Boredom is a powerful emotion, one which many of us will go to lengths to avoid. Psychologists describe its purpose as trying to get us to do something else. Boredom can spur us on to do something more meaningful or tempt us into dangerous behaviours. In this edition of thy Why Factor, Sandra Kanthal talks with researchers who think boredom is anything but boring.
Taken from the BBC.
Boredom, In conventional usage, is an emotional or psychological state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, is not interested in his or her surroundings, or feels that a day or period is dull or tedious. Scholars also understand it as a modern phenomenon which has a cultural dimension. When we at the stage of boredom, we didn’t do anything, but in that phase, we can brainstorming to gain any information, we can think clearly about our plans and problems. Boredom can boost your creativity, Giving your mind a break from the constant stimulation of technology allows it to have better new thoughts, which can stimulate creativity. Neuroscience research has even found that daydreaming involves the same processes that govern imagination and creativity. So if you’re looking to get more creative, get bored. In my opinion, boredom is a good thing, and it can be a self-healing.
ReplyDeleteDaiva wrote: "Boredom can boost your creativity [...] In my opinion, boredom is a good thing, and it can be a self-healing."
DeleteDo you think this is true for you? Has it worked this way for you in the past?
Boredom is something that I highly dislike. Whenever boredom strikes, I usually feel really unmotivated and unproductive although ironically I don’t really have anything important to do. In my opinion boredom can cause both pros and cons. The pros are by being bored, you could trigger yourself into wanting to be more productive which would also lead you into getting stuff done. But sometimes even if you’ve triggered yourself into wanting to be more productive, you end up not doing anything anyways because you’ve been bored for far too long. Which is why for the cons, by being bored for too long it could lead to unproductiveness and laziness. Being unproductive usually makes me feel really guilty towards myself because I wasted a lot of my time doing things that are not beneficial. In conclusion, boredom is something that could either leads you into wanting to be more productive or even more unproductive than before.
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ReplyDeleteSometimes boredom might become stressful, but people need to stop complaining when they are feeling bored. Being bored will make you lose the balance of life itself. Maybe someone who is bored doesn’t have any goals in their life. In my opinion, there is always something that you could spend your time. You should do something that you think productive, maybe go to the gym, call your old best friend or your parents, or doing your homework. You are allowed to relax and enjoy your day or giving yourself a break but you should not forget the importance of hard work. Being bored means having a lack of drive to reach your goal. So, if you love yourself, you will put effort into doing something productive to reach your goals and you will get your shit done.
I don't think the word "shit" is appropriate! Try to avoid. If you are quoting someone saying it, maybe that's OK but put it in quotation marks in that case.
DeleteIn my opinion, boredom is something inevitable. Throughout our daily activity, it is impossible for us to not feel "bored". There is a famous student slank that is always used everytime we are bored, it is called "Gabut". "Gabut" is a usual expression for college students. It is very frequently used, even during class. The thing about boredom is not how we cannot be bored ever, it is how fast we can change the feeling of boredom, to something better. I have experienced it several times where I am packed with activities, but at the same time, I was feeling bored. It doesn't make sense right? therefore, after I realize that I was bored, I changed the activity that I was doing into other fun activities. This shows that you can feel bored even when you are doing an activity. All in all, boredom can be felt even though you are busy.
ReplyDeleteBoredom in my definition is a time when you suddenly don’t wanna do anything even your hobbies. In my opinion boredom can be very dangerous because it makes us lose our motivation to do any activity and based on my experience if you force yourself to do something when you are bored the result of that activity will be worse compare to when you are motivated to do something. I think there is no exact way to get rid of boredom until now, sometimes it just magically disappear, other times it will last maybe for weeks or months. Boredom don’t just come from doing the same things over and over, it can suddenly appear even when you are in a motivated state. So to summarize my comment, i think boredom can be very dangerous if not treated seriously and also people should start giving more attention to those who are bored because i think sometimes bored is more like depressed. -Dimas Aditya Permana
ReplyDeleteBoredom for me I think is the sense or feeling of being dissatisfied by your current mood. In a creative workplace it can prove to be dangerous obstacle, often causing you to lose your drive and even completely render you incapable of performing a basic task because of how unmotivated you are. Although it can be rather annoying and dangerous to happen, I don't think that it is necessarily a hazard in and of itself, it can cause problems yes, but overcoming the feeling of boredom is a part of everyday struggle, being a college student and constantly bogged down in layers of layers assignments I often get the feeling boredom writing in the same paper each and every night, doing the exact same tasks as before, but I overcame that feeling by trying to do something different for a change, such as having a study group or hanging out with friends while doing my work. To be free of boredom is to be creative and making the best out of your current situation to brighten your mood.
