How many times do you read that headline screaming that social media is ruining your life/giving you insomnia inducing FOMO? Or that charging your phone in your bedroom will make you fat? Yep, it seems that the common philosophy right now is that the internet is to blame for every evil in the world. BORING.
But here's a study we can actually get behind for once – that the three hour Facebook hole you just fell into looking at ex-school friend's pictures from 2008 might actually be good for you.
The University of Pennsylvania announced this week that it’s going to offer a new course launching next semester called ‘Wasting time on the internet’, in which students will be encouraged to ‘focus on the alchemical recuperation [nope, us neither] of aimless surfing into substantial works of literature.'
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Basically what this means is that ‘students will be required to stare at the screen for three hours, only interacting through chat rooms, bots, social media and listservs.’ Then they'll have to take the detritus from the time they’ve wasted – so all the tweets, posts, photos, browser history – and turn it into a substantial work of literature.
‘I'm very tired of reading articles in the New York Times every week that make us feel bad about spending so much time on the internet, about dividing our attention so many times,' said course organiser Kenneth Goldsmith. 'I think it's complete bullshit that the internet is making us dumber. I think the internet is making us smarter. There's this new morality built around guilt and shame in the digital age.’
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We think that Kenneth might have a point and, to celebrate, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favourite stuff online to help you while away the hours in the hope it will let you unlock your creative potential and maybe be the impetus for you creating the next great work of literature.
Either that, or keep you entertained whilst you eat yet another Pret sandwich at your desk.
This Australian website was brought to my attention by a friend of mine who spent a year in Melbourne last year and it’s basically the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in the entire world ever. I once actually headbutted a commuter on the bus because I was laughing at the feed so hard. It’s basically like a collection of the funniest memes, gifs and videos from your funniest (massively politically incorrect) stoner friend and it is updated all the time. Making this your home page will be the best thing that you do today.
This does exactly what it says on the tin – it’s basically just videos of baby animals streamed live into your bedroom and it’s the best hangover cure we’ve every come across. Some of our personal favourites are the penguin and the puppy feeds, which are both like a warm hug though your screen.
The Subreddit dedicated to sharing all those thoughts, ideas or philosophical questions that race through your head whilst you’re in the shower. Some of the genius musings that are rising at the moment include ‘asphyxiation is terrible, except in scrabble’, ‘every time a man named Richard dies he becomes a dick in a box’ and ‘I wonder if my dog thinks the food delivery person is my owner.’ It’s gloriously banal stuff and you’ll no doubt lose many glorious hours luxuriating in its absurdity.
What isn’t there to like about a feed that includes both pictures of babies dressed like burritos and pictures of bald men who look like biscuits?
There’s nothing like looking through this collection of horrifyingly bad emails people have received to put that snarky email from your boss this morning into perspective. Things really could be worse.
And finally…
This is basically just a pug licking your computer screen. Sorrynotsorry.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.