If it weren't for the crushing boredom of the suburbs when I was a child, I might not have learned how to program computers. I would never have thought so much about spaceships. The original Star Wars trilogy wouldn't have been nearly as cool to discover.
I also play traditional music, though boredom wasn't part of my discovering that. However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past. You need empty space if you're going to approach something with a fresh, receptive mind and heart. When something is so common that it becomes an ubiquitous commodity, we tend to tune it out and become desensitized. It's this way for all kinds of culture and media. If you're not familiar enough with the really great parts of traditional musics, then think of media around sex. Or, for that matter, video games.
The transition from boredom to fascination to determination has been a start of many significant parts of my life.
Totally! I think what’s really important is having space to think. Stimulation seems to stopper the possibility of deep-thought. Having significant, radical, perhaps discomforting thoughts becomes impossible when we’re constantly aborting our opportunity to think by filling our lives with distractions. It’s an activity which really does require absence—séquestration and quiet space. I try to set aside time each day for thinking. Often I don’t wind up thinking anything very interesting, but these brief quiet periods have an overall effect of making me feel sharper and more attuned to the world around me. When I’m constantly bombarded by stimulants I begin to feel like a meat-dummy. A buzzing uselessness. A corpse doll. The ubiquitous, incessant access to entertainment, and even to knowledge, that we enjoy today can be far more harmful than helpful.
Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. I was recently turned onto this band called Wand. If you want to feel some delicious space in a song, check out Scarecrow by Wand. The video is amazingly simple too.
The constant bombardment of shit is so real though. I want to spend time with my wife and kid. Sometimes it's hard to focus though. Everywhere you look in public there is something flashing to get your attention. Thankfully we _are_ able to turn things off for a while and just be with each other.
> However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past.
A glass is useful because of its empty space. You need the emptiness to fill it up with something. For inventions/ideas/startups, you need some empty space in your mind.
Think of a bored computer (one that is not used to its maximum capacity). It's like a computer that uses swap memory v.s. one that has a few GBs of free RAM. Which one would you rather use?
I say, it is good to be bored and stay bored -- don't rush to fill up the empty space.
That's how Neil Gaiman writes, he gets bored. He gets most of his ideas from boredom. And when he needs to write, he sits down and lets himself only do two things. Write, or look out the window.
In purely audio terms, dynamic range plays a huge part in this. Modern mastering has turned everything into one loud block, there's no room for anything to breathe.
In music, I always found it interesting that it was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that ushered in a pop music revolution - as it had "quiet-loud-quiet" dynamic.
I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like it is some sort of personal failure.
Meanwhile I'm able to write about game ideas, code them, create some characters and story and background, even though it doesn't lead to anything since it's more of a hobby, but I fail to make it into a job. I love to think, create, try to design little things, and honestly that's the best pleasure I have.
In the end, I don't think I'm really unhappy. Nihilism is a good way to cope with my own reality. I don't think people who fill their time with a job to kill the boredom are doing themselves a favor. The philosophy of contributing to society to gain money, quality holidays and entertainment seems weird to me.
I always wonder: when their week is over, where do people find refuge? Sports, hobbies, entertainment? I just don't understand how people can think about leaving this world without having something that is really their own. How do you live when you're just a consumer? What happens if you lose friends? In my own conception of life, I just don't understand how people can not feel lost if they don't create something that stems from their own selves.
>I always wonder: when their week is over, where do people find refuge? Sports, hobbies, entertainment? I just don't understand how people can think about leaving this world without having something that is really their own. How do you live when you're just a consumer? What happens if you lose friends? In my own conception of life, I just don't understand how people can not feel lost if they don't create something that stems from their own selves.
Everyone reading this will be dead in 90 years. We are stranded on a giant rock spinning through frozen space.
At the end of it all there will be nothing but the heat death of the universe. Nothing and nobody will survive.
There is no larger purpose. There will be nobody alive to remember any good or bad deeds you may do.
