[watwut]

> you'd better have a really good story about what you would have done instead, excluding any kind of hindsight magic.

Nah, that is not how it works. Effectively, you want people to tell you about some grand plan they would executed it, if they did not played.

The way it works when you stop gaming/reading too much facebook etc is that you start being more active in other areas. You get more fit, you suddenly read more about history without planning to, you do crafts here and there, learn to draw or play music instrument on and off. And overall you feel calmer, more creative, sleep better. And after after months/years it accumulate and you look back happy. It does not feel wasted, cause you have that picture on the wall, your dad has your the thing you created, you are really proud about that song you can play.