Boredom is something everyone experiences, however very little scientific research has been devoted to exploring some of its causes or why people experience it. Based on personal experience, I was bored and decided to play a video a game this past week. It was very captivating and kept my interest for a few days. Today, however, I was playing it, and was suddenly overwhelmed with an extreme sense boredom, to the point that I didnt want to do anything else and had absolutely no desires or interests at all to do anything. To elaborate, I was so bored, that while I was outside smoking, I burnt a leaf off of a dried basil plant, and then burnt the stem and it made me psychoanalyze (think deeply about) the plant I was burning. I began to think about all of the tiny, little, remaining cells that may be left on it as the tip of the stem turned to ashes. Prior to this, I ate a grape and was thinking about it as being a living organism and eating a mouthful of cells, with all of its cells (and nutrients) merging with mine. Which is way off topic from boredom, but very much related. It led me to explore and think about things, not only differently, but also want to further investigate the things I was thinking about: such as people getting their nutrients from plants or other living organisms and those organisms, such as plants, getting their nutrients from soil, water, the atmosphere and sunlight.
After roughly 30 minutes of pure boredom I decided to do some research. Of course the topic of interest at the time was boredom. I have tried to doing some random Google searches on the topic before, but the information is usually very limited. So I decided view some databases with peer-reviewed and other related articles. Come to find out, there is very little research devoted to this topic and it is something everyone experiences. It does get some attention in psychology, and behavioral sciences, maybe other areas that I am currently unaware of like neuroscience. However some of the articles I read were related to psychology. One of the papers I read was On the Function of Boredom by Shane Bench and Heather Lench who argue that boredom is an emotion, like others (i.e. happiness, sadness, anger and anxiety) that is experienced during the pursuit of new or alternative goals. I tend to think it can lead to alternative interests as well. If someone for example gets bored with whatever they are doing then they might find something else to do, possibly to fill an emotional void or gap. Maybe it is due to being unhappy or lack of interest, and while there is no set definition of boredom, one the paper uses from The Unengaged Mind: Defining Boredom in terms of attention - the aversive experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity. I was no longer satisfied with the video game I was playing so decided to find something else to appease my interests that the time.
Some of the things that have been researched are how boredom, which is a trait, can lead to drug or alcohol abuse, gambling, over eating or binge eating, poor grades in school, and even depression (hopelessness). Doctors can find ways to treat depression, determine better diets and exercise, and people can even develop better study habits, but there seems to be no way to treat boredom. And while boredom is a trait that everyone possesses, it is not always bad or negative. It can even cause musicians to write songs, or people to write literature or discover new things and interests. It can spark a creative passion and imagination (or mind) by brainstorming. It can also help people relax and not be as emotionally tense. To momentarily give up on everything and start over with something new.
My final conclusion: I think its time to quit playing video games that lack progression with limited and repetitive game play.
After roughly 30 minutes of pure boredom I decided to do some research. Of course the topic of interest at the time was boredom. I have tried to doing some random Google searches on the topic before, but the information is usually very limited. So I decided view some databases with peer-reviewed and other related articles. Come to find out, there is very little research devoted to this topic and it is something everyone experiences. It does get some attention in psychology, and behavioral sciences, maybe other areas that I am currently unaware of like neuroscience. However some of the articles I read were related to psychology. One of the papers I read was On the Function of Boredom by Shane Bench and Heather Lench who argue that boredom is an emotion, like others (i.e. happiness, sadness, anger and anxiety) that is experienced during the pursuit of new or alternative goals. I tend to think it can lead to alternative interests as well. If someone for example gets bored with whatever they are doing then they might find something else to do, possibly to fill an emotional void or gap. Maybe it is due to being unhappy or lack of interest, and while there is no set definition of boredom, one the paper uses from The Unengaged Mind: Defining Boredom in terms of attention - the aversive experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity. I was no longer satisfied with the video game I was playing so decided to find something else to appease my interests that the time.
Some of the things that have been researched are how boredom, which is a trait, can lead to drug or alcohol abuse, gambling, over eating or binge eating, poor grades in school, and even depression (hopelessness). Doctors can find ways to treat depression, determine better diets and exercise, and people can even develop better study habits, but there seems to be no way to treat boredom. And while boredom is a trait that everyone possesses, it is not always bad or negative. It can even cause musicians to write songs, or people to write literature or discover new things and interests. It can spark a creative passion and imagination (or mind) by brainstorming. It can also help people relax and not be as emotionally tense. To momentarily give up on everything and start over with something new.
My final conclusion: I think its time to quit playing video games that lack progression with limited and repetitive game play.