Fortunately, you have the choice to either be depressed about it, or try to enjoy as much of it as you can while you can.
I enjoy listening to and producing music and playing sport. Also enjoying nature and peace and quiet. I like nice food and spending time with my partner.
I love my life, except work which to me is an unfortunate necessity. I just try to maximize my enjoyment and that makes me feel alive.
>I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like it is some sort of personal failure.
Completing a big project, setting a new weight lifting or running PR only leaves me feeling empty. I've come to realize fulfillment, for me at least, is in the journey; accomplishment is merely a memento.
> Meanwhile I'm able to write about game ideas, code them, create some characters and story and background, even though it doesn't lead to anything since it's more of a hobby, but I fail to make it into a job.
I am feeling sort of stuck in a loop with this, and constantly feel like a failure about it. Part of me thinks I should give up on the idea altogether and I would just be a happier person. But I don't know if I could do that if I were being completely honest with myself. Not that this helps you, just putting it out there :)
I recently read Sapiens. The author discussed how the Agriculture Revolution tied humans down into boring and less rewarding agriculture societies. Perhaps after thousands of years running freely in the wild, humans got bored. They needed to find higher callings. This was when religion started.
It seems like humans are now at the same junction. After getting all stuff we need, we are lost again. We have less children for economic reasons in the same way hunters did. Having and raising children is ironically the simplest way to find meaning in life.
> I always wonder: when their week is over, where do people find refuge? Sports, hobbies, entertainment? I just don't understand how people can think about leaving this world without having something that is really their own. How do you live when you're just a consumer? What happens if you lose friends? In my own conception of life, I just don't understand how people can not feel lost if they don't create something that stems from their own selves.
Personally I'm happy to be with myself. I spend most of my idle time reading, talking to my loved ones and reflecting on my days. I'm not sure if I call myself just a consumer because I don't enjoy going out to drink, try new restaurants or purchase things I have no need of.
Regarding what happens if you lose friends. Keeping your friends close to you takes effort. I try to stay in touch with my closest friends and take interest in their lives.
Lastly, I have no desire to leave an imprint on this world as my own creation. What I do desire the most is to create an impact in the lives of people I do care about. So far this impact is limited in sharing my thoughts about philosophy, science and society.
> I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like it is some sort of personal failure.
It's not a weird fear. It is rooted in the expressive individualism of our age, which strips us of tribal identity and tells us that we can be whoever we make ourselves. Both for better and for worse.
The worse of the latter is that if we do not make anything of ourselves, it is our fault. This is perhaps a little more true today than it was in ages past, but we feel it to be a near-absolute truth where it was barely thought of once.
I feel the same thing. It is neither strange nor unexplainable. It is one of the little-spoken downsides of modernity.
Welcome to the wonderful globalised utopia of 2019 in which shared culture has been deliberately destroyed and genuine, wholesome, worthwhile, spiritually nourishing experiences and a sense of community are replaced with empty consumerism and anomie.
I was so bored this past weekend, and it was great. Every year I volunteer to backpack into the desert mountains of Southern California, sit in one spot for 3 full days, and count all of the Bighorn Sheep that I see. There's typically a total of an hour of excitement each day, and the rest is just sitting, staring at a mountainside. No cell reception, no human made structures visible, just two other people there with me. I recommend that everyone find something similar in their own lives.
If I had to sit for 3 days watching the mountains and the occasional sheep passing by, I would probably turn to meditation or continue planning my project in my mind.
Humans were built like this. We must spend time going back to our ape surroundings. Give yourself at least an hour to walk through wilderness with no music, no celphone, just walk and take nature in. God is in nature.
“Every year I volunteer to backpack into the desert mountains of Southern California, sit in one spot for 3 full days, and count all of the Bighorn Sheep that I see. “
Where is this if I may ask? And how many sheep do you get to see? I wouldn’t mind doing that and take my camera.
And once you can do that, take it to the next level: stare at your apartment wall for 3 days and count the insects, with no other people. That would be hard and true boredom!
