Reader\'s Digest Canada - 04.2020

illustration by lauren tamaki

Boredom gets a bad rap. But is there

an upside?

Absolutely. Its function can be com-

pared to that of pain, which provides

feedback to prevent us from damag-

ing our body. Boredom does the same

work to protect us from stagnation. If

we were content to be mentally unoc-

cupied, we might never learn, explore,

grow, discover.

These days, we’re constantly stimu-

lated, arguably over-stimulated, by

technology. Has it led to a decrease

in boredom?

It may actually be making us more

prone to boredom. Technology grabs

our attention, but it does that by turn-

ing us into objects rather than agents.

Instead of sitting down with our

thoughts or complex ideas, we’re giv-

ing our minds over to a screen—and

our capacity for willful focus and atten-

tion may atrophy through disuse.

There’s also an addiction metaphor

that’s used: technology messes with

our brain, giving us a constant high,

and then we need even more stimula-

tion to feel satisfied, to get that fix.

BYCourtney Shea

We ask John Eastwood,

psychologist

Is It Good

to Be Bored?

reader’s digest

12 april 2020

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