Take a load off…

I am hoping that you all heard about the teacher in Philadelphia who was suspended in the early part of this year for calling her students "lazy whiners" Have you seen the bombardment of "lazy" items in the media such as The Lazy Gourmet, The Lazy Intellectual, tried Lazy Cakes relaxation brownies? Oh and let's not forget the suedo new Bruno Mars' "Lazy" song?

What makes not want to get off the couch is that in a recent American Time Use Survey, conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics states that Americans are working less (26 minutes a day less than in 2007) and goofing off more (sleeping and watching TV is on the increase).

So are we slowly (no pun intended) developing into a lazy nation???

I think the answer is found in how we spend our days off. Personally I try to tie up any loose ends that I may have let go during the busy workweek, like cleaning or catching up on some important educational programming like Criminal Minds, Anger Management, Real Time with Bill Maher and of course Family guy. Others, like my family members, might enjoy some gardening like my mother, hanging out with friends, like my brother or just doing nothing, like my father.

In this debate, as in so many others, we are two nations. Those who believe that a day off should be used to improve ourselves (like my mother and I) and those who want their downtime to do nothing.

In early America, being "lazy" was considered by many to be a vice, at times a luxury. This was in a time where people thought that hard work could make your dreams come true only if you did not spend too much time dreaming. "Determine never to be idle," Thomas Jefferson said. "It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing." Jefferson was the king of multi-tasking. He was famous for keeping books within reach at Monticello so he could read as he waited for guests to arriver for dinner. On the same said Benjamin Franklin used to say Leisure is the time for doing something useful," he said. "This leisure the diligent person will obtain, the lazy one never."

"After you have worked six, eight, ten or even twelve hours day, do not think your remaining hours can be wasted in pleasure," John Candee Dean wrote in the Indianapolis Star in 1920. "Do not waste your time at the 'movies,' at the theater or in the street. If you will employ all your spare time well, you can not only become financially independent, but also a man of education."

Others, like my dad, believe that leisure time was the perfect time to do nothing; in 1928 a couple of Michigan cousins in the furniture business take advantage of this national strain. Using orange crates, they designed a chair that tilted back in a recliner sort of way. They took suggestions for the name of their new invention such as the Sit-N-Snooze, the Slack Back and the Comfort Carrier. Eventually they settled on a name that reflected the delighted self-image of some Americans: They called it the La-Z-Boy.

In the same token Americans are now taking more vacations and on those vacations the did not want to do anything . In a 1948 pre-summer meeting of resort operators at UNH, there was a general howling. According to the Boston Globe "that many vacationists never get beyond the luxurious laziness of lounging on a porch where they can contemplate the beauty of a mountain, or a lake, or a peaceful village."

Let's face it, laziness due to technological advancements is part of our Pop culture and is causing downward trending of active people and has been an increasing issue. So what's causing this rising laziness to grow exponentially? We as human beings have an urge to invent things daily that make our lives easier and eventually take physical labor out of the equation. Most look at innovation as humanity take a step forward, studies show that dramatic increases in laziness come from daily advancements. As the saying going to much of a good thing can be a bad thing, this is a prime example of just that; to many advancements are bad for the human race as a whole.

First is the vehicle issue, while not new, humans are way too dependent on their use, but they are one of the things that make the world lazy. "Vehicles are pretty much a necessity in today's world, but they are one of the major contributors to increasing laziness." (Lazier) What happened to taking a walk around the block to your destination? Now a day everyone has a car that they can and do take everywhere, even if it's just down the street. For many people in this modern age, the four wheels have taken over the job of two legs. Consequence? Well, we become overweight, lack of exercise and prone to all kinds of illnesses. The conveniences of the vehicles like cars and bikes have caused laziness which in turn caused deterioration of our physical health.

Next is something simple, like using spell check on your computer. "Spell checkers that flag mistakes, like using "their" when you mean "there," are frequently ignored. It's grotesque; technology has created a new standard, not of accuracy but of laziness. People are too lazy to take the lazy way out." (Too Much Work) Things like spell check were invented to make more time for other things that need to be done, not to add to the laziness pool.

I get it we can all be lazy, but while we are "being lazy" maybe we can open a book.