This is exactly in line with my own experience. I noticed that I had completely stopped thinking deeply and creatively as I used to, and it coincided with my use of social media as a mental "palate-cleanser" at work. I was filling all of my spare moments with the mental equivalent of processed snacks. Once I stopped, my mind returned to filling that void with deep thoughts and creativity.
I really think social media is altering our attention spans and changing our minds, for the worse.
I'm not sure that boredom is the right word for what is being described here. Leisure is what we used to call it, and the sense of boredom seems (to me) to emerge as one possible reaction to unencumbered leisure time. When I am on a hike, my mind can be free, but I am not bored.
Certainly agree with the idea that phones create a strong environment for bored distraction. I've been slowly deleting apps where I find myself pointlessly refreshing/checking, but I haven't made it to the next level of completely disengaging and simply sitting and mentally exploring other forms of leisure.
> Hackers (and creative people in general) should never be bored or have to drudge at stupid repetitive work, because when this happens it means they aren't doing what only they can do — solve new problems. This wastefulness hurts everybody. Therefore boredom and drudgery are not just unpleasant but actually evil.
> To behave like a hacker, you have to believe this enough to want to automate away the boring bits as much as possible, not just for yourself but for everybody else (especially other hackers).
> (There is one apparent exception to this. Hackers will sometimes do things that may seem repetitive or boring to an observer as a mind-clearing exercise, or in order to acquire a skill or have some particular kind of experience you can't have otherwise. But this is by choice — nobody who can think should ever be forced into a situation that bores them.)
Being trapped in a middle of nowhere town that didn't even have sidewalks, combined with the (mis)fortune of having parents that couldn't possibly care less what I spent my time on all gave me everything I have today. Without those thousands of hours on the internet and nothing better to do, I would not be where I am today.
Not everyone can do this but when i get truly bored and have the time and space... Spark up a little doobson and start playing music. Dont think, just play for 30 minutes and hour 2 hours. However these times are much scarcer with a little kid in the house.
Boredom is where I recharge, it’s wonderful and therapeutic. It’s also at that moment where my creativity soars. Engineered engagement is at an all time high and I just need to get away from it all.
I think boredom is a mechanism for novelty seeking, making us take a step back and maybe try a different activity, a necessary part of the exploration-exploitation tradeoff... because we never know what unknown unknowns we're missing. It's good to do what we know will give us rewards, but maybe there are even better rewards we're passing on, so from time to time it's necessary to sacrifice the safe zone and go out.
Interestingly, both curiosity and self-control have been turned into successful reinforcement learning techniques. A RL agent would walk a maze collecting points, but one wall was turned into a TV, so when it found it it stopped exploring and just binged on the video feed. Even RL agents can be addicted to video.
There is also a theory that attention "disorders" are an adaptation or variation in novelty seeking. i.e. some people are just more wired for novelty seeking
Having a population with varied amount of attention seeking seems beneficial for finding the "optimum" for the local environment. Too much novelty seeking and the seekers will all get eaten by bears and starve because they fail to do what is known good. Too little novelty seeking and the known good will rot and be inflexible to changing conditions. (obviously contrived)
There is definitely too much sensation and information for me these days. When I was a kid and being a natural geek I had so little technical literature in the house that I used to pore over it. I'd read my computer magazines cover to cover until I virtually memorised the whole thing.
These days, I don't even know where to start. It's terrifying! I'm moving to the country soon to get away from the overload.
This is a topic I've been pondering lately. Even looking around the internet for technical information/assistance has become harder due to all of the information that is now out there. How can we find sources or information that are truly meaningful and provide great value, rather than just mediocre or non at all?
“Few understand that procrastination is our natural defense, letting things take care of themselves and exercise their antifragility; it results from some ecological or naturalistic wisdom, and is not always bad -- at an existential level, it is my body rebelling against its entrapment. It is my soul fighting the Procrustean bed of modernity.”
