leisure
Original: leisure on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Woman with dark hair: Do you think in the future we'll have more leisure time?
Man with reddish hair: No.
Panel 2:
Man: Look at parenting. Modern conveniences made housekeeping much easier. Did we use that time for philosophy, self-cultivation, and tranquility? No, we tripled the time spent "enriching" our kids with shit neither we nor the kids want to do.
Panel 3:
Man: Why? So we can force all other parents into a zero-sum bidding war for social supremacy.
Panel 4:
Man: Stands to reason that if technology makes housekeeping, kids, work, and everything else easy, we'll just find some other way to compete for status.
Panel 5:
Woman: God, that's bleak.
Panel 6:
Woman: Hey! Are you recording this?
Man (holding up a phone): ...And please like and subscribe so my like and subscribe numbers are bigger numbers.
Votey:
A man with messy hair and wide eyes: Thanks to modern conveniences, I can spend most of my non-work time working on my personal brand!
Woman with dark hair: Do you think in the future we'll have more leisure time?
Man with reddish hair: No.
Panel 2:
Man: Look at parenting. Modern conveniences made housekeeping much easier. Did we use that time for philosophy, self-cultivation, and tranquility? No, we tripled the time spent "enriching" our kids with shit neither we nor the kids want to do.
Panel 3:
Man: Why? So we can force all other parents into a zero-sum bidding war for social supremacy.
Panel 4:
Man: Stands to reason that if technology makes housekeeping, kids, work, and everything else easy, we'll just find some other way to compete for status.
Panel 5:
Woman: God, that's bleak.
Panel 6:
Woman: Hey! Are you recording this?
Man (holding up a phone): ...And please like and subscribe so my like and subscribe numbers are bigger numbers.
Votey:
A man with messy hair and wide eyes: Thanks to modern conveniences, I can spend most of my non-work time working on my personal brand!
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic. A woman with dark hair and a man with reddish hair walk together among trees. She asks if the future will bring more leisure time; he flatly says "No." He explains that modern conveniences made housekeeping easier, but instead of using the freed time for philosophy or tranquility, people tripled the time spent "enriching" kids with activities nobody enjoys, in order to force all other parents into a zero-sum bidding war for social supremacy. He concludes that whenever technology makes life easier, people just find some new way to compete for status. The woman says, "God, that's bleak." She then notices the man is holding up a phone and asks, "Hey! Are you recording this?" He continues smoothly into the camera: "...And please like and subscribe so my like and subscribe numbers are bigger numbers." Votey: a wild-eyed man grins and declares, "Thanks to modern conveniences, I can spend most of my non-work time working on my personal brand!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.