
Being Bored Is Good - apollinaire
https://thewalrus.ca/why-being-bored-is-good/
======
stcredzero
If it weren't for the crushing boredom of the suburbs when I was a child, I
might not have learned how to program computers. I would never have thought so
much about spaceships. The original Star Wars trilogy wouldn't have been
nearly as cool to discover.

I also play traditional music, though boredom wasn't part of my discovering
that. However, silence was a big part of traditional music, in the past. You
need empty space if you're going to approach something with a fresh, receptive
mind and heart. When something is so common that it becomes an ubiquitous
commodity, we tend to tune it out and become desensitized. It's this way for
all kinds of culture and media. If you're not familiar enough with the really
great parts of traditional musics, then think of media around sex. Or, for
that matter, video games.

The transition from boredom to fascination to determination has been a start
of many significant parts of my life.

~~~
brootstrap
Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with
as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible. I was recently
turned onto this band called Wand. If you want to feel some delicious space in
a song, check out Scarecrow by Wand. The video is amazingly simple too.

The constant bombardment of shit is so real though. I want to spend time with
my wife and kid. Sometimes it's hard to focus though. Everywhere you look in
public there is something flashing to get your attention. Thankfully we _are_
able to turn things off for a while and just be with each other.

~~~
SolaceQuantum
_" Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted
with as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible"_

I don't know if that's entirely fair- orchestras have always been quite
overwhelming to the senses, as have choirs and organs, IMO. Swing dance music
is also quite fast and filled.

Similarly, in my music spheres, minimalism is quite familiar- popular music
"unplugged" has made a large comeback.

~~~
stcredzero
_I don 't know if that's entirely fair- orchestras have always been quite
overwhelming to the senses, as have choirs and organs, IMO._

But those were rare, special events which people went to a lot of trouble to
attend. Between those orchestral performances, people had to make their own
music. Contrast that with today, when orchestral music can be background noise
somewhere, accorded no special value.

~~~
JauntyHatAngle
So that's more to do with availability rather than the style OP originally
posited.

------
jokoon
I often have this weird fear that I wont accomplish anything in my life like
it is some sort of personal failure.

Meanwhile I'm able to write about game ideas, code them, create some
characters and story and background, even though it doesn't lead to anything
since it's more of a hobby, but I fail to make it into a job. I love to think,
create, try to design little things, and honestly that's the best pleasure I
have.

In the end, I don't think I'm really unhappy. Nihilism is a good way to cope
with my own reality. I don't think people who fill their time with a job to
kill the boredom are doing themselves a favor. The philosophy of contributing
to society to gain money, quality holidays and entertainment seems weird to
me.

I always wonder: when their week is over, where do people find refuge? Sports,
hobbies, entertainment? I just don't understand how people can think about
leaving this world without having something that is really their own. How do
you live when you're just a consumer? What happens if you lose friends? In my
own conception of life, I just don't understand how people can not feel lost
if they don't create something that stems from their own selves.

~~~
growlist
Welcome to the wonderful globalised utopia of 2019 in which shared culture has
been deliberately destroyed and genuine, wholesome, worthwhile, spiritually
nourishing experiences and a sense of community are replaced with empty
consumerism and anomie.

~~~
shrimp_emoji
I've tried to get into anomie repeatedly. So many great programmers seem to
love it, so I feel like it might help me code better. But I just can't do it.
There's so little substance. It's as if the appeal of 99% of anomies is some
pathetic, parainfatuatory relationship between the (male) viewer and the
(female) characters, and the worldbuilding and story are total afterthoughts.
And it's not even like they fully leverage the sexual appeal; it's just
endless teasing and beating around the bush. It's very strange.

~~~
spiznnx
anomie /ˈanəˌmē/ \- noun - lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an
individual or group.

anime /ˈanəˌmā/ \- noun - a style of Japanese film and television animation,
typically aimed at adults as well as children.

------
daveslash
I was so bored this past weekend, and it was great. Every year I volunteer to
backpack into the desert mountains of Southern California, sit in one spot for
3 full days, and count all of the Bighorn Sheep that I see. There's typically
a total of an hour of excitement each day, and the rest is just sitting,
staring at a mountainside. No cell reception, no human made structures
visible, just two other people there with me. I recommend that everyone find
something similar in their own lives.