ReplyDeleteFor several years, i had been bored. So boredom is not uncommon, its a condition which affects us all. There’s this saying where we all could relate “bored of being bored because being bored is boring”. We all suffer from the same problem which is called boredom. Wether at the campus, at home, to a person, you will somehow ended up in the state of getting bored. If i eat the same meal everyday, i will get bored. If i read the same novel everyday, i will get bored. If i watch the same tv show everyday, i will get bored as well. There are countless things i could mention that makes me bored. Boredom doesn’t discriminate, it hits everyone on any situation. How do i get rid of my boredom? i will do something different or try something new. They say time flies, but when you’re bored, it feels like eternity.
ReplyDeleteBoredom has many meanings, you can be bored in an EWS class or you can be bored of your room, maybe even bored of your daily routine. These different types of boredom have different effects on your life, for example being bored in a class make you drowsy and tired so you just want it to end immediately. If you are bored with an item, you usually change it into a new item or maybe even modify the item itself. Finally if you are bored with your daily routine, you will most likely try new things and maybe even make a whole new routine. The point is boredom comes in all shapes and sizes and it doesn't mean that boredom is good or bad, it all depends on the context. If your bored in a class you just want it to end and it's not helping you innovate or be more creative, it doesn't even heal you. But, if your are bored with your daily routine or with an item and you change it up or maybe even modify them, that is creativity and that is the good kind of boredom.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is one of the main issues that i’ve been “fighting” with for many times. Bored is actually can happen anywhere, even when you’re with your friends, playing something. I usually get bored for doing anything that i always does everyday. Like going to the same place, eating the same thing everyday, smoking the same cigarette, etc. everyday. Like going to the same place, eating the same thing everyday, smoking the same cigarette, etc. Being bored is both good and bad at the sametime. If you’re bored of doing something you must do in everyday life, you won’t be able to have the same motivation as you had have before. The good side is, if you’re bored of doing something, you will want to try something new in your life. So boredom has the good side and the bad side for your life, so in my opinion, boredom is not that bad to have.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone can relate when it comes to boredom. Being bored is the main reason on why we are always trying to do new things. Boredom is triggered mainly because of an activity that people do repetitively. I really think that there are only two ways on getting rid of boredom. The first thing is to wait until your mood changes. This is the most natural way because it lets your conscious decide whether you’re bored or not. The second one is by being busy. This is the only way that is not natural because the purpose here is to keep you distracted from your boredom. It could trigger your sense of being active and hopefully bringing you new ideas on what to do. All I can say is that overcoming boredom is not an easy thing, but if you succeed on getting past it, you will feel like you’re the most productive human being in the world.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I would call boredom as a double-edged sword. The good thing about it is that, as what many people have claimed, boredom does lead to creativity. That is why people would say that their greatest ideas mostly attended their brains when they had nothing to do or were trapped in a monotonous activity. Boredom allows us to explore the uncharted parts of our minds for ideas, or as what one of the interviewees in the audio recording has explained: activities that we may have overlooked due to the overwhelming amount of activities that we have or want to do each day, that we often end up neglecting some of them and realising those untouched actions on a later date. Therefore, not only does boredom lead us to be more creative, it also gives a breathing room for our minds to reorganise the different things that were previously jumbled everywhere in our brains. Next, the reason why I see boredom as a double-edged sword is because due to the addiction that some or many people might have developed towards boredom, they end up not turning the creative ideas which they got though that state of thinking into a reality. In the end, most of those ideas became merely visitors and not housemates. This is probably the reason why many people believe that being in a state of feeling bored is unproductive. That’s because often times, we end up being engulfed by the feeling of being bored that we have never exerted even a very tiny effort to convince them that there are indeed great ideas that come through boredom.
