Are we still getting bored?

By Alexandru Ciorobea
I was asked to write a piece about boredom, what it is, whether its
negative or positive etc. I accepted. This proposition happened quite a
while ago and I havent put down a single line until now. Ive used all this
time to go through the available literature on the topic and yes, to
experience it frst hand, to get bored. And I did that a lot It was quite a
cathartic experience and be!ore anything else, I can tell you that its much
easier to get bored when youre actually looking !or it" #sually it doesnt
work that easy when youre aware o! something you have to do. I also
learnt that its one o! those very !ew things anyone could excel at without
a diploma $other than !ootball%. And even though theres not much
speciali&ed literature on the topic, an inquisitive mind $o! a student, or
whatever other low paid or unpaid categories% can fnd out there plenty o!
stu' written, photographed and flmed produced while the distinguished
authors were defnitely having a hell o! a good time getting bored"
(ow, what is boredom) *rom what Ive read + and seen + nobody knows !or
sure. ,ust as a quick sample o! the scarcity o! the available resources I will
tell you what -x!ord .ictionary has to say about it/ boredom + the state of
feeling bored. That would be it. 0lear as spring, isnt it) -ther resources I
!ound, !ocused on the bio1technicalities o! boredom $equally
entertaining"%, were 2ust not what I was looking !or. 3owever, anyone who
!eels like a good yawn and something easy to !orget right a!ter can go
online and look them up by typing boredom. I guarantee the results.
4hile pondering on the complexities o! boredom, among many !unny
thoughts $you would be surprised how resource!ul your brain is when kept
in an idle mode% I came across one that I !ound particularly intriguing. It
goes like this/ normally when youre bored, you dont write about
boredom, you dont write at all, !or that matter, or youre not supposed to.
-n the other hand, i! you dont capture that !eeling in writing or on
camera, the very moment youre experiencing it, you lose that je ne sais
quoi, that !reshness that makes the experience worth sharing.
5oing back to other peoples take on this, boredom seems to be an
individual indicator o! decadence and the ultimate expression o! !utility.
3owever, I think that i! you look through the thick 2ello o! mainstream
conventions that automatically label boredom as something negative, you
could fnd $as I did% that it is not that negative. It actually appears to have
therapeutic qualities. It is part o! our physiology, as laughter or crying. 6o,
same as tears or laughter, it can do you good in reasonable amounts, as it
may otherwise serve as an indicator !or certain dys!unctions when it
occurs too o!ten or too much + like an eye tearing uncontrollably or a guy
who gets a laughing ft at 7on Triers Melancholia $while in the theater,
8anked by that do&en o! condescending intellectuals who made it past the
frst 9: minutes%.
Its there!ore an expression o! our distinctive spiritual activity, one o! those
!ew !eatures that separate us !rom other primates. Its one o! the most
distinguishable reactions o! our spirit to the ob2ective $or sub2ective%
realities we are experiencing. Its what happens either when the world is
giving us a break $and we take it%, or when we 2ust let go and disconnect
!or a while, 2ust to start over when the boss calls about a missed deadline.
And yes, its also a modern luxury. The rare luxury o! passive
contemplation when constantly exposed to the avalanche o! that huge
amount o! everyday stu' that leaves us inert and indi'erent. It happens
when the tension between us and the world disappears.
;oredom doesnt depend on location. <ou can get bored virtually
anywhere/ in Times 6quare, during a conversation $especially then%,
looking at people in the subway etc. 4e can get bored o! too much or too
little o! something. ;oredom is one o! our many pro2ections in the world.
Its an indicator o! where we stand in society, drawing a thin red line
between us and the world. It may also help a lot in warning us that we are
in the wrong place, the wrong time or in the wrong company + it can tell
you when to say goodbye and !ollow the =xit sign.