~~~
visarga
If I had to sit for 3 days watching the mountains and the occasional sheep
passing by, I would probably turn to meditation or continue planning my
project in my mind.

~~~
leadingthenet
Which is precisely why boredom is important. It can lead to some truly
creative thoughts.

~~~
criddell
But if you are meditating or thinking about work, are you bored?

I don't think I've felt bored in decades precisely because I have so many
things I like to think about. I'm not sure I could even turn that stuff off to
actually feel bored any more.

~~~
filoleg
>if you are meditating or thinking about work, are you bored?

You are doing those things to escape boredom. The idea isn’t to stay in a
perpetual state of boredom. The point is to induce boredom, so that it pushes
you towards doing things you wouldn’t normally do, in order to escape it.

~~~
Hoasi
> The point is to induce boredom

Still doesn't sound like a great idea.

~~~
filoleg
Seems to work for a lot of people, including me.

"Inducing boredom" doesn't mean "sit down in your apartment like you normally
would, but force yourself to do nothing and get bored just because." I always
understood it as "put yourself in an environment with limited options, so that
you would feel more encouraged to do something productive/creative that you
always wanted to do (but couldn't due to all the outside
distraction/overstimulation) in order to escape boredom."

------
wnmurphy
This is exactly in line with my own experience. I noticed that I had
completely stopped thinking deeply and creatively as I used to, and it
coincided with my use of social media as a mental "palate-cleanser" at work. I
was filling all of my spare moments with the mental equivalent of processed
snacks. Once I stopped, my mind returned to filling that void with deep
thoughts and creativity.

I really think social media is altering our attention spans and changing our
minds, for the worse.

~~~
teksimian
When we constantly consumed with stimulus from social media or non stop feed
of news and discussion there is no room for boredom. Boredom is important to
the creative process.

------
stuart78
I'm not sure that boredom is the right word for what is being described here.
Leisure is what we used to call it, and the sense of boredom seems (to me) to
emerge as one possible reaction to unencumbered leisure time. When I am on a
hike, my mind can be free, but I am not bored.

Certainly agree with the idea that phones create a strong environment for
bored distraction. I've been slowly deleting apps where I find myself
pointlessly refreshing/checking, but I haven't made it to the next level of
completely disengaging and simply sitting and mentally exploring other forms
of leisure.

------
_o-O-o_
From: [http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-
howto.html](http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html)

 _> 3\. Boredom and drudgery are evil.

> Hackers (and creative people in general) should never be bored or have to
> drudge at stupid repetitive work, because when this happens it means they
> aren't doing what only they can do — solve new problems. This wastefulness
> hurts everybody. Therefore boredom and drudgery are not just unpleasant but
> actually evil.

> To behave like a hacker, you have to believe this enough to want to automate
> away the boring bits as much as possible, not just for yourself but for
> everybody else (especially other hackers).

> (There is one apparent exception to this. Hackers will sometimes do things
> that may seem repetitive or boring to an observer as a mind-clearing
> exercise, or in order to acquire a skill or have some particular kind of
> experience you can't have otherwise. But this is by choice — nobody who can
> think should ever be forced into a situation that bores them.)_

~~~
pretty_lorelei
IMHO, this is just different defininiton of boring, as in "doing this
repetitive shit is boring and I would be better off automating it and doing
something challenging" vs "being alone with my thoughts rather than consuming
delicious Internet information is so boring, let me just mindlessly scroll HN
instead".

~~~
uniquelygeneric
As a musician, I can tell you that practicing a song (particularly a well
known song) is very frustrating partly due to boredom. A practiced musician
will know when they’ve reached their limit for the day of learning a song.
Muscle memory is much slower than neural memory, and usually requires
“sleeping on it”.

Knowing you’ve reached the limit of your current capability is boring because
you know the next few practice rounds will be much of the same, with minor
improvements that provide a dopamine rush.

