Two days ago, this was the exact question a friend posed to me. She was asking me what I usually did, because one of her guy friends had accused her of "not having a life." Her rationale was that guys always had activities lined up, hence they were in a position to accuse her of not having a life.
So her question to me was, "What do you do in your free time?"
I told her I played the piano, surfed the net and shopped. Her next question was "Do you shop with people or alone?"
"I shop alone. Is it even possible to shop with people?"
"Is there anything you do that involves other people?"
Shit. What was the last thing that I met up with people for? Project meetings don't count.
She got me there. I actually had to think. I told her yes, but not often. Sometimes I watch movies, or meet others for meals.
After a short discussion, we came up with a plan. The apparent plan is for us no lifers to find some random hotspot in town, study there and put "Currently in town studying" or some other silly equivalent on our facebook and msn statuses to indicate that "we have a life".
The rationale is that if you can update your facebook and msn statuses with enough things, you have a life. Even if its stuff like "currently eating my sandwich." Or "Weili thinks that the coffee at Starbucks is great" like anyone needs to know you're at Starbucks or what you think of the coffee there.
The fact that informing people about your life or lack thereof is free and extremely easy on facebook/msn has made these platforms the main source of utterly useless information you would not tell someone in real life but feel absolutely liberated to do so online. Why so, I can only wonder.
It also helps if you're in town while you're doing such things. Apparently, being in town lends an aura of "I am a happening person" when all you are most likely doing is something totally unhappening like mugging.
Ironically, for all the fretting about not having a life, I don't think anyone can answer this question for me satisfactorily.
"What exactly then does having a life constitute?"