BOREDOM is associated with maleness, traumatic brain injuries and drug use
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For most people, boredom is a passing, nearly trivial feeling that lifts as soon as your number is called, a task is completed or a lecture ends. But boredom has a darker side: Easily bored people are at higher risk for depression, anxiety, drug addiction, alcoholism, compulsive gambling, eating disorders, hostility, anger, poor social skills, bad grades and low work performance.
Despite boredom's ubiquity and pathological associations, psychologists have yet to pin down what, exactly, it is. Several different scales all claim to measure boredom—the most widely used is the Boredom Proneness Scale—but a recent analysis suggests that they are measuring slightly different phenomena. Explanations for ennui are even more plentiful, ranging from Freud's theories of repressed emotions to individual differences in personality traits, the need for excitement, and attention skills.
Part of the boredom puzzle may be individual differences in how much excitement and novelty we require. Men, for example, are generally more bored than women. They also exhibit more risk-taking behaviors, report enjoying more dangerous entertainment and are more likely to say that their environments are dull. "People who are more likely to become bored do not see their environments as very rich or lively," says Stephen Vodanovich at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, who has been working on boredom for almost 20 years.
Clues to the underlying causes of boredom have come from patients who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI). According to James Danckert, a neuroscientist at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, people with TBI often begin to indulge in riskier activities after their accidents. These activities might include taking drugs or jumping out of planes&mash;pursuits they pick up in an attempt to deal with their new and chronic boredom.
Danckert theorizes that the massive flux of endorphins or pain medication necessary for recovery from a brain injury may have literally raised these patients' threshold for psychological pleasure and reward. "Now instead of a coffee doing it for you, you need a triple espresso," Danckert explains. "Anything that used to give you pleasure now has to be ramped up in order to succeed." Like chronically bored but healthy people, they need far bigger hits to find fun.
Highly bored individuals also tend to lack the ability to entertain themselves. As a result, they may turn to activities like doing drugs, says McWelling Todman at the New School for Social Research in New York City. "Drug use takes place during downtime when the person would have otherwise been entertaining themselves." This may be especially true during adolescence, a time "when they are putting together the skills needed to deal with boredom in adulthood." Boredom therefore becomes a lifelong cue for sensation-seeking behavior. If drug addicts can learn to deal with their doldrums, however, they may be less likely to relapse. In one as-yet unpublished study of 156 addicts ranging in age from 24 to 68 at a methadone clinic, the subjects' reported levels of boredom were the only reliable factor that predicted whether they would stay on course, Todman notes.
Our culture's obsession with external sources of entertainment—TV, movies, the Internet, video games—may also play a role in increasing boredom. "I think there is something about our modern experience of sensory overload where there is not the chance and ability to figure out what your interests, what your passions are," says John Eastwood, a clinical psychologist at York University in Toronto.
It is possible that the roots of boredom lie in a fundamental breakdown in our understanding of what it is we want to do. Bored people tend to score low on measures of self-awareness. They find it difficult to accurately monitor their own moods and feelings and hence understand what they truly want. These findings fit into the psychodynamic model of boredom, whereby people repress their true wants and desires and therefore cannot locate satisfying activity. The repression part is still debatable, but Eastwood has found that students who scored high on scales of alexithymia—difficulty in describing or identifying feelings, distinguishing between bodily sensations and feelings, and an inhibited inner emotional and fantasy life—also tended to be bored.
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26 Comments
Add Commenti am a person who is very easily bored... i get bored all the time, im not suicidal and i never was, i was an addict and i relapsed many times, its been a year now that i have been sober and lately im bored out of my mind which caused me to relapse again after a year. although i quit again and attending NA meetings i still cant find a cure for my chronic boredom. even everything that i used to enjoy, i cant seem to enjoy anymore, i cant finish anything that i start...not even a movie
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thissimple solution adderal and/or therapy to deal with add. i have same issue, and it has led to...well nothing really, over a long period of time. sucks. life can feel devoid of meaning. and inability to finish what one starts leads...again, nowhere. so definitely address the issue rather than sit around and feel bored. you probably just need to gain some momentum. it's easier to enjoy things when the pressure to do so is alleviated by the knowledge that you have done worthwhile things. it's a good reminder that you can do so again. good luck w/ that. and lay off the pipe...that's just a guess ;}
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi am female and have been plagued with chronic boredom all of my life. i took crazy risks when i was younger (luckily never got seriously hurt) but i seem to be the complete opposite of every high risk category in this article. as i said i am female, never had a head injury, never jumped out of an airplane (although i would have as a teen) and have never had a drug/alcohol habit. i was on lexapro for a while and that completely got rid of my boredom, but now i'm off and trying to steer clear of any drugs - but now i'm bored. bored. bored.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have always become bored and changed jobs within my profession about every two years, and finally changed professions entirely, then also changed departments every two years. The exception was working incomputers because the software changes every two hours and you never can keep up! So it's anxiety because you never 'learn' enough to get bored! Also, travel/photography are a passion (obsession?) I recently read an article in a Mind magazine in New Zealand that said a mutant "boredom" gene has been found in people who are bored. ALso, that, believe it or not, there is some connection to some gene in birds and their abilitiy to navigate that is related. I couldn't believe this because I have an incredibly good sense of direction wherever I am. I was so excited that I didn't read the entire article, but stuffed the magazine in my coat pocket to read later and guess what? It fell out somewhere. I've been searching on the internet and can't find the name of the magazine. Does anyone k now anything about this?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOMG why is I so bored!?!?!?!?!?!?!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyeah no shyt.... theres nothing to do
