[Leon]

There is a difference in what the article presents as an escape for young men with no job vs someone who plays games in the evening to relax.

That free time you have is a luxury if you are working. It can still be very enjoyable to do interesting things after work, but I wouldn't look at them as investing time or learning new skills or hustling (i.e. working). That's a great way to get burnout. Burnout can be horrible if you never have leisure, but you can still make some that off time productive in some way without it feeling like work. For myself I like to put together projects in new tech that seem interesting for an idea that is absurd. It doesn't have to be even a full demo, just some examples where you poked at something and can talk about to coworkers. Arduino / Raspberry Pis are great too - super easy to get in to and you can make stupid fun little trick things. Same with chat bots and cloud infrastructure - slap something together and everybody can have fun.

I'm just wanting to say be careful how you look at your free time. That relaxation with video games and a beer is OK. But if you're wanting more out of it then turn it in to some way to get conversations and cool hacks working with coworkers or friends. Also - try switching up some video games with board games. There are some incredible board games out there these days and it'll be easy to get a group together at work for a quick round of some games.

[ascendantlogic]

While I agree with what you're saying re: Relaxation after work vs no work at all, the use of words is perfect to describe what I and probably many other people struggle with in regards to bettering their situations. I understand that I have a degree of self-improvement impulse that would be destructive if I indulged it fully, but I definitely have ideas for products and side businesses that I would really like to get around to but it gets washed away by this "narcotic undertow of cheap entertainment" as the author so eloquently puts it.

[shostack]

Yeah, have to agree here. Further, sometimes after a long week I don't have any creative energy for even thinking of side project ideas, and games are the only way I can recharge.

I used to be fine with that. Now as I get older I see it as a vice which causes major cognitive dissonance since it is my main way to recharge.