Technology Is Saving You From Profound Levels of Boredom And It's a Problem

According to a new study, the constant distraction of social media may be preventing us from feeling bored. It's a shame because boredom can be fertile ground for innovation.

This level of boredom is different to the initial level of tedium we experience when waiting at a bus stop or waiting for a television show. Our boredom levels never progress into a zone of creativity as a result of this initial dip into monotony.

According to Timothy Hill, a sociologist at the University of Bath in the UK, "profound boredom may sound like an overwhelmingly negative concept but it can be intensely positive if people are given the chance for undistracted thinking and development."

The Pandemic was a tragic, destructive, consuming experience for thousands of less fortunate people, but we are all aware of the stories of those who found new hobbies, careers, or directions in life.

Hill and his colleagues looked at the lives of 15 people who were either given paid time off work or asked to work from home during the coronaviruses epidemic. The participants were all from England or the Republic of Ireland.

Structured interviews were conducted with the participants, in which they talked about how they spent their time during the Pandemic. Social media and doom scrolling were used to counter boredom.

The people who were involved in the study experienced deep, profound boredom that made them feel restless and empty. During the Pandemic, passions such as carpentry, baking, and cycling were rediscovered.

Many people don't have the luxury of just sitting around and doing nothing for a long time, and social media can be important in maintaining relationships with family and friends. There is a point to be made about how social media affects our thinking.

"The problem we observed was that social media can alleviate superficial boredom but that distraction sucks up time and energy, and may prevent people from progressing to a state of profound boredom, where they might discover new passions."

The idea of superficial boredom and profound boredom can be traced back to a series of lectures by Martin Heidegger. Heidegger said that boredom is an important part of life.

In the decades since, we've come up with more and more ways to avoid boredom, thanks in part to social media and other technology. If you don't want to, you don't have to stop and think.

Many good ideas come to us in the shower because boredom and wandering of a free mind is a crucial foundation for creativity. The researchers are going to dig into the topic further.

"This research has given us a chance to understand how the always-on culture and devices that promise an abundance of information and entertainment may be fixing our superficial boredom but are actually preventing us from finding more meaningful things." Those who engage in a digital cleanse may be on the correct path.

The research was published in marketing theory