Do you often find yourself exclaiming “I’m soooo bored!”?
If so, what do you do to cope with the monotony? Have you ever considered actually trying to bring more boredom into your life?
In “They Want to Influence You to Do … Nothing,” Alexander Nazaryan writes about how boredom, or an approximation of it, is a growing online trend for young people trying to sharpen their attention spans:
“Life, friends, is boring,” the poet John Berryman wrote in one of his haunting “Dream Songs,” published in 1964.
He may have come to an entirely different conclusion if a small device in his pocket, or on his wrist, had thrummed endlessly with updates, notifications, a change to the terms of service of a rarely used gardening app and slop generated by artificial intelligence.
Life, some have come to believe, is not boring enough.
Seemingly banished in this age of digital saturation, boredom is the unlikely star of a social media fad that has young people sharing videos of themselves doing … absolutely nothing. Some last 15 minutes. Others hold out for hours. It’s all part of a bid to reclaim deteriorating attention spans that incessant alerts and dings have gradually eroded.
In keeping with the currency of the internet, sitting with one’s thoughts for a stretch of time is another “viral challenge” spurring users to make content and try to outdo one another. Creators, though, say they are not merely doing it for clicks but to spread a timely gospel as well.
“After the challenge is over, I feel a good boost of energy in a weird way,” Sean Panjsheeri, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., said in an interview.
The article continues:
Scientists widely agree that smartphones are wreaking havoc on our brains, but is boredom the way to restore attention spans and mend frayed nerves? It could be, said Morgan Starr-Riestis, a therapist with a background in neuroscience who recently posted an approving explainer of the boredom challenge on Instagram.
Shutting down stimuli activates the brain’s default-mode network, which Ms. Starr-Riestis described as a “creativity launching pad” that allows for reflection, introspection and daydreaming — cognitive functions that are often hard to retrieve when devices can easily swoop in as diversions. “Boredom has become such a villain,” Ms. Starr-Riestis said. “Some of these generations have never been without a phone or the internet.”
Students, read the entire article and then tell us:
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How often are you bored? Is it a common experience for you? What typically triggers your feelings of boredom? Being at home? At school? Waiting in lines? Having no internet access or phone signal?
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How do you deal with boredom? How effective are your strategies?
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What do you think of the trend that extols the virtues of doing nothing as a way to escape the constant demands on our attention? What’s your reaction to young creators sharing videos of themselves doing absolutely nothing?
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Sean Panjsheeri, a college student who posts videos of himself sitting on a couch for hours, says, “After the challenge is over, I feel a good boost of energy in a weird way.” Has boredom ever had positive effects for you, like a burst of energy, creativity, focus or self-discipline?
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The article says that the embrace of boredom is “part of a bid to reclaim deteriorating attention spans that incessant alerts and dings have gradually eroded.” Do you agree that your generation’s concentration and focus are in trouble? Having read the article, are you more or less likely to embrace the “lost art” and “quiet rebellion” of doing nothing?
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James Danckert, who runs a “boredom lab” at the University of Waterloo in Canada, suggests that there are better ways for people to cope with monotony than viral boredom challenges, such as going outside, finding a new hobby or reading. Do you agree?
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What advice would you give others who are constantly feeling bored?
Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.
Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.
Jeremy Engle is an editor of The Learning Network who worked in teaching for more than 20 years before joining The Times.
The post Do We All Need a Little More Boredom in Our Lives? appeared first on New York Times.
