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Aug 30, 2008
"Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other." --Susan Sontag
The Science of Boredom
Virtually everyone gets bored once in a while. Most of us chalk it up to a dull environment. "The most common way to define boredom in Western culture is 'having nothing to do'" says psychologist Stephen Vodanovich of the University of West Florida. And indeed, early research into the effects of boredom focused on people forced to perform monotonous tasks, such as working a factory assembly line. But boredom is not merely an inherent property of the circumstances, researchers say. Rather this perception is subjective and rooted in aspects of consciousness. Levels of boredom vary among people: some individuals are far less prone to ennui than others -- and some, such as extroverts, are more susceptible to this feeling. This Scientific American article shares more.
BE THE CHANGE
The next time you catch yourself feeling bored try and notice and engage with what is around you and within you in a different way.