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
Maybe it's a language thing, but I wonder if for the most of human history, people simply weren't bored in the same sense as they are today. Wikipedia's article on boredom seems to suggest the concept only gained traction in the 17th century, while the term 'boring' took off in sync with 19th century industrialization!
I consider it an aspect of “wealth” to have quiet time for introspection. While I do most of my hiking with friends, I block off long periods of time for introspective, or meditative, walks by myself in the wilderness (I live 150 feet from a trailhead, with lots of nearby wilderness).
I usually enjoy writing but after a recent move back to our home in Arizona, I was suffering from “writer’s block” and the way I broke through that was to toss my laptop in a backpack and walk for 45 minutes to my local library, write, then walk home. Walking 90 minutes might seem boring but this process worked well for me and got me unstuck.
This sounds great and makes a lot of sense, but how do I get bored? Last week I walked the Jurassic Coast alone, and I loved it but I don't think I ever felt bored. If I'm at home I love to read or program and in the mornings I love to go out and run.. No headphones or music or phones, just me and my thoughts, but again I don't really feel bored.
This is why a quit weed. Weed makes being bored fun. So all the motivation that being bored typically gives you goes away and you are content to do nothing. However it is healthy to be bored, and you need this push in order to accomplish things
Upcoming generations will think of us as the society who was afraid of being bored. The book Deep Work by Cal Newport is a good read on this topic, but I'm sure it isn't the only one. You can find my detailed notes on it here: https://alvaroduran.me/deep-work (any feedback is welcomed!)
Once you have spent years not being bored thanks to constant availability to Youtube, Netflix and plethora of scrolling options on phone it becomes really _hard_ to be bored.
A lot of people of my generation actually need Netflix to fall asleep, which I find frankly disturbing. The eyeball economy is an addiction, maybe not as dangerous as other ones, so we just live with it.
[+] [-] stcredzero|6 years ago|reply
I also play traditional music, though boredom wasn't part of my discovering that. However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past. You need empty space if you're going to approach something with a fresh, receptive mind and heart. When something is so common that it becomes an ubiquitous commodity, we tend to tune it out and become desensitized. It's this way for all kinds of culture and media. If you're not familiar enough with the really great parts of traditional musics, then think of media around sex. Or, for that matter, video games.
The transition from boredom to fascination to determination has been a start of many significant parts of my life.
[+] [-] voidhorse|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brootstrap|6 years ago|reply
The constant bombardment of shit is so real though. I want to spend time with my wife and kid. Sometimes it's hard to focus though. Everywhere you look in public there is something flashing to get your attention. Thankfully we _are_ able to turn things off for a while and just be with each other.
[+] [-] ne01|6 years ago|reply
> However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past.
A glass is useful because of its empty space. You need the emptiness to fill it up with something. For inventions/ideas/startups, you need some empty space in your mind.
Think of a bored computer (one that is not used to its maximum capacity). It's like a computer that uses swap memory v.s. one that has a few GBs of free RAM. Which one would you rather use?
I say, it is good to be bored and stay bored -- don't rush to fill up the empty space.
[+] [-] chris11|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ErikAugust|6 years ago|reply
In music, I always found it interesting that it was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that ushered in a pop music revolution - as it had "quiet-loud-quiet" dynamic.
[+] [-] jokoon|6 years ago|reply
Meanwhile I'm able to write about game ideas, code them, create some characters and story and background, even though it doesn't lead to anything since it's more of a hobby, but I fail to make it into a job. I love to think, create, try to design little things, and honestly that's the best pleasure I have.
In the end, I don't think I'm really unhappy. Nihilism is a good way to cope with my own reality. I don't think people who fill their time with a job to kill the boredom are doing themselves a favor. The philosophy of contributing to society to gain money, quality holidays and entertainment seems weird to me.
