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Occasionally, boredom is beautiful and is a grand opening for creation. Every good thing has to have or at least originate in boredom. In a world where every second is filled with notifications, videos, or endless scrolling, boredom is now a rarity. Most treat it like an unruly foe.
For centuries, philosophers, scientists, and artists have insisted upon the fact that boredom equates to an opportunity for higher creativity, awareness, or even progress. Arthur Schopenhauer said: "Boredom is but the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation."
Kierkegaard took the thought even further, claiming that boredom is basically the root of all evil-but not because it actually would lead to evil acts and goad someone into evil action. It attacks him instead by forcing him to confront the emptiness of life and to seek meaning. It means, then, that boredom has always been central to human life.
Long ago, boredom did not appear as such an inconvenience. For instance, the ancient Stoics, with Seneca being one of them, were even of the opinion that periods of stillness and thought were essential for the attainment of wisdom, whereas now everything in the society is oriented toward idleness being equal to laziness, thereby accustoming us less and less to sitting silently without having to reach toward some device.
Contemporary research seems to be catching up with what philosophers had felt centuries ago. A 2013 study published in the Academy of Management Discoveries established boredom as an incentive to divergent the same kind of thinking relevant for creativity and innovation. If participants were busy with boring chores such as copying numbers, they would later come up with better ideas than those who remained engaged all the time.
Neuroscience explains why: when the brain is not overloaded with information, the “default mode network” activates. This network is linked to introspection, imagination, and problem-solving. Essentially, boredom gives the brain breathing room to connect dots and form new ideas.
A 2022 study by Datareportal revealed that an Indian, on average, spends more than seven hours staring at screens. These could be television, smartphones, or laptops. This constant
stimulation does not leave any time for mental downtime. The moment we feel even a tinge of boredom, we reach for social media that provides quick bursts of dopamine, but eventually worsens our capacity for stillness.
John Eastwood, a psychologist, describes boredom as a failure of engagement in his book “Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom.” It's not that there's nothing to do; we've lost the ability to value not doing anything.
World-changing ideas flowed from moments of idleness.
Newton is said to have conceived the theory of gravity while sitting under an apple tree-most certainly not a busy schedule! Charles Darwin would spend countless hours walking in his garden and thinking about things. J.K. Rowling had the idea of Harry Potter while on a delayed train journey-that's your classic boredom.
Hence, Friedrich Nietzsche thought that for deep thought, solitude and even boredom were a necessity, not forgetting the statement: He who has a 'why' to live can bear almost any 'how'. This "why" often comes when there is an imposition to slow down and to think deeply.
Ironically, the greater obsession with activity has birthed another set of issues. Constant digital stimulation correlates with higher anxiety levels, lower concentration spans, and burnout. According to APA, mental tiredness increases among the urban population, partly because of mental exhaustion from nonstop information processing.
Conversely, the University of Central Lancashire researchers found that controlled boring tasks—repetitive writing—led to increased creativity scores for the subjects. Hence, moments of nothingness are not wasted; they are moments spent on inducing clarity of mind.
Some new-age therapists, in fact, use behavioral activation for anxiety and depression, where they recommend activities devoid of technological distractions and mental stimulation, such as unconnected walks or silent sitting. The concept is that low-stimulation activities provide space for mental processes to help regulate emotions or become aware.
A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2019 indicated that people who accept boredom tend to lower his or her own stress and to become more emotionally resilient over time.
This happens because the stimulation of boredom makes the brain engage in self-soothing, thereby strengthening psychological endurance, unlike constant entertainment would ever do.
If you wish boredom to start creeping into your life time not as a punishment, but instead as a method for creativity or keeping the mind, the first step would be very small:
Such moments may feel odd at first, but they nurture patience and creativity and furnish clarity with time.
We speak of productivity hacks, time management, and hustle culture, but perhaps the biggest rebellion today is nothingness. Boredom is not a bug; it is a feature of the mind, a reset button for growth and originality.
As Blaise Pascal said, "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone."
Perhaps it is time that we take him seriously.
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