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We have redefined boredom [1]. > The more I consume, the more I need to consume, the more bored I feel. I often turn to video games to release the tension. I c

We have redefined boredom [1]. > The more I consume, the more I need to consume, the more bored I feel. I often turn to video games to release the tension. I can spend two solid hours shooting at virtual objects until I start to feel less entertained. I then find myself pulling up my phone closer to consume more scrollable content while still playing the game. Only when all my sense are stimulated at the same time, I feel relieved. > This becomes the new norm. Anything less will result in that acute sense of boredom. Have a conversation with a friend, you'll feel bored. They can't possibly compete with a video game, a political rant and a funny video at the same time. Right in the middle of a conversation you hear that familiar beep from your phone and you have to pick it up. It's not that you ignore your friends, or the dinner conversation, it's that you need to have them all occur at the same time to feel normal. [1]: https://idiallo.com/blog/im-bored-what-do-i-do https://idiallo.com/blog/im-bored-what-do-i-do

BoorishBears 7y ago
> Have a conversation with a friend, you'll feel bored. They can't possibly compete with a video game, a political rant and a funny video at the same time. Then you don't have friends. And with an attitude like this I can't imagine why that'd be...
sergiotapia 7y ago
I used to play a lot of Team Fortress 2 on half my wide screen with Seinfeld playing on Plex on the other half. It was very zen and relaxing, to the point where I did it with other shows and games. For example, Dynasty Warriors 4 on a PS2 emulator, with NewsRadio reruns playing on the other half. For some people it's just relaxing, not really about boredom.
- CoolGuySteve 7y ago
  Yeah, there's nothing more relaxing for me than putting on a comedy podcast and working through a 2D metroidvania game on DS or my hacked Switch. For some reason the two parts of my brain that process audio and that style of game are completely independent. It's no different than knitting or solving a crossword while listening to the radio 100 years ago. The only problem is that I only have one more DS and GBA Castlevania game before I've beaten all of them. I've already worked through every Metroid and 2D Zelda game as well as Hollow Knight. The pickings are getting slim.
  - hellisothers 7y ago
    Comparison to knitting and crosswords seems fair for stimuli, I think the difference is during a dinner conversation your knitting wouldn’t be vibrating in your pocket luring you into a “bathroom break” to work on it.
  - nsilvestri 7y ago
    I speedsolve Rubik's cubes. For the longest time I listened to podcasts while solve; two different parts of my brain. But recently I've noticed that in order to break the next big time barrier for me, I need to dedicate my full attention. No more podcasts. Two different parts of the brain still, but now it's only one active part.
- cableshaft 7y ago
  I did nearly the same thing for a long while, except it was Dynasty Warriors 3 on the TV and Mr. Show reruns on my computer. Although Newsradio is a show I rewatch and use as a background show often. I felt very similar, like it was a zen feeling. I didn't get a similar feeling with another game until Minecraft, where I could just carve out giant holes in the land while watching TV shows.
  - MisterTea 7y ago
    I've done similar with MST3K and I find it sort of fills a social need. It's like hanging out with familiar friends.
throwlaplace 7y ago
https://youtu.be/4Z5_uHOONNE?t=120 https://youtu.be/4Z5_uHOONNE?t=120
- foxfired 7y ago
  You tricked me! I thought it was a comedy. Slavoj Žižek is pretty interesting.
  - Simon_says 7y ago
    It is a joke, but I don’t think Zizek’s in on it.
mpd 7y ago
I think boredom has been redefined many times over human history. That's where leisure activities are borne from. There was a point in our collective history when "where will my next meal come from?" is the overarching concern of every member of the species. Becoming a producer in such an environment would be nearly unthinkable, yet it's not a second thought today.
- goatlover 7y ago
  Tribal societies had time for stories, music, dance, art and ritual. Kids still had time to play. You’d have to go pretty far back or during extreme times to find a period when our ancestors had no time foe leisure.
  - mpd 7y ago
    Compared to what we have today? I don't think you have to go very far back at all. Even in medieval times they didn't have the free time we have now.
    - darkerside 7y ago
      Citation needed. Cursory googling indicates hours weren't all that different. https://www.lostkingdom.net/medieval-workday-working-hours/ https://www.lostkingdom.net/medieval-workday-working-hours/
    - CydeWeys 7y ago
      This is a common misconception, but until the modern age most people had lots of free time. It was only after the industrial revolution that this state of affairs changed. See e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/28q7l5/how_much_free_time_did_an_average_person_in_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/28q7l5/how_m...
      - mpd 7y ago
        Ack, that's pretty interesting
asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
That quote presents a good story, but I don't think it is true. I could hardly be more engaged than I was this evening sitting at my brother's kitchen table, drinking wine while he cooked and talking about the endeavor of providing food for the family. That I watch two screens sometimes when the TV is on has hardly changed that. If anything it has made my enjoyment of in person conversation more acute.
- stevenhuang 7y ago
  That's fair but it also doesn't mean much to be able to provide an exception to his general statement, since we still don't know if it's not the case for the majority.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
    True, but I'm implying by my provision of an anecdote that I disbelieve the (also unsupported) assertions in the quote.
- gtirloni 7y ago
  > That I watch two screens sometimes when the TV is on has hardly changed that. If anything it has made my enjoyment of in person conversation more acute. Could you elaborate?
  - Zancarius 7y ago
    I'm certain this isn't what the OP means, but from my own personal experience I think it's one of utility. Since you posted this 8 hours ago and no one's replied yet, it can't hurt to give you at least one other illustration. When watching something on television with family or friends, if a question ever comes up about how something works (what it does, or what it is) that may not be made clear by the show, looking it up on another screen (e.g. mobile device) can lead to a much deeper conversation and better enjoyment of the subject matter. It can also lead to conversations afterwards discussing what we watched in greater detail than if we knew only what was presented in the show. As an example that happened to me over the holidays, I was watching Alaska Aircrash Investigations with my parents as my mother has a fascination with investigative things, and she spent part of the time on her tablet looking up information on the NTSB staff in the show and, occasionally, some of the accident reports (if she could find them). This lead to both an interesting series of conversations about the people involved and greater appreciation for the program since we collectively knew more about the investigators and their backgrounds. Tangentially, this is also why I think streaming YouTube to a television is such a beautiful thing (sometimes having the comments on a second screen while watching can be hilarious or depressing).
sildur 7y ago
As if nobody ever read the newspaper while the radio is on. Or watched the tv and listened to the radio. Or talked to other people while scanning the newspaper. All of that is old as dirt. Come on...
- riffraff 7y ago
  > watched the tv and listened to the radio I am fine with your other examples but do people really do this? I always had the tv OR radio on while doing other things, but the idea of having both on at the same time seems incredibly strange to me.
  - Retric 7y ago
    At least for sports, muting the TV and listening to the radio broadcast of the same game can greatly improve the experience. Muting the weather channel and a few others is already a net gain even without the radio.
    - rootsofallevil 7y ago
      Not OP but I think that the comment about both TV and radio on at the same time was more generic than that. I'd argue that it's a known fact, at least for anybody that follows any mainstream sport, that sports radio commentary is a lot more exciting that its tv counterpart.
      - riffraff 7y ago
        Right, I was surprised by the idea one could be listening to two different things at once, not mixing different audio/video streams.

