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the pressures of life, business, or
daiJy routine.
But we are not using our leisure
time
in
a manner that really in–
creases life's enjoyment in the long
run.
As
mechanization and modern
technology provide more leisure
time and less work time, we find
boredom and frustration significant–
ly increasing.
When people become bored with
life, lack goals, have nothing to live
or sacrifice for, and have no driving
purpose for living, they stagnate,
become restless and filled with en–
nui, and are easily irrítated or frus–
trated.
As more free time has become
available to youth, "thrill killings"
by juvenile gangs have skyrocketed.
Young people are seeking new
" kicks" to fill a void
in
their Lives.
They crave excitement and thrills
because there is nothing normally
thrilling about modero educalion,
or the ghetto, or their normal borne
routines.
Another aspect of the problem is
the increase in the number of
patients who seem to be all right
Monday through Friday while at
work, but who go to pieces on week–
ends. Dubbed "weekend neurosis"
by psychiatrists, this malady occurs
when people are turned loose on
weekends with free time on their
hands. They often feel guilty, jittery,
anxious, frustrated, and just plain
miserable.
Of course, many people truly do
enjoy their increased leisure activi–
ties. Not everybody is frustrated,
miserable, or dissatisfied. But mil–
lions are. One woman I talked to in
the Bahamas told me that since her
husband had died, she frequently
visited the casino on Paradíse Is–
land. To her, gamblíng was a way to
occupy the time and forget her lone–
liness.
Two men at the same casino, one
from Washington, D.C., and one
from the West Coast of the United
States, were well on their way to get–
ting roaring drunk. Apparently, the
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