Morphine Prince 109,677 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Next semester, students at the University of Pennsylvania will have the option to enroll in a course that requires them to do what young people do best: waste hours and hours online. Per the description of the Ivy League English course, officially titled “Wasting time on the Internet,†students will be asked to find meaning in the time they spend alone with a computer: “Using our laptops and a wifi connection as our only materials, this class will focus on the alchemical recuperation of aimless surfing into substantial works of literature,†it reads. “Students will be required to stare at the screen for three hours, only interacting through chat rooms, bots, social media and listservs … Distraction, multi-tasking, and aimless drifting is mandatory.†The course is headed by none other than Kenneth Goldsmith, a poet and professor whose previous projects include printing out all of the scholarly database JSTOR and also attempting to print the entire Internet. (He’s no friend of trees.) “I’m very tired of reading articles in The New York Times every week that make us feel bad about spending so much time on the Internet, about dividing our attention so many times,†Goldsmith told Motherboard’s Jason Koebler, who first spotted the course offering.In practice, the course will play out a little like this: Students will spend a lot of time chatting with friends, watching YouTube videos, surfing Facebook, exploring Reddit, and, who are we kidding, skimming UPenn-specific BuzzFeed lists. Eventually, however, they’ll have to take the detritus from that time wasted  tweets, posts, photos, browser history, a painkiller prescription for their carpal tunnel  and turn it into “substantial works of literature.†(Using Net surfing as a medium is actually a burgeoning field for some digital artists. My colleague Rob Walker has written about adaptations of classic dramas into iMessage, for example, as well as several artistic reinterpretations of different Google services.) Parents picking up their kin’s $40,000-a-year tuition tabs shouldn’t worry: There will also be some reading. Specifically, pieces from authors famous for their meditations on “boredom and time-wasting.†Notables include John Cage, Betty Friedan, and Guy Debord. So take note in case you want to audit the class from home. From behind your laptop. With Netflix blaring in the background. It’s all part of the curriculum. Source: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/ivy-league-university-to-offer-class-on-wasting-time-101180918224.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
paganpoetry 155 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 BJORK MELANIE HALSEY BEYONCE NICKI GAGA KERLI IIRIS IMOGEN TROYE SHINEE EXO F(X) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spyro 8,438 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 So watching Lady Gaga videos for three hours would be considered "substantial works of literature"? Sign me up! Spyro the Dragon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellspont 1,468 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 omg yes I want this at my college Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woolfsmck 2,763 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I know I can get a good grade in that class. like a cat in a sil, I observe life, moving and still. My words give a clue,look inside to see whats true Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
angelduuh 562 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Finally something I could be good at Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOriginalOne 11,603 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Another class that won't get me a job after university Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman 4,660 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Another class that won't get me a job after university mte Let me pray for whoever actually pays for this class It's science, bitch Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haroon 49,685 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I've got a PhD in that subject Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morphine Prince 109,677 Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 mte Let me pray for whoever actually pays for this class It's at an Ivy League school too so you know that **** will be expensive as hell Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Pinkman 4,660 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 It's at an Ivy League school too so you know that **** will be expensive as hell Ikr They might as well just donate to the school because that's practically what you're gonna do if you sign up for this class. :smh: It's science, bitch Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pink sushi 4,351 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Another class that won't get me a job after university Well every student has to take tons of pointless general education classes in order to get ANY degree. I'd gladly take this if it was offered as a gen ed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByeBye49 161 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 I NEED THIS. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disregard 50 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Nnnn I hope there's a chapter on stan wars. Finally ATRL users can bring home an A on their report cards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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