Boredom: Is it unhealthy? Is it curable?
Boredom, as a subject of study, may appear to be a
frivolous pursuit, but researchers believe that understanding the roots of this
everyday emotion – why it exists, and how it can be cured – may provide untold
benefits.
The most dramatic gains might be seen in public safety
(think: airline pilots), or helping those with ADD and depression (depression
and boredom have often been linked). But the field of study may help each of us
escape the grip, and avoid some of life’s major missteps (think: alcohol,
drugs, gambling, infidelity).
Is boredom unhealthy? Not according to Dr. John
Eastwood, a clinical psychologist at York University in Toronto who was the
lead author of a major study on boredom called “The Unengaged Mind.” According
to an article written by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie for smithsonianmag.com,
boredom can serve as “a kind of early warning system.” The article quotes
Eastwood: “Emotions are there to help us react to, register and
regulate our response to stimulus from our environment. . . . We don’t usually
take it as a warning – but children do, they badger you to get you out of the
situation.”
Can boredom boost your creativity? In an article written
for guardian.co.uk, Ann Robinson tells us that “The artist Grayson Perry has
reportedly spoken of how long periods of boredom in childhood may have enhanced
his creativity.” Robinson then quotes Dr. Esther Priyadharshini, a senior
lecturer in education at the University of East Anglia: “We can't
avoid boredom – it's an inevitable human emotion. We have to accept it as
legitimate and find ways it can be harnessed. We all need downtime, away from
the constant bombardment of stimulation. There's no need to be in a frenzy of
activity at all times. . . . We all need vacant time to mull things over.”
The study of boredom dates back to just the 1930s, and
since that time more than 100 studies have touched on the subject, leading
Eastwood and colleagues Alexandra Frischen, Mark Fenske and Daniel Smilek to
amass this body of research and develop the first unified theory on
boredom. Said Timothy Wilson, a social psychologist at the University of
Virginia, as quoted in Maria Konnikova’s Boston Globe article: “Boredom is a
neglected topic in psychology. . . . There is a lot of research on attention
and mind wandering, but [until now], no attempt to bring it together under the
topic of boredom per se.”
Is boredom a cousin to disgust?
Why does boredom exist? McRobbie, writing for
smithsonianmag.com, sheds some light: “There has to be a reason for boredom and
why people suffer it; one theory is that boredom is the evolutionary cousin to
disgust. In Toohey’s Boredom: A Living History, the author notes that when
writers as far back as Seneca talk about boredom, they often describe it was a
kind of nausea or sickness. The title of Jean-Paul Sartre’s novel about existential boredom was, after all,
Nausea. Even now, if someone is bored of something, they’re ‘sick of it’ or
‘fed up’. So if disgust is a mechanism by which humans avoid harmful things,
then boredom is an evolutionary response to harmful social situations or even
their own descent into depression.”
Feeling bored? Eastwood first tells us what not to
do. Robinson, in her piece for guardian.co.uk, quotes Eastwood: "The
problem is we've become passive recipients of stimulation. . . . We say, 'I'm
bored, so I'll put on the TV or go to a loud movie.' But boredom is like
quicksand: the more we thrash around, the quicker we'll sink."
What’s a person to do? Researchers suggest that the next time you’re bored, begin by acknowledging the emotion, then become more aware of the feeling and its link to attention. Eastwood
maintains that we should resist the temptation to immediately resolve the
feeling. Watch the mind. Take stock of both of your external environment (your
immediate surroundings) and your internal environment (your thoughts at the
time). The more aware you are of both, they explain, the more quickly
the boredom will pass.
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