My mom was on unemployment for at least two years. She spent the time sulking in her house, drinking, and watching sitcom re-runs on television. When the last unemployment check ran out, she cried, then I helped her move some of her things into her mother's (my grandmother) house. Now that the worst is over, she's being far more productive. She's eating healthier, sleeping better, drinking less, going back to school to get a certificate in medical coding and billing, and is working part-time in order to pay off her car payments and insurance premiums.
What's the lesson here? I don't know. Figure it out for yourself. I just know that in those two depressing years, unemployment checks merely stalled the inevitable. In my opinion, those two years were a complete waste. My mom is now 51 years old, with ZERO pension money and ZERO savings. She could have applied to school two years earlier and moved out two years earlier, and she would have been a lot better off.