The Idler was founded in 1993 by its editor, Tom Hodgkinson, when he was 25 years old. The publication's goal is to elevate the art of idle, to make it something to strive for rather than something to despise.
On the practice of idling, Tom Hodgkinson wrote:
"A characteristic of the idler's work is that it looks suspiciously like play. This, again, makes the non-idler feel uncomfortable. Victims of the Protestant work ethic would like all work to be unpleasant. They feel that work is a curse, that we must suffer on this earth to earn our place in the next. The idler, on the other hand, sees no reason not to use his brain to organise a life for himself where his play is his work, and so attempt to create his own little paradise in the here and now."
