Boredom

Interesting site about boredom. I only read into it a little but the concept seems to hit quite close to home at Apathy Curve.


I've had the thought before that boredom causes much of the world's issues. When a group of people get bored they get restless and irritable. Eventually they have to end the boredom somehow. They may do positive things like play games or have a party. Quite often however they end up doing something violent. They may want something someone else has that they think will deal with the boredom. If those with the thing won’t share it they will most likely end up fighting over it.

In an effort to stop the violence inherent in the system, why don't we work on a list of things that can temporarily take away the boredom? Some things are quite negative and I would just as soon stay bored but I’m going to list them so we have the bad ways to deal with boredom list. This is a very individual thing as different people find different things interesting. I do hope people will add to the list as I may learn new ways to deal with boredom. The following list is what I can think of in the few minutes I have to work on it:

Bad Ways to deal with boredom:
1. Fights – May seem interesting at the time but the issues of damaged tissues tend to linger.
2. Wars(Big fights) – Excitement I can do without but not boring in any way.
3. Recreational drugs (The bad ones) – You’re not bored but you may not remember it and we have few enough functional brain cells to begin with.
4. Oppressing people – It may be good to be the king but it can come back to hurt you in a very real way.


Positive ways to deal with boredom:
1. Learning to roll over, stand, walk, run etc… Lying on your back unable to move would have been really boring if not for the funny looking things you could wiggle in front of your face. I later learned they were called hands. I like hands, my very first entertainment. Unfortunately this is not a repeatable past time unless you are injured.
2. Food and drink – I sometimes wish I didn’t like food so much but it does eliminate boredom for a few minutes every day.
3. Inventing – New ways to do things and new things to do. As long as you don’t get blown up by the discovery.
4. Christmas - I enjoyed it as a kid, after getting married and now that I have kids of my own I enjoy it even more. The spirit of Christmas to me is about making a greater effort than normal to be civil, forgiving, generous, happy and fun.
5. Games – Preferably something played with other people but even single player video games can stop the boredom for a few hours.
6. Sex – Definitely not boring.
7. Television – Many are critical of this technological wonder but it allows for a suspension of reality unlike any other. How much mischief has been averted because people were watching TV instead of being bored out of their minds? I’m sure it’s caused problems as well but I feel it has prevented more than it caused.
8. Exploration - I'm talking about going to new places. Not different cities but places mankind hasn't gone before. You know the phrase.
9. Vehicles – Oh yeah, they are fun indeed, unless you’re stuck in traffic of course.
10. Electronics - These wonderful little pieces of magic are great.
11. Books - An old invention but still a good way to stave off boredom from time to time.