Regardless, nothing has changed in the age-old saying of how to get to
Carnegie Hall: Practice, Practice, Practice. The practice is the boredom, but
without training your muscles and building up myelin sheaths, you’ll never be
good enough to automate most of the music to an extent that you can improvise
on top of it (the fun part).

I guess my point is akin to OP’s, in that boredom isn’t inherently a bad
thing, but a means to an end. Without the boring practice, we wouldn’t have
experts/artists...and even then, the practice doesn’t have to solely be
boring.

------
alexbanks
Being trapped in a middle of nowhere town that didn't even have sidewalks,
combined with the (mis)fortune of having parents that couldn't possibly care
less what I spent my time on all gave me everything I have today. Without
those thousands of hours on the internet and nothing better to do, I would not
be where I am today.

~~~
99052882514569
Counterpoints to "being bored made me awesome" that spring to mind
immediately:

You would be in a different place, and whether it's better or worse is
unknowable.

For every person inspired to greatness (or okayness) by boredom, there is
someone driven to drug addiction by boredom.

~~~
alexbanks
You'll note that I did not say it made me awesome, nor did I suggest anyone
else should do it. In fact, I even added the "(mis)fortune)" to point out the
obvious negative aspect to my statement.

I literally just said those factors got me to where I am today. I did not
imply where I am now is better than an alternative.

~~~
JudgeWapner
I wonder if being ignored by your parents also made you this hostile?

~~~
dang
Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please don't post like this to HN.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

------
petra
Being bored is great. You're forced to be with your thoughts.

You have the opportunity to work on them. Be it via meditation. Or cognitive
behavioral therapy. or whatever.

And if you succeed, you earn a happier mind.

~~~
brootstrap
Not everyone can do this but when i get truly bored and have the time and
space... Spark up a little doobson and start playing music. Dont think, just
play for 30 minutes and hour 2 hours. However these times are much scarcer
with a little kid in the house.

------
visarga
I think boredom is a mechanism for novelty seeking, making us take a step back
and maybe try a different activity, a necessary part of the exploration-
exploitation tradeoff... because we never know what unknown unknowns we're
missing. It's good to do what we know will give us rewards, but maybe there
are even better rewards we're passing on, so from time to time it's necessary
to sacrifice the safe zone and go out.

Interestingly, both curiosity and self-control have been turned into
successful reinforcement learning techniques. A RL agent would walk a maze
collecting points, but one wall was turned into a TV, so when it found it it
stopped exploring and just binged on the video feed. Even RL agents can be
addicted to video.

~~~
colechristensen
There is also a theory that attention "disorders" are an adaptation or
variation in novelty seeking. i.e. some people are just more wired for novelty
seeking

Having a population with varied amount of attention seeking seems beneficial
for finding the "optimum" for the local environment. Too much novelty seeking
and the seekers will all get eaten by bears and starve because they fail to do
what is known good. Too little novelty seeking and the known good will rot and
be inflexible to changing conditions. (obviously contrived)

~~~
bored
This sounds like group selection

~~~
colechristensen
Group selection is largely discredited, of course.

But! Richard Dawkin's selfish gene theories go the other way and argue for
natural selection working on the gene-level instead of the individual level.

It seems like group selection but it is more like population dynamics and
selection pressures for traits in a population. If a gene becomes too
prevalent in a population it's advantages become disadvantages and an
individual has less chance of surviving. If it is too scarce, an individual
has a large advantage and a higher chance of surviving and passing the gene
on.

It would be limited to traits where the phenotype results in more successful
competition with the same species.

------
baxtr
A good advice from a friend: if you want to be bored again, read less HN. Good
night.

------
growlist
There is definitely too much sensation and information for me these days. When
I was a kid and being a natural geek I had so little technical literature in
the house that I used to pore over it. I'd read my computer magazines cover to
cover until I virtually memorised the whole thing.

These days, I don't even know where to start. It's terrifying! I'm moving to
the country soon to get away from the overload.

~~~
bradhoffman
This is a topic I've been pondering lately. Even looking around the internet
for technical information/assistance has become harder due to all of the
information that is now out there. How can we find sources or information that
are truly meaningful and provide great value, rather than just mediocre or non
at all?

