Boredom: The Endless Present | Psychology Today

The Berghof International Sanatorium, located high above the flatlands of the Swiss Alps, is a place where people “live horizontally”. The smallest unit of time is a month, and a day is like any other day.

Hans Castorp – the main character of Thomas Mann’s films magic mountainis visiting his cousin Joachim, who has contracted the “dangerous disease” of tuberculosis and will eventually die there.

“I really like to take my temperature four times a day,” says Joachim. “Because by taking your temperature, you realize what a minute, or even seven minutes, really means, especially because we’re so heavily weighed down here seven days a week.”

Hans Castorp had planned to visit his cousin for three weeks. He himself was diagnosed with mild tuberculosis and ended up staying there for seven years, “not knowing where else to go…I could no longer even imagine returning to the plains” (p. 697). ).

“What do people call it? boredom In reality, it is an extraordinary compression of time caused by monotony,” Mann writes. “There is an eternal monotony of confusing verb tenses, and the true tense of all existence is the inelastic present” (p. 102).

“Our attitude towards time has changed…the distinction between past, present and future has disappeared. There seems to be only an endless present” (Wangh, 1975).

The concept of time appears to be central to any discussion of boredom, which is an “unpleasant and undesirable” state of mind (Levine, 2023). Furthermore, boredom may be uniquely human, as it takes a certain amount of time to experience boredom (Wan).

There are many words to describe boredom. boredom and french words ennui. German word for boredom boredom, literal meaning for a long time“the scale of time is lost” (Wan).

In his commencement address at Dartmouth College, the Nobel Prize-winning Russian dissident and poet Joseph Brodsky described boredom as “a window into the infinity of time…Boredom speaks the language of time and is the most precious treasure in life.” “It teaches us a lesson. A lesson.” About Your Total Insignificance” (1989).

For Brodsky, boredom is a “complex phenomenon,” worthy of scrutiny because it “represents pure, undiluted time in its repetitive, redundant, monotonous splendor.” But passion can be an antidote to boredom, he says.

Brodsky, who was branded a “social parasite” by the Soviets, worked menial jobs, was unfairly committed to a mental hospital, and later was held in a Siberian forced labor camp (the Attic). You may have experienced hours of boredom.

Boredom includes a distorted sense of time, as well as a state of dissatisfaction and a state of longing but not being able to define what it is that you long for. It involves a seemingly passive inability to act, a feeling of emptiness, and an “expectant attitude” that the external world will provide some degree of satisfaction (Greenson, 1953). It also reflects a sense of constraint. Bored people feel forced to do things they don’t want to do, or feel like they can’t do things they want to do (Eastwood et al., 2012).

Some people get bored more easily than others. A person with vividness, fantasy life and creativity imagination You may be less likely to experience boredom (Wangh).

However, for most people, boredom is a commonly experienced, temporary state (Eastwood et al.), often associated with repetitive and non-engaging activities (An et al., 2023).

Although some researchers emphasize that boredom is understood “in a colloquial sense,” it is much more difficult to define in practice, and the nature of boredom and whether there are any characteristic indicators are much more difficult to define. remains a “lively debate” (Raffaelli et al., 2018).

Different philosophies emphasize different aspects. psychoanalyst Think of boredom as a defense against the conflict between desire and threat (Wangh). existentialist Focus on boredom that arises from feelings of emptiness and meaninglessness. awakening theorist Highlight boredom as inconsistent with the need for excitement environment Provide. and cognitive psychologist Focus on the relationship between boredom and unstimulating environments and reduced human concentration and ability to pay Note (Raffaelli et al.; Eastwood et al.).

Tasks that are too easy or too difficult can cause boredom (Raffaelli et al).

Furthermore, there is debate as to whether boredom is a high or low arousal state. excited boredom and indifferent boredom (Dunkert and El Pidrou).

We don’t know why people get bored, but boredom may prompt people to seek out new things. the goal Or a chance. In that sense, boredom may have adaptive, motivational, and regulatory functions (Bench and Lench, 2013; Danckert and Elpidorou, 2023).

Just as pain is a signal that warns us of physical danger, so see boredom as a warning that the experience is worthless (Levine) or even potentially dangerous. (Zakay, 2014).

For example, boredom is associated with maladaptive behaviors such as promiscuity. drug abuseGambling (Zakay; Bench and Lench). Some have suggested that boredom can have negative effects on health, such as the expression “bored to death” (Britton and Shipley, 2010).

In the digital age, where entertainment is always available, boredom is on the rise. We are in the era of continuous digital engagement. These media sources, coupled with our “insatiable” desire for stimulation, result in chronic exposure to challenging stimuli, which reduces our sensitivity to these stimuli and divides our attention. and exposure to “fragmented diversity” can reduce our sense of meaning. the amount of information to process (Tam and Inzlicht, 2024); Second screeningthat is, using a digital device such as an iPhone while watching television (Tam and Inzlicht).

One of the major problems in studying boredom is that it is an “essentially endogenous experience,” making it difficult to determine experimentally when boredom begins and ends. Studies utilizing EEG and fMRI may provide greater insight (Raffaelli et al).