boredom - is it bad?

[Skip]

That's a question I asked in the other thread about overcoming boredom, but have received no answer.

It's generally accepted that we don't like to be bored and should do something to relieve boredom: find an new interest, engage in an activity, socialize, connect with other people, look for an entertainment or distraction.

In the case of bored children, we seem to lean over backwards to make sure they're never bored. Even when they're taken out to a restaurant, which ought to be treat enough, they must be given crayons and place-mats to colour while waiting for their food.

Is it a good idea to keep children busy all the time? Might they not benefit from down-time?
Is it a good idea to keep ourselves busy all the all time? Might we not be better off to vegetate once in a while?

If boredom is so bad, why is it so prevalent?
Maybe it has some function in human psychology.

[Philosophy Explorer]

That's a question I asked in the other thread about overcoming boredom, but have received no answer.

It's generally accepted that we don't like to be bored and should do something to relieve boredom: find an new interest, engage in an activity, socialize, connect with other people, look for an entertainment or distraction.

In the case of bored children, we seem to lean over backwards to make sure they're never bored. Even when they're taken out to a restaurant, which ought to be treat enough, they must be given crayons and place-mats to colour while waiting for their food.

Is it a good idea to keep children busy all the time? Might they not benefit from down-time?
Is it a good idea to keep ourselves busy all the all time? Might we not be better off to vegetate once in a while?

If boredom is so bad, why is it so prevalent?
Maybe it has some function in human psychology.

There's always seems to be a new study linking boredom to some health problem. But boredom can be good as it gives incentive to invent something entertaining such as TVs, computers, video games, etc. And it encourages us to explore different things.

When you ask why is it so prevalent - do you mean just the children? With children, they have less experience
than adults which is a reason why they must be taught.

PhilX

[Dalek Prime]

Yeah, sorry Skip. I went off-topic in your other thread. Anyways, perhaps what we call boredom is a part of us, pushing us to move on and accomplish more, in an evolutionary sort of sense? I'm just taking a stab at the question, not asserting I'm correct.

[Greta]

http://www.fastcompany.com/3042046/the- ... ve-thought

[Dalek Prime]

http://www.fastcompany.com/3042046/the- ... ve-thought

I've often said that laziness is the mother of invention. To that I'll have to add boredom.

[Skip]

The explosive YELLOW on that title page sent me off on a mind-skid that ends with "and I'd better wash the sheets" (It's connected: we have solar power, so wash-day has to be a sunny day.) I've always needed a lot of down-time, leave-me-the-hell-alone time. So, for me, the notion of being engaged and occupied every minute is one description of hell. Another is my grandchildren's play-room: the stuff in there is garishly multicoloured, most of it moves and makes a noise, and there is way too much of it.

But this is the main thing:
An idle mind is the devil's playground.
Does it mean -
Keep the sheep busy, distracted, preoccupied and inundated with pre-edited external information, so they never look up, or wonder, or question -
?

[Dalek Prime]

The explosive YELLOW on that title page sent me off on a mind-skid that ends with "and I'd better wash the sheets" (It's connected: we have solar power, so wash-day has to be a sunny day.) I've always needed a lot of down-time, leave-me-the-hell-alone time. So, for me, the notion of being engaged and occupied every minute is one description of hell. Another is my grandchildren's play-room: the stuff in there is garishly multicoloured, most of it moves and makes a noise, and there is way too much of it.

But this is the main thing:
An idle mind is the devil's playground.
Does it mean -
Keep the sheep busy, distracted, preoccupied and inundated with pre-edited external information, so they never look up, or wonder, or question -
?

Partly, yes. But keeping preoccupied also benefits us from dwelling on stuff we, individually, just cannot change. As the prayer goes,

[Hobbes' Choice]

That's a question I asked in the other thread about overcoming boredom, but have received no answer.

It's generally accepted that we don't like to be bored and should do something to relieve boredom: find an new interest, engage in an activity, socialize, connect with other people, look for an entertainment or distraction.

In the case of bored children, we seem to lean over backwards to make sure they're never bored. Even when they're taken out to a restaurant, which ought to be treat enough, they must be given crayons and place-mats to colour while waiting for their food.

Is it a good idea to keep children busy all the time? Might they not benefit from down-time?
Is it a good idea to keep ourselves busy all the all time? Might we not be better off to vegetate once in a while?

