Doing Nothing is Something, The End of Solitude Comparison Essay

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For quite some time, there has been a growing interest in the manner in which technological advancements have impacted the life in modern society. Traditionally, children found time for meaningful interactions even sparing a little time in solitude but modern life and technology seems to take away this time from the children in today’s world. Considering this, Anna Quindlen in Doing Nothing is Something and William Deresiewicz in The End of Solitude both explore the idea of when exactly are people most active even though they use different environments to convey the message. The two authors convey the same message that people should get some moments in life when they stay away from other people and when they just do nothing other than think. However, the difference exist from the fact that while William argues that solitude is necessary for developing intellectual ability and creativity, Quindlen believes that many constructive things can be done when people appear to be doing nothing.
Both William and Quindlen agree that it is necessary to sometimes get away from people and do nothing else other than thinking. Ideally, being unable to be alone and to create time for doing nothing often leads people to lose a lot more than they believe to gain from depending on other people’s company. According to William, people in the modern world are afraid of being alone and therefore seek avenues where they can be recognized and celebrated (William). This explains why most of them are on popular social sites such as Facebook because they believe in the idea of always staying connected with others. The author points out that this behavior of always relying on the company of others deprives us of the rich opportunity to be alone and make a full discovery of ourselves. This also leads to the fact that we do not always need to have company or be engaged in some activity. In relation to this, the author points out that, “am permanently damaged to this respect- that having nothing to do doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” (William). He adds that the boredom that comes out of solitude helps us to be receptive to the world. Similarly in Quindlen’s Doing Nothing is Something, the author argues that it is necessary to do nothing at times especially in the case of the American children who are often loaded with much work in an effort to keep them busy. Accordingly, “what we might call doing nothing, is when human ...