BOREDOM

1. BOREDOM By: Rosie Lakic

2. What is Boredom? Boredom is an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in their surroundings. Another term for boredom is ennui, originating from the French language meaning a feeling of utter weariness from lack of interest.

3. Phycology of Boredom In positive phycology, boredom is described as a response to a moderate challenge for which the subject has more than enough skill. There are three types of boredom: -When we are prevented from engaging in some wanted activity -When we are forced to engage in some unwanted activity -When we are simply unable, for no apparent reason, to maintain engagement in any activity

4. Boredom Proneness Boredom Proneness is a tendency to experience boredom of all types. Recent research has found that boredom proneness is clearly and consistently associated with failures of attention. Both boredom and boredom proneness are both linked to depression and depressive symptoms. People begin to lose interest in everything they do and they eventually become depressed

5. Can Boredom Lead to Death? Annie Britton and Martin Shipley of University College London figure that boredom can be associated with early death. They caution that boredom by itself may not kill you, but it could be a symptom of other risky behavior such as drinking, smoking, taking drugs or having a psychological problem. A recent study…

6. Recent Study… Researchers studied 7,500 questionnaires completed between 1985 and 1988 by civil servants in London.    The participants were asked if they feltbored while at work during the previous month.  Britton and Shipley thentracked down how many had died by April of 2009.   The conclusion: The bored subjects were two and a half times more likely to have died of a heart problem than those who had said they weren't bored.

7. Continued… However, after further statistical adjustment, Britton and Shipley contributed the factor of physical activity and exercise but realized there was still a correlation between boredom and death. Dr. Christopher Cannon from Harvard said: “Someone who is bored may not be motivated to eat well, exercise, and have a heart-healthy lifestyle. That may make them more likely to have a cardiovascular event. If boredom was linked to depression, it wouldn't be surprising if boredpeople had more heart attacks.  Depression has long been recognized as a risk factor for heart disease, and dangerous hormones that can stress the heart may be released in the bodies of bored people.”

8. Philosophy of Boredom Boredom is a perception of one’s environment as dull, tedious, and lacking stimulation. Philosophers believe that passive ways to escape boredom are to sleep or to think creative thoughts (daydream). According to Martin Heidegger, boredom takes you away from your normal focus on particular beings and your cares for them and diffuses your awareness into a sense of one.

9. Heidegger Heidegger also believed that when we are bored, we are no longer engaged with the ordinary and all beings become a matter of indifference, undifferentiated from one another. Everything merges or dissolves into an un-distinguished unity. Boredom is a call to responsiveness instead of responsibility. http://www.jstor.org/pss/3235265

10. Quotes/Philosophers “We seek rest in a struggle against some obstacles. And when we have overcome these, rest proves unbearable because of the boredom it produces.” –Blaise Pascal To prove the vanity in human existence, Arthur Schopenhaur said: “..for if life, in the desire for which our essence and existence consists, possessed in itself a positive value and real content, there would be no such thing as boredom: mere existence would fulfill and satisfy us.”

11. … Erich Fromm was a critical thinker who said: “Boredom is perhaps the most important source of aggression and destructiveness today.” He believes that the thrills and novelty that characterizes consumer culture are not solutions to boredom, but are mere distractions from boredom which continue unconsciously.

12. Why do people get bored? Lack of variety (repetition, need of change or stimulation). Perception Inborn curiosity drive (humans and animals are more likely to be attracted to something that stimulates their eyes). High intelligence

13. In Conclusion, I believe… Boredom contains potential. Boredom is an opportunity to lead a more substantial life. Boredom tells me if I’m throwing away my life or not. Boredom is an emotion or feeling your subconscious mind uses to tell you that there is something more important out there that you should be doing.