There are 8,760 hours in a year. Now that I’m looking back, what am I doing with my life?

I don’t consider myself a big resolutions person. Where most people look forward to the person they plan (and statistically fail) to become, around this time of year I tend to look back. But a year is a long time to reflect on! If only there was a way for me to know what I did with my life this past year. Luckily, companies like to track every single iota of data on me. So I can finally quantify how much of my life I wasted this year!

Right off the bat, I can tell you over a little of a quarter of my 8,760 hours was spent at work. Yes reader, I’m fully aware I wrote “at work” and not “working”. I know the truth as much as you do. But alas, 2,330 hours just gone in the name of capitalism! I could have used my watch to see how many hours I slept, but I tend to enjoy the sleep I get instead of breaking it down by numbers. Let’s assume, roughly, another quarter of my year. What did I do with the rest of it?

Before I break it down, I know how time works reader. Things can happen in parallel. Still doesn’t justify these hours wasted.

My Ear’s Data

Days of my life…DAYS! Just listening to stuff. Here’s a screenshot of my Apple Music Replay:

Apple Replay

That’s 581 hours of music. I can’t even name 1,206 musicians! How did I spend 24 days listening to music? What’s more sickening is, apparently, I listened to 6,896 minutes (114 hours!?!) of just Bad Bunny. I mean, I like his music but damn! I didn’t even crack top 500 listeners for him. People listen to him more than me! I know that’s a measurable stat cause I’m a top 500 listener of Jessica Audiffred. I’m actually a top 100 listener of Hostage Situation! Almost 5 days listening to Bad Bunny's voice…wow!

If you know me, I’m actually not one known for my music taste. There is a recurring joke with some of my friends whenever I drop a random fact about something: “He heard it on a podcast.” Apologies on being a curious mind! I don’t even listen to that many podcasts! Surely, data would back me up:

Overcast Stats

EIGHT HUNDRED AND ONE HOURS!!! I went to Japan and Germany this year. I’ve listened to the more hours of sports podcast than I spent in either of those countries! 188 hours (almost 8 days) of sports podcasts. I don’t track how much sports I watch, but I probably listened to more about sports than I watched. Like my music taste, I don’t anything about sports! The teams I root for tend to always lose.

Then it’s just technology and news. That’s what I spent the other 25 days listening to. Just random A.I. company shenanigans and American political nonsense. I will say, I’ve enjoyed Shell Game this year (only 3 hours, 13 minutes and 48 seconds) and Search Engine (20 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds).

Please don’t view me as some lazy piece of shit that just sits there and listens to things. I want you to know I spent 58 hours and 32 minutes running 305 miles this year. That’s just shy of the 63 hours I spent listening to the 404 Media Podcast. This can’t be right?

My Eye’s Data

If those numbers didn’t disgust you as much as they did me, these next ones will. I want to preface this next section with information about myself. I own a TV because it looks good while it’s turned off. When I watch TV it’s just to watch sports. Not as much as I listen about sports, but still. The last TV show I watched was Fallout. Not the season that is currently airing, the first one. The last movie I watched was Wicked. No, not the one that just recently came out, the first one.

I tend to feel very unproductive around this time of year. Hustle culture is strong on the internet and knowing that I am indeed NOT hustling, makes me feel like I’m not maximizing my time. Nothing goes against hustle culture bro more than just sitting down and reading a book. I’ve never attempted an audiobook, so there’s no multitasking for me here.

Without the assistance of a company tracking my reading habits, I don’t know how many physical books I read this year. I know I’m currently reading one, but I know I’m a huge ebook reader. They take up less space and I can take them with me anywhere I want. I’ve read 25 ebooks this year. Not an impressive number in itself, essentially 2 a month, but it was significantly higher than the amount I read last year (16).

I read the entire Silo series (33 hours on all 3 books), fell in love with the Murderbot Diaries (6 books, 21 hours), got lost in the world of Birdbox (2 books, 10 hours), and was entertained enough by Mikey7’s adventures (2 books 9.5 hours). In total (at least in library loans) I’ve spent roughly 116 hours reading books. That’s a lot of hours with my nose in a book. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?) those numbers aren’t going to drop. I’m an hour into my current library loan (yes, I read two books simultaneously. Hustle reading.) and I foresee myself continuing the physical book series I’m reading. The Red Rising Saga is also on the queue for next year.

I don’t even track the articles I read. Hell, I’ve shared (with you!) 192 articles as things that I read. That’s nothing compared to the ACTUAL amount of things I read. I don’t even count proofreading my own posts or the time spent drafting, writing, and editing these silly things (19 posts, 20 if you are reading this one).

