Immersion

One of the biggest challenges for teenagers and young adults (which is not recognized as a challenge “in the trenches”, of course) is how to productively utilize UNSCHEDULED TIME. 

Point of Reference

We start with the foundational premise here

that there is no such thing as “FREE TIME”.

What kind of time are we talking about? 

If you figure students spend 8 hours a day coming and going from school, 1 hour of homework, 2 hours in extracurricular activity, 1.5 hours eating and 8 hours sleeping, that leaves roughly 3 hours of otherwise unscheduled time in a day.  Throw in a “study hall” and take away the extracurricular activity and you have roughly 6 hours of unscheduled time available.  Skip the homework (Oh, Yeah …) and you have 7 hours!  [I volunteered in two programs with fifth graders this past year and watched it happen with frightening regularity.]

How do they use this time?  They’re not really all that different from the “average” American:

Census Bureau Report 2006 /\ NBC Nightly News 12/15/2006

Americans spend 65 days a year watching television

Americans spend the equivalent of 5 months a year in a combination of frivolous activities which include:

            Surfing the Net::Watching TV::Listening to MP3 Files

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell reported a plethora of studies suggesting that TOP DOG producers and performers log approximately 10,000 hours of fairly intense immersion in their respective disciplines and trades before becoming widely recognized in their field. 

Figuring 6 hr./day X 7 days or 42 hr./week (relevant school work and extracurricular activity would count), it would take roughly 240 weeks, or close to five years of concentrated immersion to reach 10,000 hours – i.e., if one put every “reasonable” unscheduled moment to work. 

A Ph.D. degree requires approximately 12,000 hours of immersion beyond college (roughly 6,000 hours), generally over the course of 4-5 years. 

After spending five years equivalently immersed in social media and video games during the bulk of the unscheduled time of their formative years, a young adult may become widely … or not-so-widely … recognized in areas that have little or no currency in the marketplace at large. Untargeted/Unbridled (or “differently immersed”) “Time-Minding” is a high liability engagement.

Proactive assistance in immersive “Time-Minding” is available in many areas.  

Fayette County Public Schools in Kentucky have developed a number of “Immersion” programs to help straddle both gaps.  A Spanish Immersion program has recently been added.  But there are longstanding “Magnet School” programs, as well, such as Lexington Traditional Magnet School, Elementary Accelerated Program, Middle School Accelerated Program, School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Liberal Arts Academy, and Math, Science & Technology.  In addition, there are programs in Individually Prescribed Education, the Academy of Information Technology, StationArts, Pre-Engineering, International Baccalaureate Diploma, JROTC, Carter G. Woodson Academy and STEAM Academy.

Finding your IMMERSION MEDIUM is a critical exploration.  Understanding what “makes you tick” is a great starting point. 

It could be a job … a “profession” … a career

It could be a hobby

It needs to be something engaging

It needs to be something “participative”

It needs to be something CHALLENGING

It needs to both require and support PERSONAL GROWTH

It needs to be ENERGIZING

If music is your immersion medium, don’t just collect other peoples’ music, make your own!

An interest in rocks can lead to a career or hobby in geology.

An interest in building stuff can lead to a career or hobby in architecture or engineering.

Immersion in great literature or great art can provide life-long exploration and engagement.

Write … draw … paint

An interest in history can uncover secrets of great civilizations and creative inventions, as well as lessons in what doesn’t contribute to the betterment of mankind. 

Immersion in science, and discovering new insights on what makes the world go around, how things work and how things can work better, is exhilarating! 

More than two-thirds of the earth is water.  Learn to swim, sail a boat …

Earth is but a grain of sand in the universe.  Immerse yourself in space / astronomy. 

There is SO MUCH to explore!

And there you are watching videos of cats,

and Facebooking photos of what you had for lunch!

A half-vast engagement in life breeds boredom, disappointment, sullenness, depression and regret – and a whole lot of other unpleasantries.  And vicarious living through superheroes is an empty kettle.  Use your precious unscheduled time to turn the kaleidoscope of the universe and touch all the possibilities of Great Wonderment.  Then follow YOUR path – totally IMMERSED – with everything that’s IN you!  Quartermaster

“Throw your heart over the fence and the rest of you will follow.”

Norman Vincent Peale