I always wonder: when their week is over, where do people find refuge? Sports, hobbies, entertainment? I just don't understand how people can think about leaving this world without having something that is really their own. How do you live when you're just a consumer? What happens if you lose friends? In my own conception of life, I just don't understand how people can not feel lost if they don't create something that stems from their own selves.
[+] [-] brokenmachine|6 years ago|reply
Everyone reading this will be dead in 90 years. We are stranded on a giant rock spinning through frozen space.
At the end of it all there will be nothing but the heat death of the universe. Nothing and nobody will survive.
There is no larger purpose. There will be nobody alive to remember any good or bad deeds you may do.
Fortunately, you have the choice to either be depressed about it, or try to enjoy as much of it as you can while you can.
I enjoy listening to and producing music and playing sport. Also enjoying nature and peace and quiet. I like nice food and spending time with my partner.
I love my life, except work which to me is an unfortunate necessity. I just try to maximize my enjoyment and that makes me feel alive.
[+] [-] ricardobeat|6 years ago|reply
For a majority of people, their greatest and most satisfying achievement will be their children. Nature doesn’t play around :)
[+] [-] ne01|6 years ago|reply
Then you must ask why those who have accomplished their dreams (doing what they want) still feel lost. I know many.
The real question is: what can complete the emptiness that I feel?
The answer is simple: Nothing! There is no emptiness -- stop imagining one.
Do what your heart desires, experience life, create stuff, change the world as you wish, but remember, oh my friend, you are not just this!
[+] [-] ElatedOwl|6 years ago|reply
Completing a big project, setting a new weight lifting or running PR only leaves me feeling empty. I've come to realize fulfillment, for me at least, is in the journey; accomplishment is merely a memento.
[+] [-] tcfunk|6 years ago|reply
I am feeling sort of stuck in a loop with this, and constantly feel like a failure about it. Part of me thinks I should give up on the idea altogether and I would just be a happier person. But I don't know if I could do that if I were being completely honest with myself. Not that this helps you, just putting it out there :)
[+] [-] _7fvc|6 years ago|reply
It seems like humans are now at the same junction. After getting all stuff we need, we are lost again. We have less children for economic reasons in the same way hunters did. Having and raising children is ironically the simplest way to find meaning in life.
[+] [-] aniketpant|6 years ago|reply
Personally I'm happy to be with myself. I spend most of my idle time reading, talking to my loved ones and reflecting on my days. I'm not sure if I call myself just a consumer because I don't enjoy going out to drink, try new restaurants or purchase things I have no need of.
Regarding what happens if you lose friends. Keeping your friends close to you takes effort. I try to stay in touch with my closest friends and take interest in their lives.
Lastly, I have no desire to leave an imprint on this world as my own creation. What I do desire the most is to create an impact in the lives of people I do care about. So far this impact is limited in sharing my thoughts about philosophy, science and society.
[+] [-] hydrox24|6 years ago|reply
It's not a weird fear. It is rooted in the expressive individualism of our age, which strips us of tribal identity and tells us that we can be whoever we make ourselves. Both for better and for worse.
The worse of the latter is that if we do not make anything of ourselves, it is our fault. This is perhaps a little more true today than it was in ages past, but we feel it to be a near-absolute truth where it was barely thought of once.
I feel the same thing. It is neither strange nor unexplainable. It is one of the little-spoken downsides of modernity.
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] growlist|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daveslash|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] visarga|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sergiotapia|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lm28469|6 years ago|reply
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fire-watcher-philip-...
[+] [-] Ididntdothis|6 years ago|reply
Where is this if I may ask? And how many sheep do you get to see? I wouldn’t mind doing that and take my camera.
[+] [-] quickthrower2|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ryanponce|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wnmurphy|6 years ago|reply
I really think social media is altering our attention spans and changing our minds, for the worse.
[+] [-] stuart78|6 years ago|reply
Certainly agree with the idea that phones create a strong environment for bored distraction. I've been slowly deleting apps where I find myself pointlessly refreshing/checking, but I haven't made it to the next level of completely disengaging and simply sitting and mentally exploring other forms of leisure.
