I Play Too Much Solitaire, and it’s Putting Me in a Time Warp by Douglas Coupland : Why do I choose to waste time playing solitaire? And why will I, in all likelihood, cheerfully continue to waste thousands more hours playing solitaire? These are questions Coupland, and no doubt, millions of others, have pondered. Interestingly enough, I find that this spills over into much more than solitaire. What of my thousands of NHL 98 or Unreal Tournament games? Or the countless hours spent trolling the net? Time wasted? Perhaps. Will I continue to waste it? Undoubtedly. Why? I have no idea. Coupland’s father used to play solitaire all the time, and now, thanks to a computer, he still plays almost every day. When asked why, he replies:
“That’s easy. Every time I press the key and it deals me a new round, I get this immense burst of satisfaction knowing that I didn’t have to shuffle the cards and deal them myself. Its payback time for all the hours I ever wasted in my life shuffling and dealing cards.”
Which brings me to the thought that maybe we aren’t really wasting time at all. Maybe we just need to realize that the past is gone, whether we like it or not. By the way, I found Coupland’s site insightful and fun, though I’m a bit annoyed at the use of Flash (is it really necessary to put a full text article into flash? It sure as hell makes it difficult to pull quotes!)