A Different Kind of Boredom

Every parent and every teacher has heard a child complain, “I’m bored” or “This is so boooring.” It was true one hundred years ago and it is true today.

How could it possibly be true today? After all, in the past one hundred years we have dramatically increased the entertainment possibilities. We carry screens with us that have access to a supply of music, movies, books, games that would have blown the minds of the kids bored in 1926.

How is it that kids are still bored?

It helps to consider that not all kinds of boredom are the same. There is being bored in the moment. Nothing in front of you is interesting or engaging. This is sometimes called situational boredom. Maybe you are stuck in a waiting room, an airplane, or dare I say, a classroom. In situational boredom you crave a distraction.

Our phones and tablets are quick and easy solutions. They are full of new stimuli to alleviate our boredom. We can play a quick game, catch up on the news, chat with friends. We never have to be bored again.

And yet, we are still bored. There is a different kind of boredom we have to consider. The truth is, you can be bored even with access to an Internet’s worth of media. You are bored because none of the distractions are satisfying. The distractions themselves are boring. This is referred to as existential boredom.

Kids experiencing existential boredom aren’t looking for a distraction. They are looking for meaning.

Interestingly both situational and existential boredom can lead us to similar solutions. Fostering curiosity, creativity, mindfulness, attentiveness, finding connections are all effective mindsets to reduce the experience of boredom. A major challenge for us is that the go-to solution to situational boredom, namely, ready access to devices, are not typically very good at fostering the type of mindsets we need.

Recent studies have suggested that digital media can serve to fragment attention and inflate our expectations for stimuli.

We need to do a better job of listening to our boredom. Our situational boredom might not be asking us for distraction and entertainment. Or perhaps the message of situational boredom is masking a deeper message that we never get to hear because we are quick to turn on the distractions.

To be fair, both situational and existential boredom existed one hundred years ago. The problem isn’t solely with social media, gaming, and digital devices but they do help us see the problem more clearly. They can serve as a scapegoat for our problem and lead us to a solution that includes developing qualities in our children that we already hold in high regard.

Most parents would be in favor of their children being more creative and curious. Even as adults we would like to be more mindful and attentive. If we can see the waiting room at the dentist as a place we can observe life playfully, if we can notice tiny delights on our commute, and see the world in front of our eyes, instead of our screens, as worthy of our attention we will have gone a long way towards not being boring.