[ericmcer]

I did something similar as a kid, but not on accident. Parents would take us for 1-2 weeks to a cabin with kerosene lamps no electricity, no running water. It was usually ok, but there was one trip where it rained nonstop for the week. I cannot forget that boredom, you can only play cards and read for so long before you start to lose it.

I suppose our pre-electricity ancestors had deeper social lives with the people around them, and a stronger connection with the outdoors, but for those who lived in climates that required frequent shelter holy cow they must have been bored out of their skulls.

[pbhjpbhj]

Did your parents do everything for you?

Foraging and collecting water, making fires (chopping the wood with hand tools), cleaning, preparing and cooking food, ... you've used most of the day; couple of hours of reading. Rinse and repeat.

Even camping when you have gas and water on tap, it's surprising how much of the day is meal-prep, and cleaning (pots, tools, self).

When you needed to hunt, make clothing, maintain tools just with basic tech then I Can't see there being so much time to be bored.

[singularity2001]

They were knitting, carving and painting.

[elihu]

I find it really amazing how complicated a modern piano is, and how they were mass produced in such high volume in the early 1900s. Apparently that's one of the things a large percentage of the population did before they had TV or reddit.

[soperj]

Or they went outside in the rain.

[bobthepanda]

They also probably farmed and were able to busy themselves with heavy farm work.

[jbob2000]

What did you eat while stuck in the cabin? My arm chair theory is that pre-electricity societies didn’t have food as dense/rich as we have it today, so they didn’t have the energy to feel bored.