In defence of useless things.

We’ve developed an odd habit of asking everything to justify its existence.

Will it improve productivity? Will it make money? Does it teach a marketable skill? Can it be turned into a subscription?

Sometimes I just want to know an obscure fact about a frog.

That ought to be enough.

Curiosity doesn’t need a business plan.

People explore because they’re curious. We read about forgotten machines, peculiar animals, the history of unlikely inventions and ideas that might never be useful on a CV.

And in the process we learn, laugh, remember and occasionally stumble into something valuable.

Even when we don’t, the enjoyment still counts.

The secret strength of being useless

A world with nothing but practical information would be terribly dull. There would be no room for odd museums, pointless trivia, peculiar hobbies or friends having long conversations about things nobody can prove.

These experiences make life feel bigger than the daily list of things we have to get done.

That’s why the ReallyByte motto fits so well here: Fun. Educational. Useless.

None of those words cancels out the others.

The thought to take away

Something doesn’t have to be useful to be worth having.

Which is fortunate, because I have a great many ideas that would otherwise be in serious trouble.