~~~
bittercynic
I think there could be a real opportunity for a hand-curated search tool that
addresses this need.

~~~
cruano
Are we going back to the Yahoo! days ?

------
gerbilly
I'e been programming since the early eighties, and when I was zoned into it,
my mom would have to call me 3 times for dinner.

I would tell her I'd be there in two minutes, and to me what felt like two
minutes, was really ten in real life.

In those days, this kind of computer time dilation experience was pretty
unique, and very few people had access to it.

Now I find it funny to see that all of society seems to be turning into phone
zombies.

Although this absorption state is occasionally useful, I've come to dislike
it. I feel it takes me away from real life down a rabbit hole.

I much prefer full contact living, and the occasional boredom that comes with
it.

~~~
bradhoffman
So how do you keep yourself from become a "phone zombie"? Have you gone as far
as to get rid of your smart phone? That is one thing I've heavily considered,
but Spotify, Navigation, and High-quality photos are too hard to pass on.

~~~
gerbilly
>how do you keep yourself from become a "phone zombie"?

I install only utility apps, a surf forecast app, a VPN token generator for
work, and a few others.

I specifically don't install any social media apps on it.¹

I also use an older phone (iphone 5), and maybe that helps a bit too, since
you have to be really motivated to browse the web on it.

1: I don't even have social media accounts, period, but that's another story.

------
topologie
“Few understand that procrastination is our natural defense, letting things
take care of themselves and exercise their antifragility; it results from some
ecological or naturalistic wisdom, and is not always bad -- at an existential
level, it is my body rebelling against its entrapment. It is my soul fighting
the Procrustean bed of modernity.”

― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

------
z2
Maybe it's a language thing, but I wonder if for the most of human history,
people simply weren't bored in the same sense as they are today. Wikipedia's
article on boredom seems to suggest the concept only gained traction in the
17th century, while the term 'boring' took off in sync with 19th century
industrialization!

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boredom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boredom)

2:
[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bored%2Cboredo...](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bored%2Cboredom%2Cboring&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3)

~~~
travbrack
Makes sense. When you're on the lunch menu for a saber-toothed tiger, your
life is anything but boring.

------
mark_l_watson
I never saw The Walrus before - great content.

I consider it an aspect of “wealth” to have quiet time for introspection.
While I do most of my hiking with friends, I block off long periods of time
for introspective, or meditative, walks by myself in the wilderness (I live
150 feet from a trailhead, with lots of nearby wilderness).

I usually enjoy writing but after a recent move back to our home in Arizona, I
was suffering from “writer’s block” and the way I broke through that was to
toss my laptop in a backpack and walk for 45 minutes to my local library,
write, then walk home. Walking 90 minutes might seem boring but this process
worked well for me and got me unstuck.

