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?

I think people in the olden days were more likely to die of tb, infections, complications after childbirth, untreatable cancers, measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough, pneumonia,influenza , post operative complications, miners lung, asbestosis, phosphate jaw and a whole load of other stuff before they died of boredom.

Olden days? I got my first tv this year and still don't have an i-pad, Netflix etc... I have the internet on my phone but don't use it for music or films.
I can't remember the last time I was bored... probably when sat still watching a film.
In general I suppose people used to move more and sit still less.

I think being bored in the olden days was only for the privileged. In my grandparents' days, my maternal grandmother (who was widowed early) would be collecting discarded construction materials for something like 14 hours a day to sell while paternal grandparents spent most of their day in the fields. I doubt either any of them ever felt bored because they never had a free day.

*I don't watch much tv and I'm at my happiest on a cold, miserable night, lying on the sofa with a good book, the radio playing, curtains drawn and lamps lit.

Heaven.*

@Noooooooooo, easily known you read a lot, your description makes me want to do this ever since I read your post! It does sound like Heaven.

Oh, and yes, I wasn't even THINKING of the olden olden olden days, I was just thinking of today but with no internet.

Yeah, I remember the 90s. They were shit, and I WAS bored.

Carl Friedrich Gauss, in the 19th century, was so bored he had to invent modern calculus (math) all by himself... without being able to look it up even in books, let alone Internet or Netflix...

Sorry 18th century... Gauss...

Olden days. If you were rich you spent your days reading and needle work til your eyes went
Then presumably you stared into space until you lost your mind.
My lot would have spent 18 hrs a day waiting on others and 6 hrs asleep in an attic.

Depends what you called olden days. Brought up in the 70's. 3 channels and they weren't on all day. You had one TV if you were lucky. We watched it as a family but it was your parents choice. Usually only in winter.
I read books, played out with friends, drew, painted, went to dog training classes, dancing, days out etc.Parents had friends in.
Don't remember being bored. I hardly watch TV now.

erm..books, appreciation for the outdoors, live music, ‘improv’ games. If anything mental health was probably better back them. It does nobody any good being cooped up for hours indoors playing computer games or watching tv for hours.

Needlework and crafts too. As one poster said if poor you wouldn’t have time to be bored as it would have been hard labour.

I listened to tapes, watched the bill, went for bike rides, made potions, played zx spectrum, delivered papers, made sugar on toast, etc

I remember that time - it's really not that long ago.

I read a lot. books and newspapers. not just skimming through the headlines. not just page turning bestsellers.

If you’re meaning just before internet and when tv was limited you really don’t miss what’s you’ve never had Op. People were a lot more active back then.

Oh and there was radio, cassette players, books. Basic computer games which are now considered ‘retro and cool.’

I should have been clearer in my OP. By ye olden days I didn't mean the 20th century.

I was never bored as a child. We lived in a small village so there was always stuff to do.

We would go to the library bus on a Thursday night and get our books for the week. In a Saturday we would go to the next town and spend the morning going to the bakery, greengrocer, butchers, etc. Mum would spend Saturday afternoon baking for the lunchboxes. Sunday morning she seemed to spend the Sunday morning making a roast. On a Sunday afternoon we would have visitors or go visiting. This was only in the winter though as the summer months were spent gardening/preserving. As kids we would make dens and ride our bikes for hours. I played with Sindy dolls until I was 12. My brother and I would always try and make whatever they were making on blue peter.

Even when I had my son 16 years ago things were completely different. Dh worked away so he had the mobile phone (we could only afford 1). He would call me for 29 minutes a night as that was how many free minutes he had. We couldn’t afford a dishwasher or a tumble dryer. Everything just took more time. I learnt how to cross stitch, sew, knit, etc. I still do a lot of it now but the difference is that I’ve got the pattern from Pinterest, I’ve ordered the materials at the click of a button, if I get stuck I watch a tutorial on you tube to help, I have Netflix on whilst I’m doing it and then I post it to Instagram 😳

Yes, @AthenaisdeRochechouart , you should have been clearer. Especially when you listed entertainment innovations which are pretty much only the last 5 or 10 years. As if life without these was "the olden days".

As a teenager without internet in the 80s, when not at school or doing homework, I:

Read trashy mags
Read books
Listened to the radio (One or City (Liverpool))
Listened to my records
Watched telly if there was anything good on
Took the bus or train into town to mooch around shops and/or have a milkshake and burger etc. at Wimpy
Went to the cinema
Went on a bike ride all around the nearby countryside
Went to my horse riding lessons
Played my treble recorder (badly)
Played board games with friends or family
Chatted on the phone (not for long though bills plus not very comfy or private standing in the kitchen holding a fixed wall phone)
Occasionally made modelling kits
Occasionally knitted
Did cross stitch kits sometimes
Visited friends or family living further away
Went for walks in the nearby woods and meadows, often taking a book
Sometimes drew or painted, just for fun
Played on my GameGear

Oh yes, I was utterly, utterly bored senseless...

They talked to snakes, sewed fig leaves and ate apples.

I'm re-reading some of the Jane Austen books and have to admit that I do wonder how the younger women especially managed to pass all their time. They're not referred to as doing chores, and appear to have people in to cook and clean, etc. Though they do seem to care for their own children when older, I assume these people often had childcare in-house when they are babies and toddlers, as their children are not always with them.

It appears to be mainly walking a lot, meeting friends or family to chat and take tea, needle point, reading, the pianoforte, and some like to draw and paint.

Preparing for going out and to dances takes up a fair bit of time too. With regards to dances I'm always surprised at hour late they finish - often the early hours and behind.

However, for many this life is relatively short lived as they do tend to marry young too in several cases.

I assumed the OP was referring to proper Olden days, not the eras I and my parents grew up in.

And whilst poorer people had much to do with chores, those higher up the classes had people to do that for them.

Though to be fair children in particularly did have periods of time back then feeling bored. You had to go out and make some entertainment - it was deemed good to let children get bored a bit. And the phrase "only boring people get bored" was often heard if children complained about it!

@bellinisurge - to be fair, I did clarify many pages ago but people didn't RTFT

However, as people are talking about the mid-late 20th century, I've an observation. As children our weekends weren't packed with organised activities and parents weren't precious about "family time with our little family" (as they say on MN)

DD(13) spends a lot of time training with her sports team at the weekend (her choice) but if she is free, she usually finds that her friends can't hang around the village/go into town as they've got to spend time with family/visit Gran.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that (before anyone fumes) but when I was that age we hung around with friends most weekends, we weren't force to have family time.

I also went swimming a lot, forgot to mention that.

Had I been a teenager before the war I probably would have spent all my time working and/or looking after younger siblings.

Oh OP i was sure you asked if we could cope long without telly and iPads and Netflix and access to unlimited books/music via Amazon?

Must have mis-read.