Those are nothing, NOTHING, like what truly drained my hours in 2025. The largest contributor to my lack of success this year was Steam:

Steam Replay

Steam was kind enough to not include actual time, but it’s easy enough to figure out. Especially since I played a whooping 45 new games this year. I also want to point out, these numbers don’t include games I didn’t play through Steam. That includes the hours I’ve thrown into Valorant (and I’m still in Bronze lobbies), my crossword and sudoku phase (I’ll get the top score in Puzzmo one day), or the shameful hours I’ve thrown away playing Balatro (I had to uninstall just so I could read more).

I’m going to spare you, but really spare myself from your judgment reader, and just highlight 10 games I enjoyed this year. Logically, it’s in the order of hours spent.

• Doom The Dark Ages (12.8 hours)

  

  It's Doom, the story made no sense to me so I skipped it, but give me a shield and let me parry the shit out of everything, what more do I need. Not all those hours were spent enjoyed, the flying and mech driving parts of the game do a decent job at switching up the pace of the game, but unfortunately that pace is slower than the fun of killing demons in wherever the hell I'm killing them.

• Tactical Breach Wizards (14.8 hours)

  

  Unique characters in a unique world combined with great writing. Plus it's a turn based tactics game that makes think actions through. I really spent 14 hours on this game? Clearly I'm not that good at these types of games. The story playing out made it worth the challenge though.

• Another Crab's Treasure (15.2 hours)

  

  I'm a fan of difficult games. The souls like genre is dominated by its creators with games like Dark Souls 3, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring, but that doesn't mean a fresh take can't impress. A humorous tale about a crab that wants to get its shell back with a deeper story about recycling. Add the hard bosses and the silly weapons, I'm all in.

• Lorelei and The Laser Eyes (17.8 hours)

  

  I'm lacking anything useful in this brain of mine, but I can usually grasp a puzzle well enough. This is the first game in a very long time, I'm talking since I was a child, that I had to keep pen and paper next to me to take notes. It was intense. I admit I had to look up the last puzzle cause it was so insane and my brain already hurt. It's single player game but play with friends.

• Nine Sols (21.7 hours)

  

  Yet another game with a satisfying parry. A Metroidvania where exploring is the goal. But the combat! That's what I came for! Challenging fights similar to a souls like but with buttery smooth combat in a 2D setting. Give me more please!

• RoboQuest (22.5 hours)

  

  A rogue like shooter that's feels good as you get stronger and stronger. I successfully beat the game once, but there was so much I haven't unlocked. Game was good fun! It has multiplayer but that would require me to have friends (you've seen all the time I wasted this year, imagine if I had friends to waste even more time with!)

• Guilty Gear Strive (23.1 hours)

  

  2025 was the year I tried to get back into fighting games. It didn't really work out. If you think 23 hours into this game is any sign, you're wrong. This was just a drop in the water if I wanted to actual understand this game. Let alone get good at it! At least the art style is beautiful while I was getting my ass kicked.

• Returnal (28 hours)

  

  I previously played this game but actually got into it this year. It helps that I finally beat it as well. Mind you, the bad ending. There's a secret good ending as well. Another rogue like shooter but this one had a beautifully told story to go along with. I was actually blown away with the writing of this game. Stories like this can't be told in any other art form.

• Arc Raiders (30.3 hours)

  

  That line about not having friends…not exactly true. I've spent hours in the name of bettering Speranza. But I did none of it alone. The Arcs and fellow raiders got these bullets from me in the name of better loot. Good times spent on the surface with many more to go. Crazy I spent that many hours on the game and it just came out at the end of October.

• Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (67.2 hours)

  

  A friend of mine bought this game for me (while on sale) 3 whole years ago. I've played none of the prior games, tried to read one of the books but just couldn't get into it. Well, this year I can say I got into it. Will I watch the Netflix show? No. Have you watched the random Netflix movie that came out? Also no. But I can say I enjoyed my time with this game. Now I guess I have to play part 4 when it comes out.

To think that the Witcher 3 was my SECOND most played game on Steam. That means I spent a disgusting amount of time playing The Finals. After breaking down these numbers, I seriously need to get my life together. I actually still have a backlog of games I haven’t gotten to yet (218 hours worth, according to this site). I’m sure glad during my time of self reflection, a time of self doubt, these companies shared my data with me in fun way.

It makes me wonder how much this data is worth to the other people they share it with.

things i read

Inside the case that reshaped foster parents’ rights in CT | Ginny Monk for ctmirror.org

A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up With Nothing but a Zip Code | Andy Greenberg for www.wired.com

Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the Water | David Ferry for www.wired.com

Inside the Dark and Predatory World of Crypto Casinos | Neil Bedi, Aric Toler and Jenny Vrentas for www.nytimes.com

Tech Disrupted Friendship. It’s Time to Bring It Back | Angela Watercutter for www.wired.com

Want to share your time stats from this year? I want to see them. Send them to me at blog@lattepunk.com.