Human beings, were we born to be bored?
While distinguishing our work and personal spaces became the new life paradox in 2020, so did defining our relationship with free time, and the magnitude of things to do (and not to do) with it. We work all week/year long for the “freedom” at the end of the to-do list, but then why does it cause more confusion than fulfillment?
There’s a code to boredom that has been lost over the past few years; and it’s that boredom shouldn’t be fought off, but embraced.
Boredom Today
Okay, let’s backtrack for a moment. The truth is, the last time we experienced true “boredom” was most probably as children. The most creative and imaginative ideas come to life during childhood, when there’s (legitimately) nothing to do — majority of hobbies therefore stem from younger curiosity. What’s different now is our modern lifestyles pose a barrier of distraction before true boredom, causing a constant restlessness to do something, but an unwillingness to find out what.
“Quasi-boredom” is what I call the twenty first century’s battle between free energy and restless activity. In that, within today’s lifestyles, it’s rare you’ll ever be left blankly staring at the walls in your room — but instead semi-occupied by some electronic device nearby. Digital devices and media serve to fill all the previously “empty” gaps in our days now; from catching up on texts during our commute to work, to scrolling through news when in line at a store. Dr. Gloria Mark, who conducted a distracted behavior study over the past decade, mentions that: “a decade ago, we shifted our attention at work every three minutes… now we do it every 45 seconds, and all day long.” (Mark et. al, 2008) Meaning, if we’re constantly distracted, when do we truly get bored?
Boredom vs. Relaxation
Now before diving deeper, let’s first distinguish the important difference between boredom and relaxation. Taking a break and giving yourself the space to unwind is understood to be an essential part to overall well-being; when you relax is when you sit back and watch the movies, TV shows, and catch up on rest put off otherwise. But boredom is the time and energy that comes after you’ve recharged, when you’re ready to put that energy towards something but might not know what yet.
The fine line here is balancing consumption and creation — because as important as consuming new ideas is, the longer you go without exercising your creative muscle, the longer it takes to bring it to life again.
Cracking the Code to Boredom
So, to crack the code to boredom, you have to embrace it. That means, not trying to frantically fill gaps of time with restless activities on your phone or with external stimulation, but letting your mind create. That might mean actually staring at that wall, or doing idle activities like going on a walks or writing the thoughts on paper — whatever it is until the curiosity, excitement, childlike energy is unlocked again. Neuroscientist Marcus E. Raichle, in his study of the human brain shares that, “when your brain gets bored, you ignite a network called “default mode,”” meaning that when you “space out” your brain is actually becoming more active.” (Raichle, 2001)
What can you do when you’re bored? Question what makes you genuinely curious and then consume content based on that. Or create something (maybe do it with a friend), practice an old skill, or share a real life conversation to get inspired. The best ideas are born out of boredom, and to dismiss its importance is to put a barrier to your creativity. This isn’t to say completely cut off your phone and TV and electronics, but that properly embracing boredom simply means being able to distinguish what’s distracting you from what excites you, balancing consumption with creation, and allowing the latter to become more present in some way everyday.
So find what gets you excited and let boredom fuel your willingness to go after it; you won’t be sitting still for long.
Sources
Gloria Mark et al., “The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress”, 2008 Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Marcus E. Raichle, et al., “A default mode of brain function”, PNAS, 2001
Zomorodi, M. (2017, April). How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/manoush_zomorodi_how_boredom_can_lead_to_your_most_brilliant_ideas