by Zenia Zuraiq, III B.Sc. Physics
When was the last time you allowed yourself to get bored?
No, I don’t mean when you sat on your couch in that pretzel-like formation and scrolled through your social media feeds for an hour and a half. I don’t mean when you put on yet another episode of that trashy reality show that you hate-watch.
When was the last time you did absolutely nothing?
Not to get all “phone bad, book good” on you guys, but the fact is today’s society is an incredibly plugged-in one. The moment any of us (including me) feels even the slightest twinge of boredom creeping up, we whip out our phones. It doesn’t matter if it’s Instagram, Facebook or even one of those mindless Buzzfeed quizzes—we just don’t really get bored anymore.
Let’s dial it back a bit.
Boredom is an incredibly fascinating emotion because it is just so different from all the other ones we experience. While other emotions (happiness, sadness, grief, and so on) are usually caused by some perceived external stimulus, boredom is caused by an apparent lack of stimulus—when there simply isn’t anything to trigger you.
Boredom is what happens when the vast expanse of human consciousness, the incredible earth, and the special place we occupy in the Universe isn’t enough. And that is extraordinary. The fact that we as a species can look around and not simply seek out ways to optimize our survival, but also sense when that survival is getting too monotonous is a privilege.
Boredom is a privilege.
Getting bored tells us that simply living is not enough. Boredom tells us that we should be doing more, and while “feeling bored” all the time could probably point to some subtle mental health issues, a moderate amount of boredom is actually good.
Boredom is your psyche telling you that coasting by isn’t enough, telling you that you should be doing something right now. It’s your motivation!
Some of my weirdest and best ideas are born out of lazy afternoons and monotonous weekday commutes. Some of the best introspection happens in that weird in-between afternoon time where it feels like the clock has stopped ticking and the world could swallow you whole. And yes, those are usually a direct consequence of my brain grasping at straws trying to get out of feeling bored.
(Some of my best naps happen when I’m bored too—but we don’t need to talk about that.)
Going back to the start, it’s worth noting that in today’s world we don’t really let ourselves get bored. We’re too plugged-in to be restless. We have optimised fun! And by fun, I mean screen time. While that isn’t inherently a bad thing, I do feel like our poor brains are a little overworked. They aren’t allowed a moment of silence, aren’t allowed to take it all in—because it’s all new, all here, all now! New stimuli every passing second, as we refresh our feeds endlessly and scroll mindlessly. Who could ever get bored in the golden age of #content!
But I miss the quiet. Because boredom is a power move. Boredom is when you call out to the Universe: “Hit me with your best shot!”
I like getting bored. I like the quiet moments when I don’t have to do anything. I like being a passive participant in life sometimes. I like that there are times when the world isn’t completely strange and foreign to me, but instead a little too familiar, a little too so-so. The fact that life isn’t 100% overwhelming all the time and sometimes it can just be “whelming” is a blessing in disguise.
So thank you boredom for joining me in my quiet moments.
It’s a love-hate relationship, but I’m learning to love.