BoorishBears 7y ago

> Have a conversation with a friend, you'll feel bored. They can't possibly compete with a video game, a political rant and a funny video at the same time. Then you don't have friends. And with an attitude like this I can't imagine why that'd be...

sergiotapia 7y ago

I used to play a lot of Team Fortress 2 on half my wide screen with Seinfeld playing on Plex on the other half. It was very zen and relaxing, to the point where I did it with other shows and games. For example, Dynasty Warriors 4 on a PS2 emulator, with NewsRadio reruns playing on the other half. For some people it's just relaxing, not really about boredom.

CoolGuySteve 7y ago
Yeah, there's nothing more relaxing for me than putting on a comedy podcast and working through a 2D metroidvania game on DS or my hacked Switch. For some reason the two parts of my brain that process audio and that style of game are completely independent. It's no different than knitting or solving a crossword while listening to the radio 100 years ago. The only problem is that I only have one more DS and GBA Castlevania game before I've beaten all of them. I've already worked through every Metroid and 2D Zelda game as well as Hollow Knight. The pickings are getting slim.
- hellisothers 7y ago
  Comparison to knitting and crosswords seems fair for stimuli, I think the difference is during a dinner conversation your knitting wouldn’t be vibrating in your pocket luring you into a “bathroom break” to work on it.
- nsilvestri 7y ago
  I speedsolve Rubik's cubes. For the longest time I listened to podcasts while solve; two different parts of my brain. But recently I've noticed that in order to break the next big time barrier for me, I need to dedicate my full attention. No more podcasts. Two different parts of the brain still, but now it's only one active part.
cableshaft 7y ago
I did nearly the same thing for a long while, except it was Dynasty Warriors 3 on the TV and Mr. Show reruns on my computer. Although Newsradio is a show I rewatch and use as a background show often. I felt very similar, like it was a zen feeling. I didn't get a similar feeling with another game until Minecraft, where I could just carve out giant holes in the land while watching TV shows.
- MisterTea 7y ago
  I've done similar with MST3K and I find it sort of fills a social need. It's like hanging out with familiar friends.