ReplyDeleteBoredom of some form is human universal. I believe that everyone ever feeling bored and no one likes it. I'm a person who can easily feeling bored without no reason. In my opinion, boredom is when you suddenly loose interest of something. At some point, boredom is not always bad. Believe it or not, sometimes i'm being more creative when i'm bored. Boredom could lead me to get better ideas and think about things that i never thinking about before, since when we were bored we don't have anything to do or we are too lazy to do something and that leads us to imagine/thinking about something randomly. There are some tips to overcome boredom. One of the tips is to keep ourself company or we could being more productive when we are bored so we could focus on our activity and forget out boredom or we could do workout to keep our body stay in shape. The conclusion is, if we want to overcome boredom, what we need to do is to find some activity that could help us to forgot our boredom.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I have never think about boredom itself, and never thought that it would be such interesting topic to discuss. Some may say that boredom is a misery, but I would say boredom is a luxury. Why should I say that boredom is a luxury, because in my opinion you can only be bored when all your basic needs has been fulfilled. If at least one of your need have not been fulfilled, than it would be impossible for you to get bored since you are going to focus on surviving instead. And I suppose I agree that boredom leads to creativity, from my personal experience sometimes when we are bored we contemplate, and I suppose this form of unintentional contemplation that will improve creativity. Although it would be a waste to be creative without any media to channel it up, I suppose that is our next concern. To all the bored people out there, you will only continue to be bored if you the same thing you have done, so find media to channel out your creativity.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is a common thing for human. Every human definitely knows and have felt the feeling of boredom, because it is something that we could not resist. We live in this world for a long time, so it is sure that not all of our time will be a good time, there will always be a dull time of our life. And that dull time could be boredom time. When we study in the class, when we eat the same food each day, meet the same people every day, that could be the time when we got bored with our activity or even our life. Because boredom could not be resisted, we have to find our own way to resolve our boredom. We have to find it ourselves because we are the one know which decision is the best for ourselves. Personally, I usually do something different with what I’ve been doing. Well, there are some activities that cannot be changed, on those activities, I usually add something exciting to that activity or just try to motivate my mindset.
ReplyDeleteI used to get bored all the time. I get bored in the morning, the evening, and late at night. To me, getting bored is a signal that my brain sends for me to realize that I need to do something or something more productive; activities such as relentlessly checking social medias and watching too much TV are often what triggers my boredom. It’s okay to feel bored, no one in this world get excited at everything they do, at one point in time, every body must felt boredom. What's dangerous is when you let boredom take control of you. When you normalize boredom and get comfortable with the feeling. A lost of the desire to do stuff that’ll make you go higher in life; and it’s different than feeling content. Feeling content is being grateful of the things you have, while being used to getting bored is letting yourself do what you dislike, all the time. Don’t let yourself get bored all the time!
ReplyDeleteI never thought of boredom as something negative. I think boredom always leads to unpredictable adventures. You're bored one day and then suddenly decided to climb a mountain, go sightseeing, or go surving at the beach. I always believe that the best memories are the ones that are unplanned and unprepared. Being bored means that you're getting tired of the same old routines and activities that is going on in your life. And what it does is that it forces your mind to think of any activities that'll get you out of this boredom. The problem nowadays is that people tend to change that feeling by just watching movies or a tv series or playing games. That's their idea of 'fun'. Kids these days needs to go outside and explore the world. They need to know that electronics aren't the only fun thing in this world, that the world is much much more than what it seems.
ReplyDeleteBoredom strikes whenever you do repetitive activities over and over again. The thing is, you need to prevent feeling bored as it will make you less productive, and most of the time when you're bored, you get demotivated. Always try to spice things up as there are unlimited things and challenges for you to do. When you get bored with college, seek for new experiences that make you look forward to tomorrow; try joining competitions or organizations, meet up with new friends, or gather around with a couple of your close friends and share your experiences and do fun activities. If you feel like campus life is not challenging enough for you, try joining activities that will provide you international exposure. I guess the most interesting occurrences in my life happens because I always try to force myself to step the game up everytime I'm coping with boredom. Go online, find things that challenge yourself and do it; you never know how far you can go.
ReplyDeleteI think, feeling bored is a very common thing. I take an example from my own life in college. In this semester, for 6 months, I have to do like all the exact same things every week and every single day. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday I have to go to the campus, meet the same people in the classroom, learn the same subject each day, do my so many assignments with the same pattern all over again in these past 6 months. In my opinion, boredom is so related to the repetition. The boredom occurs because we do the same thing over and over again. So, me myself, to avoid the feeling of boredom, during my spare time, I do my hobbies such as movie-marathon, play guitar, dance, do some sports and anything else that is so fun for me. And the most important thing is to enjoy every single thing that we are doing and make it to be fun as well.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that appeared in my mind about the word “boredom” is that something about temporary feeling. I believe that the feeling of boredom always come to our lives periodically. But if we really pay attention to that feeling, after that feeling comes, in short time, it will just go away without we even realize that anyway. That is why I’m saying that boredom is basically temporary feeling because we feel it then suddenly it just gone. Even though it happens in short time, I think, boredom can give some effects, either it is good or bad. The good effect from boredom is, for instance, we will be motivated to try or to do something new and unusual things which means we get out from our comfort zone. From that, maybe we can figure out some new abilities or new hobbies that we haven’t known that we have it before. So, boredom can also make a positive result.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is something that I dislike most because boredom may lead to negative things. When boredom strikes I’m always confused finding an activity to distract myself in order to avoid me overthinking things. I tend to overthink when I’m bored because my mind is roaming around and thinking a lot of scenarios that maybe won’t happen in the future. Overthinking is bad for my mental and physical health, apart from it boredom sometimes makes me feel lonely. To prevent it, I usually distract myself by listening to music. If by listening to music wont distract myself too, I like to search for some new artist and discover new music. Other than listening to music, I like to watch different tv series and movies. By watching tv series and movies it gives me a mood-booster and an entertainment for myself, aside from it reading books also help me get out from my boredom.
