Why Don’t You Try Self-Entertainment?
We have tried all forms of entertainment. Why not try this too?
This is how the tech guys think:
We are going to create technological systems that are going to enable everyone to publish their creations of entertainment.
This is how the idea guys should think:
We are going to create ideas that are going to enable everyone to entertain themselves without needing external content.
The former is the case of inspiring everyone to create their own entertaining digital content. The latter is the case of creating content that turns you away from all entertaining content. The former is getting entertained through other people’s content. The latter is being Self-Entertained (being entertained through your own mind).
So, what is Self-Entertainment?
I came across this idea a month ago when I decided to fast from all forms of content as part of my Mind-Exploration. As I sat in the toilet resisting the urge to scroll a cricket website or watch YouTube on my phone, I wondered why I don’t use my own mind for entertainment without external assistance. Of course, I didn’t succeed at the first instance. But later, I did some abstractions on what makes entertainment work for me and came up with this rough formula of entertainment:
Entertainment = CAN IRFA
CAN : Competitive-Anticipatory-Narrative. Which means, the entertainment content I consume, generally involves either some kind of competitive anticipatory narrative like in sports, movies or some kind of anticipatory sequences like in music.
IRFA: Intoxication, Relationships, Food, Aesthetics. Which means, our idea of direct entertainment involves getting intoxicated, enjoying juices of relationships, foods and beauty. The reasons why we travel, go to restaurants, clubs, bars, etc.
Now, since my concern was mostly with digital content, I focused only on the CAN part. In other words, I asked myself:
Can I entertain myself through internal CAN?
After a few days of torturing myself with this question and putting myself through various simulations, I managed to come up with a few ways in which I could Self-Entertain myself successfully:
- Recalling past events
- Trying to recall hidden memories
- Imagining Sexual Fantasies
- Writing
- Humming
- Imagining alternative version of past events
- Going for thought-drives
- Thinking
- Dreaming and recalling them. Interpreting them
- Making notes
- Whispering in the Voice Recorder app
- Speaking in the Voice Recorder app
- Thinking of ways of succeeding as a thinker-writer ( Thriller)
- Simulating cricket in my head where I am the main player of my team and I lead the team to a tournament victory
- Simulating cricket in my head where I am the captain of my team and my team (the favorites) gets knocked out from the group stage. I talk to media and all after that
- Imagining driving at high speed
- Imagining flying
- Imagining free falling
- Imagining swimming
- Imagining myself as an eagle drifting high up in the sky
- Recalling and analyzing what made me weak as a teenager
These are a few things I have successfully tried in the last few days. Some involve competitive narratives, some anticipations and some narratives. I don’t know what’s at store in the coming few days. I will surely be open towards new things.
Of course, I still watch sports and movies. One, because I no longer feel dependent upon them such that they can harm me. Two, because I am not THAT Self-Sufficient…
YET!
