Seasons

In the natural world things ebb and flow. There might be the grip of ice preceding the warming of the earth, childhood turning to adulthood, a period of growth that ends in ripening and harvest. In modern life humans try to make everything as much the same as possible; the widget factory opens at 7 am and lets its workforce out at 4 pm every day. We have lights so we can stay up even if it is dark early or stays dark late, and our food includes things that ripened elsewhere. We ignore the need for the rise and fall of cycles, and it doesn't do us any good. We make things boring because we make them accessible at all times. Sometimes a fallow period is needed; to rest is wise.

It might be a freshener for online programs to have a season. What if a virtual world tapered up in September, reached a peak of 24/7 openness, then tapered down in May, being unavailable from June through August? Would we not eagerly anticipate logging in on the opening day in September? Would we not be happy to rest our desire for that virtual world for three months, secure that it would return in its time?

Why does everything have to be a forced-march 24/7 from birth to the grave?

It hurts that we humans make things 24/7 and expect them not to be boring after a while. An unrelieved diet of ANYTHING is boring. We need to reintroduce the idea of seasons. It hurts that things that are good and useful and unique are abandoned because they can't sustain 24/7 nonseasonal use. We say, "Things have a lifespan" but that's only true because we push them to work unrelievedly. Rather we should say,"This has a season."