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisbordum stinks i know........ is ther ever going to be ne thing that intersest me on this page??????/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscan't believe I found this thread. I am not really bored as such but get bored with activities very easily, from Scuba to Sky diving ; I have done it all.Some of my Jobs have been, cook, mechanic, Navy(US), Bartender, Pharma Industry..etc. I am actually looking into Motorcycle 1/4 mile racing at the moment. I have no clue why my interest goes away. My mates say"ah you're just a dumb ass"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisinteresting article. I have found boredom in just about every aspect of my life, had several addictions/compulsions that come and go. I'm attempting to quit smoking again for the hundreth time, a recourse for my boredom. Can it be something linked to the brain? or is it environmental or caused by upbringing/personality. Or does life really just suck? who knows
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think at least part of it for me is that I seem to be more aware of some of the harsh realities of life (i.e., yes, a lot of life does suck, and then you die, and nobody really knows if there is anything beyond death that will make sense of why the heck you you lived to begin with).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm 60 years old and have been a restless, often bored, person all my life. It was horrible in elementary and high school. Part of the problem there was my parents were very smart and very interesting and that set my standard for what to expect from adults. Few teachers met that standard. Family dinner table conversation was fascinating. School made me want to blow my brains out to relieve the boredom. Then when I entered the world of work came business meetings. Oh. My. God. Let's meet, get the big picture straight among us, and then let's get out of here. 20, 30 minutes, tops. Oh no. Every goddam detail must be beaten to death, and then people don't do what was agreed at the meeting anyway. I soon became an independent consultant. Two big benefits: (a) staff meetings take place in my head, and (2) if I have to attend a LBM (Long Boring Meeting) at least I can console myself with the knowledge I'm billing $110/hour for every last excruciating minute. There did come a time in my life when boredom and fatigue gripped my whole life. It was a period of several years. There seemed to be a fog in my head that insulated me from pleasure. I remember doing things and being in situations that ought to be enjoyable and it was like I was watching them on a tiny black-and-white television far in the distance, rather than living them in reality in full color with all 5 senses. The pleasure could not get through. I had no energy. I remember chanting to myself in my head: "maintain forward motion, maintain forward motion" just to force myself to keep meeting my responsibilities and having a semblance of a life. I was living through pure force of will, with no momentum, no energy, no pleasure. Then I got terrible gas and diarreah and no test showed anything wrong, but finally one doctor suggest I try cutting out wheat. Slowly, slowly over weeks and months, my digestion improved but also, quite unexpectedly, the fog started lifting and I started feeling pleasure again. Other little physical problem also went away -- like I had always been prone to canker sores, and that all stopped. Now my adopted daughter is 16 and having problems with boredom and depression. I got her going in therapy, which helped, but I also insisted that her pediatrician test her for everything I could think of -- low thyroid, Lyme disease, nutrient levels, etc. Lo and behold, her results came back and she had very severe vitamin D and iron deficiencies (not anemic, but low ferretin level). Both can affect mood. She's getting bet
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi believe the socio-historical answer lies in sexual repression, usually on the part of Judeo-Christian shaming and fear-mongering over anything sexual and sensual--even emotional! i was raised catholic and know this all too well. think of the feeling of being in love. doing laundry is even blissful in this state of mind. so it is this "sexual charging"--not the activity itself--that ignites the passion while engaging in the said activity...solution? get in touch with your sexuality, alone or with a partner, with a self-help book or a doctor--free your genitals and your mind will follow!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe the socio-historical answer lies in sexual repression, usually on the part of Judeo-Christian shaming and fear-mongering over anything sexual and sensual--even emotional! i was raised catholic and know this all too well. think of the feeling of being in love. doing laundry is even blissful in this state of mind. so it is this "sexual charging"--not the activity itself--that ignites the passion while engaging in the said activity...solution? get in touch with your sexuality, alone or with a partner, with a self-help book or a doctor--free your genitals and your mind will follow!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi believe the socio-historical answer lies in sexual repression, usually on the part of Judeo-Christian shaming and fear-mongering over anything sexual and sensual--even emotional! i was raised catholic and know this all too well. think of the feeling of being in love. doing laundry is even blissful in this state of mind. so it is this "sexual charging"--not the activity itself--that ignites the passion while engaging in the said activity...solution? get in touch with your sexuality, alone or with a partner, with a self-help book or a doctor--free your genitals and your mind will follow!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting... I am easily bored but have a very active fantasy life. It's the fact that my real life doesn't live up to it that is so boring. I think it's weird that the opposite situation is the tendency.