Is time meaningless?

Or rather, is mankind's tracking of time meaningless?

I've been rolling this question around in my head for most of the last decade. My take on it, a bit narrow-minded one, I'll admit: (I'm not disputing the importance of time itself, but humanity's obsession with it. My arguments is mostly limited to the celebration of birthdays, memorials etc.)

I'm born on February 4th, but why would I really celebrate that day? The date itself doesn't really seem relevant the next year, nothing happened then. I wasn't born the year after, so why celebrate it? The same can be said for most holidays too, what's the point? At this point in history, most holidays are really family gatherings, plus a little religious boost, but does it really concern you what triggered the holiday even and does it really matter that it happened that day? I'm not saying we should dismiss it, but as long as we remember it, why do we care if it's on that exact day?

The flaw in argument is clear, even to me. Most humans keep time so that we know how much we have to spare, time we spend with our families. We then use calendars and holidays to make sure as many family members are reunited as possible, which I'll admit is the strength of it all, but for some reason the premise seems a little fake to me. I'd rather have a gathering on a completely random day, when no one felt obliged to come for other reasons...

Anyone else feel the same way? I know my argument is flawed, but I'm sticking by it.

Well time is actually a real thing, it's not just a human construction.  That was really Einstein's genius, in figuring out that time isn't constant, but variable.  Time is actually dimension of the universe.  We live in three dimensions of space, and one of time.

I do agree with the celebrating certain days deal, but it's just a convenient marker to recognize something important.  I never really understood birthdays, but celebrating a relationship anniversary is just a recognition of how special that day was.

Also "I know my argument is flawed, but I'm sticking by it."  I don't believe that's exactly what you meant, but if so then that's an awful sentiment to have.  If you present an argument which is shown to be fallacious, you must either alter your argument or leave it behind.  Perhaps "My argument is probably flawed, but I'm sticking to it until I'm shown the flaw."

It's time to die.

By that same logic you can say the world stock market is  meaningless its all a bunch of numbers that we as human beings give meaning to .

Hell just go entire nihilism and say life itself is meaningless except for what we give to it.

Well time is real. I think that time does matter, becuase if we did not have time then we would have no sense of direction so to say. We need time to guide us in our lives.

Time would only be meaningless if there were too much of it.

Also, on topic. You could argue that pretty much everything is meaningless, you're going to die anyway and in a few billion years when the earth gets destroyed by whatever event that might happen there will be no way to prove that there were once beings known as humans and thus our whole existance is pretty much meaningless.

Oh, if most of you actually read what I wrote...

No, time itself isn't meaningless, as I stated twice just to clearify. Time is not a human construction. If I wasn't very coherent, I was pretty tired and hadn't slept in a while(plus I have a fever), but I'll try to amend it now.

I have nothing against time itself, it's a universal fact. This is not a nihilistic view, I'm not arguing that everything is meaningless. I'm not arguing that important events are meaningless. I'm not even arguing that the numbers on wall street are spewing out every day as they are quite important to the status quo, or imminent future.

My argument is solely focused on how humans are bound to cycle of meaningless celebration. Time moves in a line, yet we celebrate it as if it was cyclical. Each year, we celebrate the same tired events, based on something that happened years ago, even centuries, as if that event holds any particular significance to you or your family. It didn't happen that day, the event just coincided with the calendar date.

As I said, the only real flaw in the argument is that families have a common time when they all can get off from work/school and spend time together, but a flaw doesn't necessarily make for a bad discussion and I've acknowledged the flaw.

Time is measured by the ocurrence of events, so yes, as entropy continues to set into the objects and organisms around us, we realize "there's no going back", but annae are not arbitrary. On February 4, every year, the earth is more or less in the same place in the solar system that it was the previous year (give or take a few thousand kilometres), so when you're celebrating your birthday, you're not so much celebrating a point in time to which you'll never return, you're celebrating a place in the universe: where the planet was in its rotation around our sun.

Having said all that, I realize no one else but me looks at anniversaries that way.

The point of celebrating certain times is for fun. We can't go out and have a party every single day, so we pick points in time, birthdays, christmas etc. to go and have a good knees-up. It makes more sense than just picking a random day.

Celebrations are a vital part of humanity. We need to let our hair down and have fun at some point. Having these celebrations at specific points in time just make sense, so people remember them. When these specific points are is down to the way out social interactions have formed since the very first humans evolved. It doesn't really matter when we have these things, but since we have a system that works, why change it?

Again, not against celebration. I think it's great that we celebrate things the first time around, but what's the point the second time? We learn history in school, why burden us with celebrating the past over and over when there's no connection? Why not celebrate new things?

It's time to kick ass and chew bubble-gum... and I'm all out of gum.

The funny thing about time is that, it exists, but the boundaries by which we determine it's volume are completely arbitrary. What is 1 P.M.? As usual with mankind, we have to know and control everything. We couldn't leave time, we have to make a list of attributes and restrictions and say "this is what you are". As for celebrations and birthdays, I think they are a needed part of civilization. It isn't so much a celebration of the date (the date means nothing, simply a word stamped upon that day by man) but a celebration of the event. 

What I find stupid is that some people become really offended if you don't give them presents in those dates. I mostly never remember those dates, and I end up knowing by somebody else. 

"We learn history in school, why burden us with celebrating the past over and over when there's no connection?"

People don't seem to remember their history. Celebrations are a great way of keeping it fresh, and postponing the inevitable of history repeating itself. Democracies follow cycles... and the closer we get to tyranny, the more we need celebrations to remind us of the days we fought for freedom instead of government provision.

Sounds like someone doesn't want to buy his mate a present...

The celebration of birthday, anniversaries, holidays, etc. has less to do with the actual passing of time than it does for human's inevitable need to feel "wanted." We all have certain needs, and some of those needs are emotional and, yes, material. We have an innate desire to be remembered and honored in some way or another. Its the same reason we have funerals. Its part of the mourning process to sit back and reflect on the time that we had with someone.

Everything we do that doesn't constitute eating, sleeping or making waste is a momentary distraction from the inevitability of our own passing into oblivion/the great beyond/the great taco stand in the sky. But sometimes, we need particular times set aside for special distractions and remembrances. It reminds us that we're human and yes, facilitates those needs of companionship and love. By celebrating these fellowships we have together, we are able to strengthen those bonds and make the ongoing finiteness of our existence that much more bearable.

What is your definition of celebrate?

Mine is a gathering to enjoy a thing, and then to give that thing something of value. If you bought an iPhone with money, you celebrated Apple's ability to produce it, whether you think you did or not.

Also, considering how much unhappiness there is in the world, I would argue that any celebration (that doesn't involve the death or harm of someone) has meaning, and is not at all pointless.