The Problem With The Modern Age Boredom
The modern man keeps himself busy enough to feel productive. This makes him feel worthy and safe. But at the same time, he is belittled.
He is scared of boredom and he can’t handle solitude.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca said it right 💬
Alone, you are too close to a rascal
This is the current state of our modern psyche. We dislike being alone with our thoughts and always in search of a new distraction
Origin of Boredom
Boredom did not exist for the ancient man. Later boredom was used for the poetic and literary purpose.
You can’t image boredom in those times but nowadays “I’m bored’ is a very a very common thing you could hear and everybody wants to avoid boredom like it is a disease.
What is failing?
It is not that we can’t handle boredom, but there are so many distractions around us — full of meaninglessness that almost anything can grab attention.
We get bored so easily and our impulse to avoid the present moment is so strong that by keeping ourselves busy we get some satisfaction of a worthy life.
Overworked people doing meaningless tasks waiting for the weekend for some relaxation -sounds familiar.
There is some much outside that you can understand — and inside your mind possibilities are endless. But in this world of abundance, particularly true for the developed countries ▶ avoiding boredom is a preoccupation ◀
Boredom Averting Technology
Smartphones, social media and thousands of media channels deprive us of boredom.
We have seen the power of internet in the last three decades and now people are not wise, but only appear wise.
Google has become the 🔗 third half of our brain. We can no more answer difficult questions. Our ability to retain information is at a constant decline.
We have become tools of our tools.
There is some much of information that comes out of our screen that we are constantly over-evaluating what is happening around us.
Soon we will see ourselves adapting to our tools environment.
Modern man is confused he is afraid of boredom and solitude
Philosopher Bertrand Russell writes in his book, The Conquest of Happiness (1930) says 💬
All these devices give us illusions of meaningful engagements. This mindless preoccupation gives a shallow control.
Using Boredom
I think boredom should get more attention than what it has got.
Diffuse mode thinking is the hotbed for new ideas and boredom can be used in the best way here. You get bored and start thinking about the idea you have been working on and suddenly some insight comes to you all by itself.
If you are mastering a tough subject you need to shuffle between focussed and diffused thinking; boredom can be used for the diffused mode of learning.
Our over-dependence on technology for almost everything is killing our quest to search for more and deep.
So put the phone down, sit in your easy chair for the next few hours or go out for a long boring walk. Deliberate boredom avoids distractions and makes you creative. Stop consuming and start creating.
