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Boredom Enthusiasts Discover the Pleasures of Understimulation
- alexwestholm 16y agoI think it's very true that most people are overstimulated, but I don't really get how people find a lack of stimulation boring. The things described in the article definitely do not sound interesting, but I can only imagine letting my mind wander off into more interesting/productive territory when confronted by them. The possibility of just wallowing in a lack of interest seems kind of lacking in creativity...
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- presidentender 16y agoI have to admit, this seems to me like nothing more than assisted meditation.
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- ZoFreX 16y ago"Then he began reciting the names of every single one of 415 colors listed in a paint catalog: damson dream, dauphin, dayroom yellow, dead salmon…and on and on and on." I had that paint catalogue! We made a game out of trying to remember the names based on their (frequently ludicrous) descriptions. Good time killer on a long journey.
- AlecSchueler 16y agoReminded me of the moment in Stockhausen's Hymnen when the names of each shade of red in the Windor & Newtown water colour range are repeated several times in various languages.
- javert 16y agoThis article doesn't explain how boredom is "pleasurable" or why people would want to go to a boredom conference. Could somebody explain it to me? Is this some kind of a joke?
- wccrawford 16y agoI was that kid that always said, "I'm bored." When I grew up, I started a lot of hobbies. Now, I'm -never- bored... Unless I want to be. I've taken a couple vacations where my goal was to get bored. I'd pick a hobby and do it until I didn't feel like it any more, and then just kinda bum around. When you -choose- to be bored, it's a refreshing experience. If it's forced on you, it's just painful.
- endtime 16y agoI think this is an example of extremely dry English humor being absolutely baffling to Americans (I'm a bit of each, so I think I can get away with saying things like that). From the article: >Boring 2010 sprang to life when Mr. Ward heard that an event called the Interesting Conference had been canceled, and he sent out a joke tweet about the need to have a Boring Conference instead. He was taken aback when dozens of people responded enthusiastically.
- javert 16y agoBut people would waste money and the entire time it takes to go to a conference, just for the sake of dry humor?
- anigbrowl 16y agoIt's no waste. That's social networking gold. I'm kind of sorry I couldn't attend, really; sounds rather enjoyable.
- robryan 16y agoIt's not just humor, it would be good to connect with more people that find it interesting to complete tasks which most couldn't stand engaging in. The talk mentioned on a draw in cricket is quiet interesting, I must admit that I can find a slow cricket contest very exciting for what is slightly below the surface even though the ball to ball action would be seen as dull. I'd imagine Americans get the same thing with baseball, I watch it a little, not sure how many Americans can always keep on top of the team they support given the amount games?
- steveklabnik 16y ago> After a much-needed break, a drawing was held. Some of the winners got a DVD called "Helvetica," a 2007 documentary about typography. This one really cracked me up.
- yan 16y agoI actually really loved "Helvetica" and really recommend it. Ditto for "Objectified." Both are available from Netflix Streaming
- klbarry 16y agoHis other documentary, "Art and Copy" is also great, especially for entrepreneurs who want to pick up a little on advertising/marketing.
- steveklabnik 16y agoYes, both were really awesome, though my girlfriend _hated_ objectfied.
- clistctrl 16y agoI watched that documentary, honestly I find any sporting event far more boring.
- binarymax 16y agoSadly I can think of many instances where I encountered boardroom powerpoint just as uninteresting and pointless as that of Mr. Ward's tie collection.
- bingaman 16y ago"Boredom is counter-revolutionary"
- JoshCole 16y agoI got bored halfway through this and didn't finish it. The section on the conference itself felt so much like the Onion I think it could be copied verbatim into one of their articles without seeming out of place.
- petercooper 16y agoYet in trying to be boring, they ended up choosing unusual novelty topics that are relatively interesting when compared to truly dull pop culture pursuits like American Idol or Dancing With The Stars.
- dkarl 16y ago"We're all overstimulated," said Ms. Lee. "I think it's important to stop all that for a while and see what several hours of being bored really feels like." There's a difference? To me, overstimulation is incredibly boring. Overstimulation is the siren that tempts me to the next thing before I grasp the thing in front of me. Overstimulation is the nagging fear of missing something that makes me miss everything. I have to narrow things down and slow things down before I can engage with anything. Like alcohol, overstimulation is a depressant that feels deceptively like a stimulant, and reliably makes me stupider though it often makes me feel smarter. Maybe I'm just too slow for the 21st century.
- endgame 16y ago"Overstimulation is the nagging fear of missing something that makes me miss everything." That's a wonderful quote. Have you considered writing at length on this?
- dan00 16y agoOverstimulation isn't boring, otherwise people wouldn't seek for it. Overstimulation is emotionally very engaging, but unfulfilling. It's a short emotional high, which people want to feel all the time, so they're searching for the next stimulus, in the hope to find the endless high. But by doing this, they will never get into a fulfilling state, which isn't a emotional hight. It's a more settled but longing state.
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoIts the junk food of experiences
- klbarry 16y agoThe conference actually seemed quite interesting to me (as well as some of his blog posts). But my tastes would be called boring by many.