If boredom is so bad, why is it so prevalent?
Maybe it has some function in human psychology.

Boredom is not bad, but it is inexcusable.
And being bored does not mean doing nothing. You can do nothing and still not be bored, or you can be very busy indeed and be bored to tears.
But in this day and age, with the Internet, TV, DVD, and the freedom to roam, you have no excuse to be bored unless you are burdened with a job of necessity which does not provide you with enough stimulus.

[Skip]

Boredom is not bad, but it is inexcusable

That seems like a contradiction to me. If it's not bad, why would it need an excuse?

But that does bring up an interesting distinction I had not considered.
Bad = detrimental, unfortunate, pitiful; in need of remedy, vs Bad = sinful, blameworthy, wrong; in need of reprimand.
Both of those attitudes have certainly been well represented in modern western thought and culture. It is perhaps the combination of Puritan ethic and media proliferation that have turned a normal state of mind to the subject of phobia.

Most people probably are forced to spend a good deal of time doing work, or learning things, in which they have neither intellectual interest nor emotional involvement. These jobs and studies tire them out, so that they are unable to use their free more stimulating pursuits. Many, if not most people are also in a permanent rut inescapable environments, human contacts, obligations, frustrations and anxieties : what they need is escape and distraction, rather than further stimulation - circuses, not challenges.

But keeping preoccupied also benefits us from dwelling on stuff we, individually, just cannot change. As the prayer goes,

But if you don't think about it, how do you know the difference?
I'm increasingly convinced that the circuses are meant to keep us from ever thinking about what we could change.

[Greta]

Boredom is not bad, but it is inexcusable.

Have you ever worked in payroll?

Seriously, you need energy to muster the kind of focus than allows us to see the fascination in the everyday. I get bored when I don't have the energy to meaningfully engage with the world but unable to sleep at the time.

[Philosophy Explorer]

Do we have the potential to be a Walter Mitty?

PhilX

[Skip]

And that [Greta's post] brings up another important distinction. There are different types and qualities of boredom.

There is the sick-and-tired boredom that comes from a treadmill sort of activity; the fed-up boredom of the same executives giving the same speeches over and over; the need-a-change boredom of a monotonous diet or repetitive task; the want-a-thrill-a-minute boredom of the adrenalin-junkie; the fretful boredom of a child seeking attention; the world-weary boredom of the satiated and superfluous. Then there is the idle-mind boredom that lets you watch a spider for half an hour before you realize that you are no longer bored.

Do we have a Walter Mitty potential?
Yes. Most people do.
But I don't think repression is as much of a social phenomenon these days as it was in 1939. (The recent movie version was charming but false.)

[Dalek Prime]

Boredom is not bad, but it is inexcusable.

Have you ever worked in payroll?

Seriously, you need energy to muster the kind of focus than allows us to see the fascination in the everyday. I get bored when I don't have the energy to meaningfully engage with the world but unable to sleep at the time.

I love programming, but only my own software projects. Everyone else's is sheer tedium, unless it's really unique, and requires some thinking. It's always nice to see it realised, though, no matter what the project was. But to me, if I can't be creative with it, I'm bored. Programming is an art form for me.

[Hobbes' Choice]

Boredom is not bad, but it is inexcusable.

Have you ever worked in payroll?

Seriously, you need energy to muster the kind of focus than allows us to see the fascination in the everyday. I get bored when I don't have the energy to meaningfully engage with the world but unable to sleep at the time.

No, but I think I covered that when I said "you have no excuse to be bored unless you are burdened with a job of necessity which does not provide you with enough stimulus"

[Greta]

No, but I think I covered that when I said "you have no excuse to be bored unless you are burdened with a job of necessity which does not provide you with enough stimulus"

I was fooling around and, I guess, venting at how awful payroll was to work in. There was plenty of stimuli, but not the type I wanted.

I love programming, but only my own software projects. Everyone else's is sheer tedium, unless it's really unique, and requires some thinking. It's always nice to see it realised, though, no matter what the project was. But to me, if I can't be creative with it, I'm bored. Programming is an art form for me.

Fully relate. In the 80s a guy I used to play music with asked if I could program up some drum tracks for one of his band's demos. I started but got so bored I couldn't go on. Didn't help that the music was commercial.