------
Accacin
This sounds great and makes a lot of sense, but how do I get bored? Last week
I walked the Jurassic Coast alone, and I loved it but I don't think I ever
felt bored. If I'm at home I love to read or program and in the mornings I
love to go out and run.. No headphones or music or phones, just me and my
thoughts, but again I don't really feel bored.

~~~
growlist
You need to not have anything to do. Just go and lie down in a barely
furnished room with no distractions for a while. The boredom will surely come!

------
str33t_punk
This is why a quit weed. Weed makes being bored fun. So all the motivation
that being bored typically gives you goes away and you are content to do
nothing. However it is healthy to be bored, and you need this push in order to
accomplish things

------
jchook
My favorite quote from the article:

> Boredom is, at its simplest, a form of desire turned back upon itself,
> resulting in the inability to act in any purposeful or happy manner.

> Why can’t I simply want something? Why can’t I simply do something?

------
ohduran
Upcoming generations will think of us as the society who was afraid of being
bored. The book Deep Work by Cal Newport is a good read on this topic, but I'm
sure it isn't the only one. You can find my detailed notes on it here:
[https://alvaroduran.me/deep-work](https://alvaroduran.me/deep-work) (any
feedback is welcomed!)

------
jatins
Once you have spent years not being bored thanks to constant availability to
Youtube, Netflix and plethora of scrolling options on phone it becomes really
_hard_ to be bored.

A lot of people of my generation actually need Netflix to fall asleep, which I
find frankly disturbing. The eyeball economy is an addiction, maybe not as
dangerous as other ones, so we just live with it.

------
crypt0b1z
"We might think that the addict has it easy: even if they are powerless to
solve it, at least they know what their problem is!" Boredom I suppose can be
addiction if it can gain profits. Boredom compared to an addiction you dont
even realize what is happening. Addicts first step is admitting they are
powerless and realizing they have a problem.

------
wilsocr88
All of my best ideas happen when I'm bored. That's why I always keep a Google
Keep, or Evernote, or just a notepad, nearby at all times. Sure, most of the
time, nothing comes from these little ideas (often due to my own lack of
sticktoitiveness), but boredom is undoubtedly a powerful catalyst of creation.

------
simonebrunozzi
Of course! Ancient Romans had a concept called "Otium" [0], which somewhat
coincides or at least mostly overlaps with the "being bored" the article
refers to.

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otium)

------
ex3xu
I think Maria Popova from Brainpickings expands on this topic pretty well:
[https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/16/boredom/](https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/16/boredom/)

------
davizao4
I wonder how many scientists, musicians, sport legends wouldn't exist if their
world wasn't boring, and if there wasn't just a very limited pool of things to
do, allowing them to become specialists on those.

------
theawesomekhan
Nowadays, it's pretty hard to get bored as mentioned due to the stimulus
economy. Though making my phone's screen turn gray-scale really helps with
destimulation.

------
goutham2688
random thought: Can this be why colder countries are doing better than hotter
countries, by being forced to stay at home/shelter during winter periods.

~~~
brokenmachine
Please define what "doing better" means.

~~~
collyw
Economically.

Look at Europe, the north does significantly better than the south in most
cases. The southern countries in my opinion, have far better quality of life.

------
daodedickinson
I don't think I'll ever feel safe enough again to feel bored. Haven't felt
bored since before high school.

~~~
themacguffinman
Is boredom mutually exclusive to a sense of safety? I'm sure I'd still feel
bored even if I was scared the whole time.

------
Waterluvian
Having a computer in my room without Internet was probably one of the most
impactful features of my childhood.

------
vectorEQ
bored: feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest
in one's current activity.

Somehow i feel people mistake living a peaceful life with living a boring
life. if you are bored all the time, that is basically called being depressed.
it is not fun and it is not good.

------
gregoryexe
"Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored" came on over the radio while
reading this.

------
bored
I condone this message

------
tranchms
Leisure is necessary for philosophy.

------
warent
> Modern music is a mirror image of the internet culture as well. Blasted with
> as many synth hooks and processed vocal melodies as possible.

This seems a little bit like a fist-shaking "back in my day!" kind of
judgemental statement. Music is a matter of taste and what you're approaching
here doesn't relate to the topic.

~~~
cyberferret
I am going to have to back the parent comment about music, having had first
hand experience with this.

My son is currently trying to break into the music industry. He is a gifted
guitarist and musician [0], but whenever he talks to music producers and
execs, he is told that his songwriting is too complex, his songs too long (avg
4 minutes) and his lyrics too deep for the current generation of music buyers
(read: teenagers and young girls).

He is being told repeatedly by the people who make the decisions that he needs
to reduce his songs to a basic beat with a couple of good hooks and not much
more than that (apart from adding some eletronica). These are the people who
fund albums and promotions these days. This is their criteria. From the horses
mouth.

[0] -
[https://instagram.com/jordanravimusic](https://instagram.com/jordanravimusic)

~~~
navigatesol
> _These are the people who fund albums and promotions these days. This is
> their criteria. From the horses mouth._

And VCs want you to make food delivery or photo sharing apps, because it makes
them money. And yet, I can look out my window and see an artisanal bakery and
craft store.

Is your son's goal to become a rich, pop star, or to play his music for a
living? If it's the former, then I guess he should listen to the people who
produce the pop stars. If it's the latter, there are more channels for doing
so than ever in history.