[+] [-] _o-O-o_|6 years ago|reply
> 3. Boredom and drudgery are evil.
> Hackers (and creative people in general) should never be bored or have to drudge at stupid repetitive work, because when this happens it means they aren't doing what only they can do — solve new problems. This wastefulness hurts everybody. Therefore boredom and drudgery are not just unpleasant but actually evil.
> To behave like a hacker, you have to believe this enough to want to automate away the boring bits as much as possible, not just for yourself but for everybody else (especially other hackers).
> (There is one apparent exception to this. Hackers will sometimes do things that may seem repetitive or boring to an observer as a mind-clearing exercise, or in order to acquire a skill or have some particular kind of experience you can't have otherwise. But this is by choice — nobody who can think should ever be forced into a situation that bores them.)
[+] [-] alexbanks|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 99052882514569|6 years ago|reply
You would be in a different place, and whether it's better or worse is unknowable.
For every person inspired to greatness (or okayness) by boredom, there is someone driven to drug addiction by boredom.
[+] [-] jonny_eh|6 years ago|reply
Where are you? Not in prison I hope.
[+] [-] petra|6 years ago|reply
You have the opportunity to work on them. Be it via meditation. Or cognitive behavioral therapy. or whatever.
And if you succeed, you earn a happier mind.
[+] [-] brootstrap|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] t34543|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] visarga|6 years ago|reply
Interestingly, both curiosity and self-control have been turned into successful reinforcement learning techniques. A RL agent would walk a maze collecting points, but one wall was turned into a TV, so when it found it it stopped exploring and just binged on the video feed. Even RL agents can be addicted to video.
[+] [-] colechristensen|6 years ago|reply
Having a population with varied amount of attention seeking seems beneficial for finding the "optimum" for the local environment. Too much novelty seeking and the seekers will all get eaten by bears and starve because they fail to do what is known good. Too little novelty seeking and the known good will rot and be inflexible to changing conditions. (obviously contrived)
[+] [-] baxtr|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] growlist|6 years ago|reply
These days, I don't even know where to start. It's terrifying! I'm moving to the country soon to get away from the overload.
[+] [-] bradhoffman|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JasonFruit|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] winchling|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gerbilly|6 years ago|reply
I would tell her I'd be there in two minutes, and to me what felt like two minutes, was really ten in real life.
In those days, this kind of computer time dilation experience was pretty unique, and very few people had access to it.
Now I find it funny to see that all of society seems to be turning into phone zombies.
Although this absorption state is occasionally useful, I've come to dislike it. I feel it takes me away from real life down a rabbit hole.
I much prefer full contact living, and the occasional boredom that comes with it.
[+] [-] topologie|6 years ago|reply
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder
[+] [-] z2|6 years ago|reply
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boredom
2: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bored%2Cboredo...
[+] [-] mark_l_watson|6 years ago|reply
I consider it an aspect of “wealth” to have quiet time for introspection. While I do most of my hiking with friends, I block off long periods of time for introspective, or meditative, walks by myself in the wilderness (I live 150 feet from a trailhead, with lots of nearby wilderness).
I usually enjoy writing but after a recent move back to our home in Arizona, I was suffering from “writer’s block” and the way I broke through that was to toss my laptop in a backpack and walk for 45 minutes to my local library, write, then walk home. Walking 90 minutes might seem boring but this process worked well for me and got me unstuck.
[+] [-] Accacin|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] str33t_punk|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jchook|6 years ago|reply
> Boredom is, at its simplest, a form of desire turned back upon itself, resulting in the inability to act in any purposeful or happy manner.
> Why can’t I simply want something? Why can’t I simply do something?
[+] [-] ohduran|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jatins|6 years ago|reply
A lot of people of my generation actually need Netflix to fall asleep, which I find frankly disturbing. The eyeball economy is an addiction, maybe not as dangerous as other ones, so we just live with it.