A few days ago I was listening to a CBC Ideas program
about boredom. It is called The Tedium is
the Message and can be found at http://www.cbc.ca/radio/popup/audio/listen.html?autoPlay=true&clipIds=&mediaIds=815275075787&contentarea=radio&subsection1=radio1&subsection2=currentaffairs&subsection3=ideas&contenttype=audio&title=2016/11/22/1.3862159-the-tedium-is-the-message&contentid=1.3862159
The program is a study of boredom, its origins and its
results. Apparently, boredom can lead to creativity. Makes sense to me. Boredom
appears also to sometimes arise when there are distractions….for example, if
you are reading a book when there is a low level sound playing (maybe a
television), you may find you can read, but with effort because it is hard to
concentrate. In that circumstance you may attribute the reading difficulty to
the book being boring. This has been shown experimentally.
I have long viewed boredom as a rejecting type emotion
--- an emotion that, when we feel it, says we are not content with our
here-and-now….we reject our current experience. I have treated it as something
which requires an antidote, and sometimes that has been deliberate diversions….perhaps
thinking of something or doing something. I can now see that it isn’t
necessarily something to be mitigated.
Another aspect of boredom to which my attention was drawn was that it has apparently not always being recognized in history. It appears to be a relatively modern experience, and one which was known within the wealthy class of ancient Rome. This is evidenced from word studies.
I often find myself at my most creative once I've reached a state of boredom. I've always thought this was odd and never gave it much credence, but it's very cool to hear that there is a study to back this up! Though it might look weird If I begin allocating space in my scheduled for "boredom time". haha
ReplyDeleteI could ask if you comment was posted during one of those periods, but you might take it the wrong way. I am not meaning to be demeaning.
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