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They touch on something later in the article that sounds perfectly familiar to me from my teen years: eventually that unavoidable and universal boredom can lea

They touch on something later in the article that sounds perfectly familiar to me from my teen years: eventually that unavoidable and universal boredom can lead to creativity. Just as people my age saw TV go from 13 channels to 150+ channels and wondered how you could ever run out of things to entertain yourself, today's teens run into the same limited ability of "consumption" to keep their minds stimulated. Eventually there's nothing on that you feel like watching, your mobile media feed runs out of new posts, and you get tired of playing the same video games. That period of boredom can be just what you need for ideas to start percolating in your head and occasionally lead you to make something or do something different. Boredom is what got me screwing around with simple programming on my old Commodore computer or figuring out how to use a mix of cables, adapters, and stereo inputs on my boombox to experiment with rudimentary multi-track recording. To this day I love having a good supply of parts, bits, pieces, craft supplies, and yes--boredom available on occasion because that's when I try out new ideas. When the alternative is just sitting around doing the same old things, the barriers to trying new ones tend to drop.

jbob2000 9y ago
Boredom is a double-edged sword; it can lead to creativity, but it can also lead to drug and alcohol abuse. Small towns and counties are rife with substance abuse and everyone will tell you it's because "there's nothing better to do". If boredom can be reasonably structured, then I think it's a good thing, but unfettered boredom is a bit risky in my opinion.
- nkrisc 9y ago
  My personal view is that there is always something better to do, but they may not be aware of those things or have been taught/conditioned to avoid them. Reading, drawing, hiking, writing, building something, any other creative pursuit. Realistically though I understand many of those better things to do might fall under the umbrella of things kids have been taught or conditioned to avoid for various reasons, both unintentionally and intentionally. But this is what happens when "intellectual" is used as a slur.
- liberte82 9y ago
  Idle hands are the devil's workshop.
  - jbob2000 9y ago
    Love that saying. I use a different version, "The devil makes work for idle hands".
- dandersh 9y ago
  Everyone tells you that to avoid responsibility for it being a cultural issue. I mean, do people seriously believe that there is little or no drug/alcohol abuse in urban areas because there's always stuff to do? What explains the (sometimes heavy) alcohol consumption when fishing, hunting, working on cars, snowmobiling(!!!), off-road driving(!!!), etc.?
liberte82 9y ago
I agree with this 100% - boredom absolutely has a place and a role in our life. It's the place where dissatisfaction can push us to let something new into our life. Sometimes when I'm starting to feel too overstimulated, I'll purposely allow some boredom in. I'll turn off my phone and internet, stop drinking coffee and just see what happens for a couple weeks. I don't push myself with an agenda like I'm going to "go to the gym", I just stop doing the usual things and see what happens. I'll generally run into a boredom wall after a few days (once I'm done catching up on sleep, etc). This is the point where I encounter a lot of temptation to get back on my phone or do the usual things. But if I just let myself experience the boredom for what it is, eventually I'll find that I'll get inspired to do something different - go for a walk or run, try programming something etc. But in these cases, it doesn't feel like a striving effort - it's more the effortless effort of doing something because I want to. These are what I generally consider to be the "healthier" moments in my life, and what I like about them is they don't feel forced - I just have to get through the feeling of not giving into my more shallow cravings and temptations, rather than forcing something over top of them, and the creativity comes naturally.

jbob2000 9y ago

Boredom is a double-edged sword; it can lead to creativity, but it can also lead to drug and alcohol abuse. Small towns and counties are rife with substance abuse and everyone will tell you it's because "there's nothing better to do". If boredom can be reasonably structured, then I think it's a good thing, but unfettered boredom is a bit risky in my opinion.

nkrisc 9y ago
My personal view is that there is always something better to do, but they may not be aware of those things or have been taught/conditioned to avoid them. Reading, drawing, hiking, writing, building something, any other creative pursuit. Realistically though I understand many of those better things to do might fall under the umbrella of things kids have been taught or conditioned to avoid for various reasons, both unintentionally and intentionally. But this is what happens when "intellectual" is used as a slur.
liberte82 9y ago
Idle hands are the devil's workshop.
- jbob2000 9y ago
  Love that saying. I use a different version, "The devil makes work for idle hands".
dandersh 9y ago
Everyone tells you that to avoid responsibility for it being a cultural issue. I mean, do people seriously believe that there is little or no drug/alcohol abuse in urban areas because there's always stuff to do? What explains the (sometimes heavy) alcohol consumption when fishing, hunting, working on cars, snowmobiling(!!!), off-road driving(!!!), etc.?

liberte82 9y ago

I agree with this 100% - boredom absolutely has a place and a role in our life. It's the place where dissatisfaction can push us to let something new into our life. Sometimes when I'm starting to feel too overstimulated, I'll purposely allow some boredom in. I'll turn off my phone and internet, stop drinking coffee and just see what happens for a couple weeks. I don't push myself with an agenda like I'm going to "go to the gym", I just stop doing the usual things and see what happens. I'll generally run into a boredom wall after a few days (once I'm done catching up on sleep, etc). This is the point where I encounter a lot of temptation to get back on my phone or do the usual things. But if I just let myself experience the boredom for what it is, eventually I'll find that I'll get inspired to do something different - go for a walk or run, try programming something etc. But in these cases, it doesn't feel like a striving effort - it's more the effortless effort of doing something because I want to. These are what I generally consider to be the "healthier" moments in my life, and what I like about them is they don't feel forced - I just have to get through the feeling of not giving into my more shallow cravings and temptations, rather than forcing something over top of them, and the creativity comes naturally.