When I was a child, I quickly learned never to say within earshot of my parents that I was bored. It was quickly met with a response along the lines of “an intelligent mind is never bored” or more worryingly “if you’ve got nothing to do, I’ll find you something” which meant a chore or Herculean task. Being a child of the seventies and due to my parents fundamentalist approach to declarations of boredom, I quickly discovered numerous ways to occupy myself. The default solution was a book or comic. I always liked reading as a child and had plenty of books to choose from. I also had numerous of comics as an alternative to a hefty tome. I would also draw and paint. My father use to work during the summer holidays as a design draftsman and as a result, we always had plenty of paper in our house. Then of course there were toys and such like. Hence I learned the art of keeping myself busy. Throughout my life I cannot remember any lengthy period in which I was bored. As a teenager I had a great circle of friends and we were always out and about. As an adult full-time employment, marriage and a child meant boredom was a luxury. In more recent years I have always used my leisure time to pursue some sort of creative endeavour or learn a new skill. Although I like to loaf, lost in idle thoughts, I don’t do such things excessively. I think I rather resent too much wasted time. Especially at the age I’m at now. I am more aware that time is a finite commodity. Hence, I don’t suffer from boredom that often. I do from time to time get a bit weary with some of life’s routines. However, when I become aware of monotony or crave something new to do, I will address the situation. Boredom is an interesting concept. While researching this post I saw it described as “the unpleasant, aversive state of desiring but being unable to engage in a satisfying activity. It is characterized by a mismatch between the mental engagement we desire and the stimulation we are actually experiencing”. This can certainly happen when our tasks are too repetitive, too easy, or not meaningful enough. It leaves us feeling restless, apathetic, or unfulfilled (or if you’re a child, whiny). The experience of boredom varies in intensity and duration. Usually it manifests itself as a temporary feeling in a specific situation, like being stuck in traffic or waiting to be seen at the Doctors Surgery. Boredom is also very subjective and varies in intensity between individuals. Some people actually have a personality trait indicating a susceptibility to boredom. It can be associated with attention problems, anxiety, and depression. Boredom is not simply a lack of things to do but an internal sign that something is wrong with our current engagement. According to psychologists, boredom is a problem of attention, where we are unable to direct our focus to a satisfying activity. Our mind is numbed by a monotonous task or overwhelmed by a distracting environment. A core component of boredom is the failure to find meaning or fulfillment in one's current situation or activities. Some people, are more prone to boredom because they have a higher-than-average need for excitement. According to the “Goldilocks framework” (sadly no bears or porridge is involved) boredom occurs when the challenge of a task is mismatched with our skills. Furthermore, feeling stuck in a situation where you have no control over your activities is another trigger for boredom, which is why it is common in childhood and adolescence. Is boredom a lack of intelligence, as my parents so often claimed? No, studies show otherwise. Boredom is a complex emotion caused by a mismatch between our mental stimulation and our immediate environment. While people with higher intelligence may need more stimulation and become bored if left unchallenged, anyone can experience boredom. It’s often a sign of under-stimulation, over-stimulation, or a deeper need for meaning and fulfillment. However, people of all intellects can find ways to alleviate boredom. Physical activity is one method. Go for a walk or exercise for example. Another is to undertake chores around the home or office. Tidy, clean, cook, do some research, sort out some admin. All can break the monotony. Then there’s mental engagement. Read, listen to music, watch TV or play a game. Some people even advocate using a period of boredom to meditate or reflect upon something you need to address. Potentially boredom can be channeled into well being. The opposite of boredom is continuous engagement and stimulation. You can probably guess where I’m going with this. Yes, modern culture and social media actually make boredom worse. Paradoxically, having unlimited entertainment at our fingertips has caused self-reported boredom levels to rise significantly over the last 15 years. Hence younger generations have been born into a world where they’re conditioned to crave stimulation continuously, thus leading to more frequent lows when boredom kicks in. The traditional antidotes I mentioned previously are declining among the same generation, so they have a harder time addressing boredom. There is clearly a problem here but breaking an addiction to social media and other aspects of modernity is far from easy. Boredom is a natural part of existence because day-to-day life itself is not a never ending cavalcade of fun and larks. Our daily experience involves a lot of repetitive tasks. In fact I would go so far as to define one’s life as predominantly mundane with occasional moments of joy and pleasure, as well as sadness, fear and unpleasantness. The contrast is needed to make the good parts special. Boredom is therefore a requirement, as one cannot know excitement without boredom to compare it with. However, I recognise that my musings on this particular subject may be very much at odds with other peoples. Some people greatly fear boredom, especially the neurodiverse. Boredom is something that has to be countered the moment there’s a possibility of it occurring. In such circumstance, I can see why boredom is such an unwelcome guest. Permalink