Can you die of boredom?

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by wegs, Jun 24, 2022.

  1. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Good points. I'm not sure if the ''opposite'' of boredom is busy-ness, or adventure seeking. It's more a state of mind, than anything else, in my opinion. You could appear to be incredibly busy to outsiders looking in at your life, but on the inside, you may feel uninterested, restless, and all of this ''busy-ness'' feels more tedious than anything else.
     
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  3. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    The opposite of boredom wouldn't be "busy-ness". It would be being absorbed or very interested in what you are doing, being fulfilled I guess you could say.

    The type of "busy-ness" that you are referring to is just another form of boredom.
     
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  5. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    I think we’re saying the same thing, but expressing it differently. So, agreed.
     
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  7. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I noticed that you were responding to someone else after I had posted.

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  8. ThazzarBaal Registered Senior Member

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    Since when has busy work not seemed tedious? Sometimes therapeutic value is present in the work itself, but that value has never negated the tedious side of the equation, at least on a personal level. Adventure - A silver lining perspective conjured up due to limited choices, but no less true than it's counterpart named necessity.
     
  9. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Lol no worries

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  10. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    I think we too said virtually the same thing, but expressed ourselves differently. lol

    That said, I don’t mind tedious work sometimes, washing dishes or say doing laundry. If I have a lot on my mind, these mundane chores feel relaxing. I think there’s a difference however, with being temporarily bored and chronic boredom, which could lead to depression if left unchecked.
     
  11. ThazzarBaal Registered Senior Member

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    Between chronic boredom and just being bored, or maybe being boring to crowds who's interests may differ from what they deem to be, umm boring behavior, I might could attest to it being potentially depressing, if not attest it to be a matter of fact. In any case, mundane things like laundry aren't a terrible counter to help balance the beam between boredom and belonging.
     
  12. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    Isn't boredom largely self-imposed? Or rather isn't refusing to be bored something that most people can control?

    For instance, as a kid you could have to stay in your backyard one day and all of your friends are not around that day. The scene is set for boredom but whether or not you are bored depends on how creative you are, whether you give in to boredom or whether you play mind games or physical games to keep yourself entertained.

    Like happiness you can decide to be happy or not.
     
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  13. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Totally agree. But, I also think that it's perfectly okay to do nothing. Italians have a saying called ''il dolce far niente,'' which means the ''sweetness of doing nothing.'' We have tendency as Americans, to feel like we must stay busy or be entertained at all times. In Italy, it's not considered boring to do nothing, to simply sit with your thoughts and just be. They aren't like Americans, stressed out from filling each hour with something to do. Perhaps, we should take a page out of their book.

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  14. ThazzarBaal Registered Senior Member

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    I won't disagree with the appeal of slowing down and allowing ourselves to breath. I guess self acceptance is what I'm processing internally. The reason for this is due to my life as an American. In the desire to be accepted and acknowledged is also the effort. With those efforts are often times disappointment. The benefit of slowing down and simply accepting self with little thought or effort to the desire to be accepted by other's and acknowledged is appealing to me. However, in that appeal is also difficulty, given my history as one of those types of Americans.
     
  15. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I agree. I'm more like that naturally. I'll walk around Green Lake just to chill in my thoughts and everyone I come across (it can be a crowded walk around the lake) is walking and staring into their iphone playing some game nonstop (Pokemon Go) and miss the bald eagle swooping down to catch a fish in the lake as the sun sets.

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    It seems that most kids today are taken from one activity to the next nonstop all day. We used to have the backyard and our imagination. Sometimes it was just laying on our backs staring at the Moon and "thinking".
     
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  16. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    I’m guilty of getting caught up in my phone with work emails and then “while I’m online, I’ll check my social media.” This turns into two hours of screen time that I can never get back.

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    So, I try to “unplug” and detach from technology more often, because you’re right - living in the present moment is like nothing else. And you feel a sense of peace that is hard to explain. Never boring!
     
  17. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    If I'm being honest, I spend a lot of time online in my "home office" where it's checking email, news, watching YouTube or whatever. However when I'm outside I don't do that. I don't even like walking in nature with music blaring in my head so I don't listen to music outside.

    Inside is a different matter but, IMO, interacting with a computer when you are inside is a lot better than laying on a couch staring at a TV. In recent years I didn't even have a TV although now I have a flat screen over my fireplace and a Netflix subscription but I have to make myself use that (search for something to watch) just so that I get some use out of my subscription.
     
  18. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    Why do you feel guilty about it, out of curiosity? Do you not enjoy it? Do you have more pressing things you want to do? Or is it a sense of peer-pressure that you shouldn't be "wasting your time" on such?

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    Tech has its place in that, though. Removing tech doesn't put you in the present moment (although it can help), but rather living in the present moment is a state of mind, just being aware of what is going on around you. You can do that while listening to music, reading, sitting and staring out over a landscape, or even watching TV... as your present moment is whatever you're experiencing at that time. Bask in it. Enjoy it. Don't worry about what you have or haven't done. That's the key, I find. Now, whether that's strictly what people mean by "being in the moment", meh.

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    To me it just means not worrying about the past or future, which I very much experience when immersed in a good book or film etc.
     
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  19. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    While I may enjoy it, it’s something to do when I’m mainly procrastinating, if I’m being transparent about it.

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    Yea, most of the time, I can experience it without guilt, but tend to feel bad when I know that something else needs to get done, but I’m “escaping” from it through social media, or even when I post on here. But…but…I’m posting something helpful, and insightful so that’s not time wasted, right? I tell myself that sometimes but it’s to make myself feel not so guilty. Having said that, I don’t always think it’s a waste of time - usually only if I’m “escaping” a task or whatever that needs to get done, do I feel this way.

    This is an interesting take and I’ll be telling myself this when I’m procrastinating soon enough, wasting away my time online.

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    Sometimes we should allow ourselves to feel bored, going back to the OT. Social media has a way of convincing us that we aren’t ever to be bored, and that we need to always be doing something. It’s both a blessing and a curse at the same time. But, you’re right in a way - who gets to define what “being present” really means?
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2023
  20. Sarkus Hippomonstrosesquippedalo phobe Valued Senior Member

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    No, I'm not sure I would ever want to feel bored if I don't have to. I do get bored, especially at work, but doing something relaxing, like reading or playing games or watching TV, walking, listening to music etc, is not being bored, if it gives us the stimulation we need. Boredom is the state of wanting/needing stimulation. It's our brain telling us that what we're doing is not enough for our mental health at that time. If you feel bored, that's bad, so go and get stimulation, however you can!

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    I think we may have different ideas of what it means to be bored, to be honest. Doing nothing is not the same, to me at least, as being bored. I can quite happily "do nothing" if it is what I feel that that's what I want to do. And by nothing means that, if it's what I want to do, I could literally sit in a dark room and do nothing (other than think etc). Social media, watching tv, playing games, is not, to me, doing nothing. It's not necessarily doing anything productive but it is not doing nothing. It is doing something that presumably you're enjoying doing at the time.

    Anyhoo. I'm off to do something. Nothing particularly productive, but something that satisfies my desire not to be bored.

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  21. ThazzarBaal Registered Senior Member

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    I'm bored. Boxing gloves sound like a nice change of pace. I'm tired of sanding and drilling holes and hiking and learning new dance moves. I'm guilty of boredom. It may be beyond boredom by now. Get this...I have no reason to be bored. Go figure.
     

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