ReplyDeleteWell, it’s certainly not fun, but I believe its a good thing. Almost any events I joined, skills I have acquired, knowledge I have accumulated, friends I have made and some other things are the effect of my boredom. Boredom can be a good thing because it inspires creativity and thoughts. You can take on creative hobbies or start reading, drawing, surfing the internet and all that can broaden your knowledge about arts, people, the world in general. Especially in our always-connected world, boredom may be an elusive state, but it is a fertile one. Watch paint dry or water boil, or at least put away your smartphone for a while. You might unlock your next big idea.
ReplyDeleteAll in all, even though sometimes people consider boredom as a negative thing for being not productive but it also have lots of positivity. A nice solid block of boring time was often refreshing for all concerned and allowed for a reset.
Boredom hits pretty suddenly and in those times we usually try to get on our phones to dissipate the boredom. But as the audio clip said, its not a very good way to counter it. Of course this isn't always a valid method because in some cases we aren't allowed to access the devices. If not that, it may be during at time where it is in appropriate to use it, such as in class. Us being bored is usually because we lost interest in the subject or the routine got repetitive. And so we try to break out of the monotony in someways. Daydreaming is the most common result of this. Spacing out is the side effect of this, and no one really wants to be caught out spacing out because we look ridiculous while doing so. Fiddling with our writing tools is something we would probably do to keep away from being bored.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is one of the biggest challenges of our modern life. I mean, how often do we say to ourself, “My life is boring right now” or “I got nothing to do.” Some people think that people who are easily bored also more likely to develop depression, anxiety, low work performance, or even poor social skills. But not with me. I think boredom can lead us to our most brilliant ideas. Brilliant ideas and creativity might come anytime. It might come while you are taking your morning shower, or maybe when you are in the middle of your breakfast, a great idea strikes through your mind. I’m currently writing a novel, my third novel actually (in Bahasa Indonesia, unfortunately), and I find it very hard to start a new chapter, and when I am starting to get bored of writing, I suddenly get some new ideas to start writing again. So I think boredom is actually not that bad.
ReplyDeleteI believe that boredom is part of life. It happens sometime and it doesn’t feel good, when im bored sometimes I always try to play with my friend or try to do other activities that will fill my empty schedule. But besides all the negative things, boredom sometimes can result in a positive thing, maybe from boredom you can create something unique like writings or some kind of other art. When boredom strikes, I try to distract myself from it by watching movies or listening to music, the point is you gotta do something worth doing so you will get distracted from the boredom. To avoid boredom, keep yourself busy with activities and just keep filling your empty time with useful activities like playing sports, creating something, and other activities that are positives. Becausr the more you use your time with activities, the better the result. And that’s all I got about boredom.
ReplyDeleteI think feeling bored is a very normal thing. When I was in high school, I feel like I get bored a lot. Maybe it’s because what I do everyday is repetitive and never really changes; what I do at school, when I go home, the things I do at home, and such. My high school wasn’t that big either, compared to other schools in Jakarta so the people I see aren’t as much, and we basically know everyone. It isn’t a bad thing, but it does get a little boring. Now that I’m in college and in a new city, I feel like I don’t get bored as often. Living by myself in a boarding house isn’t as boring as I thought it was gonna be. I hang out with my friends a lot, find activities to do, explore Jogja, and so much more things. And UGM is a really big university, I meet so many people everyday and make new friends. I just find that what I do in college everyday is not as repetitive as what high school used to be.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is something undeniable because for me personally this thing called boredom can come suddenly, and usually it is always like that. Usually I became bored because of unattractive, and non interactive discussion. This past months in my college life I often feel bored in some class because the teacher not engaging us the students in an interactive and informative discussion. Me personally I will feel bored quickly and I will find other things to do usually I will play games on my phone, but that was when I was still in mi high school years, nowadays I’d rather do something else which related to my academics , such as reading books or understanding the previous lesson. So by doing this my time not wasted only for playing games but I can utilise my free time due to the boredom in class to aid me in my other subject’s lesson.
