Have you ever felt an emotional flatness, where something grabs you involuntarily and you are not able to name the cause?
Boredom’s been scrutinized for quite a bit as a significant issue, although it is a widespread experience. Boredom is our bodies’ default mode and it is a wonderful thing to experience.
Automation has absorbed productivity.
Most work is not engaging us intellectually and anyone can do it. Repetitive tasks are avoided and outsourced as a direct result of boredom. This causes a destruction in the blue-collar community. The computerization and automation of labor has left a surplus of workers causing social issues. This change in work changes how boredom affects your life. Breakthrough technology makes allowances for the removal of burdensome work. Drones are replacing delivery carriers. The automation of production lines and distribution centers are eliminating the worker. These workers are left to their own devices in a competitive world.
Even the communication process has become affected by technology. Communication is meant to be an interactive connection between people. We are losing the fight on face-to-face interaction.
Technology has cleared the way for how we measure wealth.
I can remember when wealth was a measure of the leisure, pleasure and enjoyment a person experienced. Today the score consists of who dominates the market and who can cash in on every dollar. We no longer travel, learn and love, but have the need to get back to work and stop wasting time.
We cannot keep cranking up the speed of technology and information. Eventually it will block our ability to process information for the sake of fatigue. Our brains are able to handle information entering, but we have not been capable of filtering out the noise. Leading technology creates a poison better than a cure for the world’s problems. When you overload your brain it shuts down and you feel bored. The shutdown is a reaction to the fight or flight mechanism, the mind has gone into protective mode. We continuously stimulate our minds with information and never power off. White noise has become a necessity even while we sleep. The stimulation feels like a reward, but it is hijacking your brain like an illegal drug does. Each time you become bored, you feed your brain in an addictive way.
Boredom is a way of decelerating things, a coping mechanism.
Have you ever gotten bored of a smart phone, finding yourself mindlessly opening and closing applications without really accomplishing anything?
Checking your email but reading the same thing multiple times?
Boredom is a way towards stopping what you are doing, sizing up a situation, deciding what we want, and what to do next. It is a default mechanism to ensure we are investing in our desires and goals.
Today, boredom is when you are not stimulated by information. Your mind shuts down the flow of information entering. You feel guilty, idle and time moves slower. You feel like doing something, but are not sure where these feelings come from. We have become afraid of boredom and do what we can to avoid it. You feel secure when overbooked. Busyness makes you feel desired and valuable. I love being productive and I love automating systems. The goal is meant to enjoy what you already have, not to have more.
Wonder about this past holiday.
Were you bored?
Were you so busy that you felt run down, needing a day to recover?
I faced boredom, and I was capable of processing lots of things that I shelved for a long time. You just don’t have the brain power to process everything on the spot. Studies have illustrated that boredom can cause mind wandering, which can be advantageous in trouble shooting.