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Boredom is lack of attention
The vanished waiting room
The smartphone in the pocket has canceled the very possibility of boredom. People used to sit in a waiting room while the doctor ran an hour late, with no magazines worth reading, left alone with their thoughts. A person might notice in that moment that the mind isn't at rest and isn't comfortable in its own skin, casting about for something worth paying attention to.
Very few of us have that experience anymore, because we can always relieve boredom by watching something, reading something, or listening to something. What the old discomfort allowed many people to discover is that something sits on the other side of boredom.
On retreat
On a meditation retreat, there is silence and nothing to read, write, or watch, and no conversation. A person just notices sights, sounds, and sensations moment by moment, and the arising of each subsequent thought. Once someone builds a little concentration in that direction, boredom turns out to be a total illusion.
Why do people dislike being alone with thoughts?
In a 2014 Science study led by Timothy Wilson, participants sat alone in a room with nothing to do for 6 to 15 minutes. Most said they did not enjoy it, and many found it hard to concentrate. In one experiment, participants had first experienced a mild electric shock and said they would pay to avoid it. While alone, 12 of 18 men and 6 of 24 women chose to shock themselves.
What does the brain do when idle?
In 2001, neuroscientist Marcus Raichle and colleagues described a set of brain regions that become more active when a person is not focused on an outside task. This became known as the default mode network. It is linked to mind wandering, remembering the past, and imagining the future. The network was first noticed because these regions showed decreased activity during demanding tasks.
How long has boredom troubled people?
The Roman philosopher Seneca described a weariness with life, taedium vitae, in the first century and wrote about restless people who travel from place to place seeking relief. Medieval monks described acedia, a listlessness that struck in the middle of the day. The English noun 'boredom' is much newer, and Charles Dickens's novel Bleak House, published in 1852 and 1853, contains one of its earliest recorded uses.
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