 hours and 20 minutes.
He did nothing except staring at the camera for the whole duration.
The video has 3.38 million views on YouTube. When I scrolled through the comments section, I found out that many viewers ended up counting the number of times the blogger blinked his eyes.
Interestingly, he said that he was inspired to record the video after many of his viewers requested him to post content that educated youth.
Now, a German university is offering ‘idleness grants’ worth 1600 euros to applicants who succeed in active inactivity.
The application form for the grants consists of only four questions:
1. What do you not want to do?
2. For how long do you not want to do it?
3. Why is it important not to do this thing in particular?
4. Why are you the right person not to do it?
“This scholarship programme is not a joke but an experiment with serious intentions – how can you turn a society that is structured around achievements and accomplishments on its head?” Von Borries, an architect and design theorist who came up with the programme, told The Guardian.
Do you think the video has “educational content for youth”?
What are your thoughts about the German university’s programme?
Do you think doing nothing is easy?
Randomness Inked 
Absolutely not. Doing nothing is difficult. Especially if you grew up reading motivational and self-help books. If I am allowed to plug my post here, I wrote on this topic in March – https://sadagopangovindan.com/2020/03/03/do-nothing/
The grants thing is tempting. That’s one grant that I may be able to give. If only I dont have to fill the form.
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Was it Pascal that said all the evil in the world is because we can’t just do nothing?
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I guess it’s attributed to Edmund Burke. We have a saying in Hindi on similar lines: Khaali dimaag shaitaan ka ghar hota hai, i.e. Devil resides in an empty mind.
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Even at that moment he was staring at the camera so this phrase ‘doing nothing’ is just futile.
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Staring at a blank camera is next to doing nothing. You need not go with the literal meaning always 😀
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Are we sure he wasn’t just watching a silent movie or something?
No, doing nothing is not easy. I know that because, since early childhood, I would win those games that involved being quiet the longest or sitting still. Not many people can sit and do nothing for more than a couple of minutes.
Is this educational? I don’t think so. However, I do think that it would do a world of good to have people become more comfortable with silence and fewer stimuli.
That grant is ridiculous I think.
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If he was watching a movie, then he’s made a joke of everybody counting the blinks 😛 😀
Ahhh yes, I get agree with the idea of getting comfortable with silence. There’s so much chaos everywhere even during the pandemic that we really need it.
I’m hoping there’s some catch in the grant 😛
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What an awesome post. Doing nothing. That’s when we ground ourselves. I see this as a very positive thing. All of us could benefit from having a little time everyday to do nothing.
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Have you tried doing nothing?
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Wow! What a hilarious post. Maybe vi will also try to do nothing sometimes
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Haha! Let me know how doing nothing goes 😛
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