It also has a lot to do with intellectual hygiene $wow%. It should serve as
an >evacuation sign? when we get too close to the point when intellectual
numbness o@cially kicks in. It can tell us that were having too much o!
too little, or too little o! what we would otherwise need so much", thus
indicating the need !or a new beginning. Its a call !or washing your !ace
with cold water and start doing something else + or the same thing, but
di'erently.
And what about boredom in society) Aany say that it can be read as a
symptom o! a societal dys!unction. 4ell, I beg to di'er, since I argued that
boredom was something inherently natural to us. .uring my research,
looking !or its signs in our urban environment, I noticed something that
startled me. Beople dont get bored anymore as much as I wouldve
expected them to $or hoped they would%. ,uggling several mental dra!ts o!
this issue, while sipping !rom a reasonably good espresso, I said to mysel!/
that shouldnt be good. 4hy) ;ecause I could think o! a thousand and one
reasons why our super1tech society could $and maybe should% get
excruciatingly bored with itsel! and yet it doesnt. -n the contrary, it looks
like the people I know or the people I 2ust observe and I dont care to
know, are in the process o! losing the >boredom1re8ex?. 4hy) ;ecause it
appears that with every new technology, with every new trick o! the
entertainment industry or even in the very design o! our daily routines, we
are meant to do 2ust that/ to stay plugged1in to the 4orld 4ide 4eb o!
things and not minding it. 0onnected, yet per!ectly disconnected !rom the
delight!ul intricacies o! our ob2ective reality. 4e even dont seem to get
bored that easily in !ront o! boredom itsel!. 4e rarely seem to go
>unplugged? and only a chosen !ew retain the privilege o! en2oying a good
solid boredom. -n the other hand, putting things in perspective, it looks a
bit dystopian when you see intelligent people gradually losing their
capacity to react to their soul1draining everyday rituals, lost in a state o!
com!ortable numbness/ blank eyes $where all that happens is the convex
re8ection o! whats moving on the widescreen T7%, automatic moves
$mainly !or the snack conveniently placed within reach%, CDCDCCDDCDD... I
there!ore believe that a world which loses its $vital% capacity o! getting
bored is a world that loses along with it its capacity to de!end itsel! !rom
the most !erocious species o! stupidity and spiritual decay. It is a world
exposed to the most trivial !orms o! manipulation, where very !ew can still
en2oy a gold1plated boredom while laying idly with a cocktail on a fve
stars beach resort in the A&ores or 2ust by >livin la vida loca? with a long
:Cs *rench movie on a super1widescreen T7.
There!ore, boredom takes many shapes and can be experienced in many
!orms, both en2oyable and use!ul in right amounts. It should be en2oyed
somewhat like alcohol/ responsibly $see the wise disclaimer glued on all
liquor bottles sold in the #6 !or those who can a'ord a proper education or
simply !or those who can, well, see%. The same, it can be regarded as a
sign o! an interior vacuum, o! an individual dri!t towards uselessness, a
symptom o! a la&y nature, or simply as an indicator o! an unsophisticated
mind which gets bored 2ust because is naturally incapable o! discovering
the infnite possibilities o! the world. ;oredom can be drawn !rom the
complicated socio1economic reality, !rom our daily news, !rom that sticky
!eeling o! a rainy 6unday a!ternoon when looking outside your window at a
bunch o! !ree&ing pigeons. It is in all these as it is in the world o! 0hekovs
Three isters, in the hallucinating atmosphere o! Aihalkovs !n"nished
#iece for Mechanical #iano or in Eesnaiss $ast %ear in Marienbad. As I said,
it can be anywhere.
3owever, this is not a Blatonic apology !or boredom or a warning against
it. It is 2ust another way o! saying that boredom is a purely sub2ective
matter + as this article is. It must be experienced and understood
individually, like sadness or happiness. It cannot be replicated, although,
paradoxically, its symptoms may be identifed at a larger level, in our
societies, even though today its signs are slowly !ading. I honestly dont
know whether this is good or bad. I only know what its not/ its defnitely
not boring.