- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
What is the beauty of boredom? 2:11
(CNN) - Are you still bored in confinement? Excellent. That could be a good thing.
Psychologists say boredom has had a bad press, and the pandemic, which has left many of us spending weeks at home without many of the things we like to do, could trigger a creative renaissance on a global scale, or at least make us feel more comfortable with our inner being. If we do it right.
"I have a great vision for humanity right now. I'm talking about creativity at the micro and macro levels, ”said Sandi Mann, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Psychology at the School of Psychology, Central University of Lancashire, UK.
- READ: Boredom at work is as harmful as stress
Boredom is a normal feeling, and there is no truth to the reproach that only boring people get bored, psychologists say.
It would be easy to step up our supercharged lives, connected to our phones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and consuming news, watching Netflix and endless posts on social media. Instead, boredom could be a healthy way to free up head space during this time and open our minds to new ways of thinking and being.
"The next best seller could be being written right now. The next big business idea, "said Mann, author of the book" The Science of Boredom: The Positive (and Negative) Side of Downtime. "
But how do you harness the creative potential of boredom?
Like any emotion, boredom is a double-edged sword, Mann said. Without channeling, it can lead us to seek stimulation in the wrong places.
“So you get vandalism, antisocial behavior, you take chances, and you're looking for emotions. You become addicted to the shopping channel right now. All of these things can be bad, ”he said.
- LOOK: The nurse who killed out of boredom
Don't get away from boredom
Of course, not everyone experiences boredom during the pandemic. Many of us are under pressure, busy working and educating ourselves at home, while others are grieving and caring for sick people.
But if staying home has become monotonous, what should you do?
"Take advantage of your boredom by getting bored," advised Mann.
"That means real boredom, which is where you should let your mind wander. This is the true key. Daydreaming and wandering through the mind. Don't go online or try to get away from boredom. "
At his job, Mann made people bored by having them copy and read numbers from a phone book. He found that the tedious nature of the task helped participants' minds think more freely, allowing them to think of more creative uses for plastic cups than those who had not completed the monotonous task.
"Would humanity have created the wheel or the fire if it had not been experimenting and playing? They had to be sitting there wondering what would happen if… ”Mann said.
- READ: Bored in quarantine? Start reading. Here are some pages to download ebooks for free and legally
Why are we bored?
Boredom has evolutionary logic, Mann said. If we were constantly distracted by the trees on the horizon, we would never see lions approaching.
“If you imagine a life without boredom, we would never get used to anything. We would never get used to anything. Everything would be constantly exciting for us. We would be like little children excited by the rain, the puddles and the falling leaves. We would never do anything, ”he said.
John Eastwood, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada, has been studying boredom for almost two decades and heads the institution's Laboratory of Boredom.
He described boredom as the "uncomfortable feeling of wanting but not being able to participate in a satisfying activity."
"I think people don't understand boredom. They think it is simply due to the absence of things to do. It's really important to emphasize that that's not the case, "said Eastwood, who is the co-author of the upcoming book" Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom. "
“The boring person knows that there are things to do. The problem is, they can't muster a workable desire. ”
He said boredom is a sign like pain, alerting us to the fact that we are not engaging our minds. It is up to us to respond to that signal wisely.
“Boredom may be this initial drive that some people can adaptively use to participate in creative or innovative activities. But it won't lead directly to those things, ”he said.
In this way, boredom could inspire a search for change and variety and stimulate us to learn a new language, redecorate or look for a new job. However, Eastwood said boredom does not have to lead to productive activity. You don't have to be baking that sourdough, in your opinion, it's just worth it to sit and look out the window.
But be careful to tackle something too challenging, said Erin Westgate, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Florida, whose latest research is titled "Why Boredom Is Interesting." She said there are two things to keep in mind when you hit that wall of boredom and start looking for a way to get out of the rut.
"What you are doing needs to be meaningful, but you must also feel successful," he said.
"It doesn't matter how significant it is if what you're doing is so difficult that you can't even focus."
Westgate described boredom as "a dashboard light that goes out and says, 'Hey, what you're doing doesn't make sense or you're not doing it right and something has to change.'"
Boredom in the running of the bulls
For concerned parents struggling with children who complain of being bored during a pandemic, Eastwood said it is important not to be frustrated. Boredom is a normal feeling, and there is no truth to the reproach that only bored people get bored.
"We should help them learn how to deal with downtime and monotony. That will lead to an awkward situation. "
Mann agreed: "Do the same thing I do to my children and say 'Great!' and leave it at that.
“You can give them some resources to make them 'bog down', but try not to do it constantly. They may be things you have around the house. For example, a construction kit for a den with tablecloths and brooms. And let them go on alone. "
Eastwood suggested that younger children may need an initial address. Get them started with a puzzle or other activity and then walk away, something he described as "scaffolding."
The expert said it was important to also schedule downtime for older children, in order to allow them to develop their problem-solving skills and adopt a more creative mindset. He added that parents should stay calm when confronted with a complaining child: You are not failing your child in any way if he says he is bored.
Ways to manage the anxiety of eating in quarantine 2:19What not to do
Eastwood said boredom is not just about having fewer opportunities to get things done while isolating yourself. The turmoil the pandemic has caused can also leave you with a jumble of conflicting emotions, making it harder to figure out what you want to do.
If you find it tedious to live under coronavirus-related restrictions, Westgate said you shouldn't judge yourself or others for being bored.
"We have the idea that feeling bored says something not so good about who you are as a person, and that's not the right way to think about it.
"Boredom is usually adaptive. It prevents us from being trapped in our house all the time. That is actively working against us right now. This is the only time that I am trapped in my house and I need to stay here. [Boredom] is a totally natural feeling. "
Eastwood urged people not to simply resort to passive forms of entertainment, as once Netflix credits start to reappear, that drifting feeling will only resurface.
"The more we treat ourselves as an empty container to fill with entertainment, the more we prepare for future boredom," he said.
A time to reinvent
Eastwood said we should take advantage of downtime.
"You have to try and not only run away from it and mitigate the negative feeling, but try to take stock and use it as a moment to solve those questions: Who am I and what does it matter to me, what am I good at? How do I like it? express myself and connect with the world? ”.
Mann agreed that the pandemic offers a rare moment that we can take advantage of.
"I think the problem before confinement was that we just didn't have enough (boredom), the problem now may be that we have too much, but we can use that boredom to find creative solutions," he said.
So this is our chance. Stop the fatal scrolling, get away from the screen, relax and let our minds dream up some new ideas.