throwlaplace 7y ago

https://youtu.be/4Z5_uHOONNE?t=120 https://youtu.be/4Z5_uHOONNE?t=120

foxfired 7y ago
You tricked me! I thought it was a comedy. Slavoj Žižek is pretty interesting.
- Simon_says 7y ago
  It is a joke, but I don’t think Zizek’s in on it.

mpd 7y ago

I think boredom has been redefined many times over human history. That's where leisure activities are borne from. There was a point in our collective history when "where will my next meal come from?" is the overarching concern of every member of the species. Becoming a producer in such an environment would be nearly unthinkable, yet it's not a second thought today.

goatlover 7y ago
Tribal societies had time for stories, music, dance, art and ritual. Kids still had time to play. You’d have to go pretty far back or during extreme times to find a period when our ancestors had no time foe leisure.
- mpd 7y ago
  Compared to what we have today? I don't think you have to go very far back at all. Even in medieval times they didn't have the free time we have now.
  - darkerside 7y ago
    Citation needed. Cursory googling indicates hours weren't all that different. https://www.lostkingdom.net/medieval-workday-working-hours/ https://www.lostkingdom.net/medieval-workday-working-hours/
  - CydeWeys 7y ago
    This is a common misconception, but until the modern age most people had lots of free time. It was only after the industrial revolution that this state of affairs changed. See e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/28q7l5/how_much_free_time_did_an_average_person_in_the/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/28q7l5/how_m...
    - mpd 7y ago
      Ack, that's pretty interesting

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago

That quote presents a good story, but I don't think it is true. I could hardly be more engaged than I was this evening sitting at my brother's kitchen table, drinking wine while he cooked and talking about the endeavor of providing food for the family. That I watch two screens sometimes when the TV is on has hardly changed that. If anything it has made my enjoyment of in person conversation more acute.

stevenhuang 7y ago
That's fair but it also doesn't mean much to be able to provide an exception to his general statement, since we still don't know if it's not the case for the majority.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  True, but I'm implying by my provision of an anecdote that I disbelieve the (also unsupported) assertions in the quote.
gtirloni 7y ago
> That I watch two screens sometimes when the TV is on has hardly changed that. If anything it has made my enjoyment of in person conversation more acute. Could you elaborate?
- Zancarius 7y ago
  I'm certain this isn't what the OP means, but from my own personal experience I think it's one of utility. Since you posted this 8 hours ago and no one's replied yet, it can't hurt to give you at least one other illustration. When watching something on television with family or friends, if a question ever comes up about how something works (what it does, or what it is) that may not be made clear by the show, looking it up on another screen (e.g. mobile device) can lead to a much deeper conversation and better enjoyment of the subject matter. It can also lead to conversations afterwards discussing what we watched in greater detail than if we knew only what was presented in the show. As an example that happened to me over the holidays, I was watching Alaska Aircrash Investigations with my parents as my mother has a fascination with investigative things, and she spent part of the time on her tablet looking up information on the NTSB staff in the show and, occasionally, some of the accident reports (if she could find them). This lead to both an interesting series of conversations about the people involved and greater appreciation for the program since we collectively knew more about the investigators and their backgrounds. Tangentially, this is also why I think streaming YouTube to a television is such a beautiful thing (sometimes having the comments on a second screen while watching can be hilarious or depressing).

sildur 7y ago

As if nobody ever read the newspaper while the radio is on. Or watched the tv and listened to the radio. Or talked to other people while scanning the newspaper. All of that is old as dirt. Come on...

riffraff 7y ago
> watched the tv and listened to the radio I am fine with your other examples but do people really do this? I always had the tv OR radio on while doing other things, but the idea of having both on at the same time seems incredibly strange to me.
- Retric 7y ago
  At least for sports, muting the TV and listening to the radio broadcast of the same game can greatly improve the experience. Muting the weather channel and a few others is already a net gain even without the radio.
  - rootsofallevil 7y ago
    Not OP but I think that the comment about both TV and radio on at the same time was more generic than that. I'd argue that it's a known fact, at least for anybody that follows any mainstream sport, that sports radio commentary is a lot more exciting that its tv counterpart.
    - riffraff 7y ago
      Right, I was surprised by the idea one could be listening to two different things at once, not mixing different audio/video streams.