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisdear world, hi ,im bobby im 50 years young and of course we're bored.how could we not be.i just stumbled upon this site researching my own issues and as boring as filling out the stupid sign in process was i did it for you people who have been writing on here.( i just noticed i have 2290 characters left...thats exciting ! and i'll plow thru them quickly!!! how exciting !i'm racing new confinements already here! anybody still with me ?!...so...(how many red squiggly lines under my lazy refusal to capitolize and spell correctly does this thing have?! we'll see! so of course we're bored because we're not cavemen anymore being chased by critters that want to eat us and other cavemen who want our food and women,elements that seem to want to kill us,diseases that want to eat our flesh all of these great(?)exciting situations are in the past ,unless you are of that tribe somewhere they just discovered (i saw picture in one of three newspapers i try to read everyday of these tribal primitives some where who were just discovered .So if your really that bored ,like me, we should go live with that tribe !Run from the lions etc...orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr we can tough it out here in our "fat cows of pleasure "society!(please excuse the biblical quote but if you can't beat them ...use them!)I have been thinking lately how to explain this boredom to my two teenage maniac sons.They're not that bored yet cause true boredom comes with adulthood ,bill paying boredom,waiting for the next billing cycle ...etc...,but they are getting there fast.too fast..Soooo is life a cruel joke on the living?perhaps(one of my favorite words!)my wife says she battles her boredom by doing everything for everybody ,our sons ,me ,the family etc...until she drops from exaustion.i work two or three jobs six or seven or eight days a week. but finally heres what i really wanted to say .there are always billions of people worse off then you and i .cmon admit it people in unfortunate places are really hurting ,starving ,diseases,no clean drinking water or they have to walk far to get it, no jobs, no karaoke (!)no shelter, no safety.some poor people are at war in foxholes (with no m.t.v.!@#)I'm sitting here in america,(thank you adventurers)(risk taking columbus like dudes) in a recliner eating a donut with a laptop on my lap,i have heat and cigarettes ,a great wife who spoils me,i have a rare day off from my three jobs .yes there might be moments of boredom today that could lead me to a vice but who the f am i to complain about this.how spoiled am i (very).out of charact.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisman i had to erase tousands of words because i went over character restrictions and didnt notice can someone put a warning @#$% bell on here please some of my best stuff went to backspace hmmmmid like to go to backspace(how does one get there?!) and read them again c.m.u.Just invented c.m.u. cracking myself up!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisnow someone will have a big music hit titled cracking myelf up !@#$watch it happens to me all the time!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisare you down with the c.m.u.
I'm down with the c.m.u. how bout you
....etc. etc...add nauseum...no really add it....cmu again...bye
when do the computer police kick in my door and rip this computer off my lap
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismy beautiful wife thinks im crazy how unboring for her!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisno offense im right there with you all risktaking to fight the boredom ....just trying to help.....bye again am going gathering.
nice
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgood info thank you
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswow,yes i concur ,my imag needs its own universe ,what is that?what other cruel joke has nature and evolution played on us or is playing with us? this writing is helping, perhaps we should just read and write all day ,,,help my teachers have 'conquered' me!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this(didnt know i could spell that til the red squiggly didnt come out!)So you're a great parent for figuring this out for your kid and that is good stuff ,thank you we all should get these tests yes?,bobby apollo
I feel for you all .i cant even stand to sit at a red light for 3 mins.!Which leads me to making a lot of uneccessary righthand turns and or more dangerously running yellow lights(risk-taking) !man i have to find a good therapist...again. but you should see me perform, I sing fearlessly (good risk-taking?)I sing everything from zeplin to michael jackson to sinatra to red hot chili peppers ,lets not forget the good works of our lives.I'm sure alot of us risk-takers are excellent workers ,boy society doesnt mind as much if you are a workaholic as much as a boobaholic!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi feel all the fellas here! i have a chronic boredom in life. one year is the longest time i can stay in a relationship; surpassed that on my marriage just because it was marriage but gave it up after 2 years. same duration with work, standard is 1 year, longest is 2 years. can't stand small talk-girly talk in a minute as well as slow talkers. can't stand a person who can't deliver in a minute what is being intended to say--even that bores me. same peers activity in 2 weeks time bore me like shit. the only time i don't get bored is when i can't catch up with something!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have been chronically and frustratingly bored at many points in my life. Unless I'm engaged in problem solving, learning something new, or experiencing new stimuli, I have and continue to feel frustrated, sad, and depressed. Those who know me would say that I am angry and that pretty much does characterize me since there are only "exciting" things in my life for about 14 days a year (during yearly vacations). It's been very frustrating. Although I have never engaged in drug-related behaviors for fear of going down the same road as many of my family members who became addicted and passed from the same addiction, I was a chain smoker (quit two years ago) and find that high-risk activities, such as gambling, scuba diving, skydiving, are some of the few things that really make me feel alive. Most days, I feel dead- like life is lifeless. I truly don't know how most people are alright with a 9-5 existence of sitting at a desk and donig the same thing over and over again. And, like many of you, I can see many job changes in my future! I've already changed more than most!
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