Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher famously said, “Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.”
Traditionally, boredom gets a bad reputation because many people believe that this state equates with lack of productivity or focus on a given task. According to the scientific literature, boredom is not a rare phenomenon. For instance, one research showed that up to 90 per cent of students can feel bored once a day. Another study reported that 63 per cent of adults can experience boredom at least once over a period of 10 days. This is the time.
First, there is very little hope for falling in love with a habit that you truly hate. When we want to know the story of successful people we always miss this important key ingredient of the story. How, exactly, do top performers fall in love with boredom? To put in their reps and do the work.
However, some research has indicated that it is good to be bored because this state can give magical gains. The researchers found that participants who had reported being more prone to boredom on a daily basis displayed more activity in the right frontal brain area during the repetitive task, as they became increasingly bored.
Psychologist Sandi Mann states, “Boredom is a search for neural stimulation that isn’t satisfied, if there is no opportunity to get that stimulation then the mind must go within. We need to learn ways to manage boredom and stimulate our brains.”
But, why do we feel bored?
1. Monotony: Repeating the same tasks again and again can lead to monotonous work and lack of interest.
2. Social Isolation: Being alone for an extended period of time without meaningful conversations can lead to boredom and loneliness.
3. Unfulfilled Expectations: If we have high expectations and that doesn’t get fulfilled we get bored and start losing interest.
4. Environmental factors: The physical environment can contribute to boredom. Being in a dull or uninspiring location can make time pass slowly.
Boredom can also be a severe signal that it's time for personal growth and exploration.
Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher, said that perhaps, the world’s second worst crime is boredom. The first is being a bore.
In the world of instant gratification we have stopped learning how to embrace boredom. Just because our life spans are short we make it go faster by scrolling our phones.
In today’s time, boredom means checking Instagram for the 100th time on the same day or glued with video games, this is because we all are “NOMOPHOBICS” this is a term for ‘no-mobile-phone phobia’ which is used to describe a psychological condition when people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity.
There are several reasons why the youth today dislikes being bored. It includes FOMO (Fear of missing out) on social events, updates, etc and addiction due to the attractive features like notifications. When we feel bored, time usually passes slowly and we have a hard time staying focused.
But being bored is actually beneficial and these are the surprising advantages.
Creativity: Boredom can stimulate our imagination and lead to creative thinking. Most of our creative ideas occur while we are getting bored as our mind keeps stimulating.
Productivity: Boredom can motivate us to find productive activities to fill our time leading to increased efficiency.
Personal Growth: Boredom can lead to personal growth and self- discovery as we explore new hobbies and interests
Improved Focus: it can improve our ability to concentrate on tasks once we engage in them after experiencing boredom.
Mindfulness: It promotes mindfulness, helping us to appreciate the present moment and become more aware of our surroundings.
How to encourage boredom?
To encourage boredom we simply need to unplug from our devices or put them out of reach, limit entertainment ,wait patiently so that boredom naturally arises and most importantly avoid distractions.
The ultimate goal is not to be bored all the time but to find a balance between constant stimulation and moments of boredom which can foster creativity and introspection.
Just as Leo Tolstoy said ‘ Boredom is the desire for desires’.
“I’m bored” is a useless thing to say. We live in a great, big, vast world that we’ve not seen. Even the inside of our own mind is endless, it goes on forever, inwardly. The fact that we are alive is amazing, so we don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.”
Balancing moments of boredom with engaging activities and self-reflection is the key to harnessing its benefits while avoiding its downsides.
