Do you ever wonder how people didn't die of boredom in the olden days

[AthenaisdeRochechouart]

Before telly and iPads and Netflix and access to unlimited books/music via Amazon?

What did they do to stop going stark staring mad? Could you cope long term without the above?

My greatbgran had 16 children (13 loving) so you can see how her husband and her got around boredom

I often think I would get so much more done if it wasn't for internet. but in reality i'd find another distraction. radio, books, naps...

Nettletheelf 👍 😘

I suppose it is easier for people to give their own examples as we have no clue whether the proper olden day people were bored as they may have found whatever they did really exciting, even embroidery for days on end as I guess the brain must adapt to the surroundings.

Historian here: one thing that is immediately apparent is how much easier it would have been to make your own entertainment in the shape of music & dancing (all classes) or amateur theatricals (upper and middle class) before radio and television had led to expectations of professional standards.

You don't need a lot of money to manufacture a primitive violin or flute and invite your neighbours to a dance. You don't need to pay for lessons either if there are older family members/neighbours with time on their hands willing to teach you. If you're a good story-teller you can hold your family spellbound with ghost stories at no expense at all.

I am too diffident to join a choir at home because I don't have a particularly good voice and I've never learnt properly, so it would seem like putting myself forward. But when we were spending time in a rural location without telly or internet connection, my daughter and I happily joined in singing quartets accompanied by a rather untuned piano. It was fun, but it was only possible because there was no competition from professionals over the ether.

Lots of evidence from pre-1900 shows that this is the sort of thing people did.

As for literature, it only takes one literate person in the community for written stories to be available to a wider circle through reading aloud. 30% literacy may well mean 90% access to written entertainment. Also, for those who are literate, writing letters to distant friends and relatives takes time and can be as interesting as any form of creative writing. Older letters (my own work is primarily 1100-1600 but I have read a fair few Victorian letters too) are usually fascinating because so much care has been taken over them.

Have you ever been camping - where you have to walk a mile to get water/go to the toilet, hadto collect wood for the evenings fire, cook on said fire etc? Everything takes ages, even making a cup of tea takes about an hour!!!
I imagine it’s a little bit like that!!

^ That just made me smile.

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. Was never bored. Sometimes I think our imagination was more freed up as a result of the lack of technology, but I think its debateable...