I'm soooo Bored?

LET'S BE BORED

We have so many gadgets in our lives, especially those mobile ones we carry with us everywhere, that there's little opportunity to be bored.  And I have allowed myself to be swayed by the dominant modern thought that boredom is, of itself, a bad thing. Something to be fought against, planned around, avoided and evaded.  And yet the converse is also true.  Those same gadgets dissipate our ability to concentrate, encourage us to engage with different facets of the virtual world simultaneously, with the result that we frequently aren't truly in contact with any of them.

There was a photo I saw on Twitter recently (and yes, I conscious of the irony of my own statements here....) showing a crowd waiting for a train on a station platform. There must have been about a dozen people and all bar one were looking at some kind of screen - mostly mobile phones, but also tablets and ebook readers. A lone figure was circled, looking upwards with hands in pockets, and the caption read "What is wrong with this man?".  Intended ironically, but are we now reaching the point where those who don't whip out an electronic device at the slightest opportunity are considered the odd ones out?  It's not quite there yet, but this feels like the way the world is headed.

A sub caption queried this man's sanity suggesting that simply staring at the sky was a form of madness (although he could have been looking at the big screen giving incoming train information!). The implication, and it's one I do feel the urge to join, is that this man has it right and all the others have got it wrong.  That sometimes simply contemplating the world is the best thing to do, that looking around at the real world can be more rewarding that seeking on screen gratification.

Not that I'm going to be some sort of evangelist here.  I'm as guilty as anyone of checking my mobile, or using it to while away time while I wait for a bus, train, other person.  I'd be reluctant to leave home without it, less so I can keep in touch (I receive very few calls) but as a useful tool (how often is an instant Google the answer to a tricky question?), a timepiece (I stopped wearing a watch years ago) and, I admit it, a form of playmate.  If I feel I might be bored I can use it to play a game or have a read.  But maybe I should experiment with letting go.  

So I will try leaving it behind a few times (even if I'll still be carrying a book and a camera!). Perhaps the biggest loss will be in not knowing the time, but there are usually public clocks around and it's not as if I often have to be anywhere at a specific hour.

I might even - revolutionary idea - go without a book and force myself to simply take in the sights and sounds around me, should I choose to stop for a rest.  Embrace the potential for boredom....

For the reality is that I am hardly ever bored.  My mind, deprived of external stimulations, will always find a path into some other world.  Rather than looking around me I am more likely to look inwards, to create my own imaginary conversations or situations and lose all sight of what is happening around me.  With the most visible side effect being a tendency to walk along the street talking to myself.

But in that I may be in a minority. For so many people now the idea of being deprived of their gadgets is to suggest enforced boredom, and boredom is, to them, a very very bad thing. An evil to be avoided. Nobody should be allowed to be bored.

And yet.  One of the secrets of a contented life is recognising that all forms of enjoyment are relative.  Happiness can only be experienced if you've known sadness. Excitement is the counterpart of boredom.  You can get more out of life if you allow dullness in.  An excess of anything creates immunity.  Too much of any experience which gives pleasure will lead to the sensations of that experience being reduced to the point where the pleasure no longer becomes noticeable. The human mind requires counterpoint in order to recognise that it is enjoying itself. Too much of a good thing is indeed too much, in that it will cease to be a novelty and become the norm, and the norm soon becomes the dull, the boring.

So I will embrace opportunities for dullness. Last August, when we saw fifty five Edinburgh Fringe shows, was one of the best months of my life. But could only be so because it stood out so brightly in contrast to other periods. It is is not a state I could, or would wish, to maintain throughout the whole year. It is the limited availability of such excitement that gives it such value.  If pleasure comes too easily it soon ceases to be pleasure.

Go with the boredom.  It's better for you than you think.