ReplyDeleteI think boredom is a very common feeling. Some people experience boredom several times a day. However, we actually can avoid feeling bored. Maybe not completely, but we could feel less bored in our daily life. The obvious solution is getting engaged in more activities. Either it’s your hobby, or getting involved in organizations, or interning somewhere, you actually almost always have a choice whether or not to be bored. In my opinion, you really shouldn’t complain about feeling bored. Instead of wasting your time complaining about it, do something about it! You could actually make the world a better place by contributing to the community. It’s only a matter of choice. Of course feeling bored is inevitable in some points of your life, but we always have a choice of decreasing the sequence or frequency of boredom in our daily life. Whether it’s hanging out with your friends or doing charity, they are always one choice away.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is something everyone experience. It happens when you do the same things repetitively or when you have nothing to do. It’s normal to feel boredom as most of us life our lives doing the same activities and routinties all over and over again. I, for instance wake up in the morning ,take a bath, eat breakfast go to college, go home, study the same subject, have dinner,hangout at the same place and this repeats all over again. Most people hate boredom as it can lead to depression, decrease in productivity, anxiety and negative activities such as playing too much games,drugs and many more. It seems like all boredom radiates are negative effects and results and activities but boredom can also be positive if dealt in the right manner. Boredom can be avoided by doing a hobby such as reading a book,watching movies, writing, playing guiar, doing sports and doing something useful and productive. We can fullfill the void by honning our creativity or by joining organisations which decreases our spare or boredom time which can be filled with negative activities.
ReplyDeleteBoredom is something we are all familiar with. You get bored when you eat the same thing every day, do the same thing over and over again, or going to the same place every weekend. It’s like being stuck in a continuous circle; where you always knows what’s going to happen next, knows what to anticipate, and have already made a well-tuned schedule. The only solution for this type of boredom is to throw in an element of unpredictability. Sometimes it’s fun to not know what happens next, to be surprised at uncertainty. This type of boredom is easily overcome. But the other type of boredom is what’s harder to deal with, it’s the boredom that comes when you have nothing to do. This problem gets so severe that it could potentially cost you, your sanity. I personally face this problem daily before I got into university. The only know solution is to keep yourself busy with something, regardless of how small or insignificant it may seem.
ReplyDeleteI think that boredom is a common thing that everyone has. I also think that when people get bored, they don’t like it. Well, I am a type of person that can get bored easily with no reason at all. From my perspective, the feeling of boredom is when you lost interest of something or even someone all of the sudden. I believe that boredom is not always a bad thing. I realized that I get more creative when I have nothing to do or when I am bored. For some reason, the feeling of boredom made me think about things I have never thought before. Boredom made me think about my life from a different perspective. In a way, boredom made me more grateful for my life. Boredom also lead me to better ideas, which could be useful in the future. I realized that since we have nothing to do or nothing better to do, it made us think or imagine something that are unusual. The bad thing about boredom is that we can get lazy to do things. To overcome boredom, we have to do something that are productive so that we can focus on the activity that we are doing and forget about the feeling of boredom eventually.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Psychology Today, boredom refers to a profoundly state of unmet arousal. Boredom can be caused by external factor including the lack of environmental stimuli and opportunities and it can also be caused by internal factor such as feeling unmotivated or having trouble concentrating. I personally cannot stand boredom. I always feel guilty when I have nothing to do and that is why I always try to keep myself busy with university, social life, sports, events or competition. I do think that boredom is somehow related to laziness as well as the constant state of staying in our comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteSome methods that works for me to beat boredom include:
1. Find inspiration. This can be done by simply taking a walk, listening to music, watching a movie, talking to other people and many more.
2. Do sports. I always feel fresh after a workout and a right amount of exercise can help motivate me throughout the day.
3. Read a book. Reading a book helps me keep my mind at ease whilst also letting my brain exercise. Reading book gives me a lot of inspiration and ideas.
Regarding the impact of boredom being negative or positive is quite relative. From my perspective, the factual outcome of which side it comes forward to depends on how the subject (an individual) comprehends and process the term of boredom. I tend to get bored, mostly in class, due to myself being easy to lose concentration. I'm always difficult in maintaining focus, and the following result is I get bored. When bored, I tend to distract myself to entertainment subjects and content, leading to procrastination when doing my responsibilities, which is another bad thing. Nowadays, I fill my boredom with going out. Meeting people, socializing, attending workshops and lectures, sports, and organizational activities. Although many people feel bored when there is nothing to do, research shows that boredom can make us more creative and productive. So the conclusion is that I want to re-emphasize on how relatively subjective boredom can be, by depending on the actions of the individual undergoing it.
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