------
patientplatypus
I always love these threads.

"Being bored is good? I'll show you how bored I am! I'm the most bored. Here's
an anecdote about how I was the most bored before being the most bored was
known to be good. Therefore I _really_ am bored and therefore good. LIKE ME
LIKE ME LIKE ME"

You know what? I'm rarely bored, suck it.

------
mruts
Has anyone considered that the ability for people to be easily distracted
reveals a weakness in themselves? i.e we all wish we were more bored so we
could discover our "true" selves. If you're distracted all the time by twitter
or bullshit or whatever, you really only have one person to blame: yourself.

It would definitely be easier for everyone's self image if we weren't exposed
to the parts of ourselves that we found weak, or disgusting. Boredom and lack
of stimulation easily facilitates this illusion of self control and virtue.
But true self knowledge and self-equilibrium result from the understanding of
who we exactly are, how we react to different situations. In this way, I think
"over"-stimulation is laudable: you never know what is enough until you know
what is too much.

~~~
shados
Absolutely. I'll totally admit its my fault. But the fact is that 20-30 years
ago, even though I had the same personality I have today, with the same
weakness, it just wasn't a problem.

A similar situation is with food in America. I'm from another country and had
a pretty healthy weight. Then I moved to the US. All the weight again and
associated health problems hit me like a truck. I didn't change as a person,
but massive amount of ridiculously cheap food everywhere just wasn't (as much)
of a problem in my home town, so I was healthy. NOT ANYMORE!

~~~
mruts
Not to be harsh, but, like, that is your problem. I, for example, used to be
addicted to heroin. If opiates had never been discovered, I guess I probably
would have never had a problem with it. But that's a weak excuse. I'm glad I
was shown my weakness, because now I am stronger for it. Change and
distraction and temptation is an opportunity to truly understand our self. And
with understanding comes power.

~~~
shados
I probably made my point poorly. I'm not saying that things need to change to
accommodate me. I'm saying that at a macro scale, it has an impact on people
(and likely society) no matter how we look at it, because you can't fix
everyone.

If we should do something about it or not is a completely different topic.

------
sarcasmOrTears
When I'm bored I get intrusive thoughts. I need to be bored in a way that is
distracting.

------
HNLurker2
Boooooooooooriiiiiiiifiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingggg. REEEEEEEEEEE

~~~
HNLurker2
Still fucking boooring

~~~
HNLurker2
This fucking article was so fucking boring and mediocre it makes me fucking
puke.

------
viburnum
This weekend I was slogging through a book I had been meaning to read for ten
years when I realized that twitter is actually more enjoyable than books.

~~~
superhuzza
I would argue that totally depends on the books and the twitter threads that
you're reading!

It took me a long time to realize that if a book wasn't interesting or
enjoyable, I could just...stop. With twitter it's a bit mentally easier to
just close the browser.

~~~
asdfman123
I find books are every bit as enjoyable. The problem is the first 30-50 pages
are usually a slog, before I hit my "activation energy" and really get into it
(or realize I don't like it).

When I was less distracted, the slog was easier.

~~~
bduerst
Don't read e-books on your phone. Not that you're doing that, but it's very
difficult to do for reasons you're describing.

~~~
beat
I carry a Kindle Paperwhite just for focused reading, but I also have a Kindle
app on my phone, so I'll read books rather than obsessively checking email /
social media / weather / omganything. I read different books on my phone thank
on the Kindle, things that I can easily pick up and put down without having to
shift the brain to a different gear. (Current phone read: _Everything Is
Fucked_. Current Kindle read: _War and Peace_.)

~~~
non-entity
It's still crazy to me the paperwhites are more expensive than Amazon's Fire
Tablets

~~~
beat
I imagine most of the cost is in that wonderful screen. Reading on a
paperwhite is a revelation - the next best thing to an actual book, and better
than many books.

------
vinceguidry
Boredom leads to inspiration, which leads to exploration which leads to
passion which leads to disillusion which leads back to boredom.

Rinse and repeat until dead.

~~~
collyw
Its more likely to lead to watching TV.

