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Boredom is a state of mind in which one interprets one's environment as dull, tedious, and lacking stimuli. There is an inherent hopelessness in boredom; people will expend considerable effort to prevent or remedy it, yet in many circumstances it is accepted as an inevitable suffering to be endured. A common way to escape boredom is through creative thoughts or daydreaming. Time often seems to move more slowly to someone who experiences boredom; this results from the way in which the human mind measures the passage of time, combined with the infrequency of events perceived as notable.
Causes People often experience boredom in circumstances where they are forced to wait (often at airports, in prisons or at government offices) and in social situations where attention is demanded. This might be at school, at work (often in a meeting or presentation), or even among family when there is no natural motivation to pay attention. People who feel bored may lack the ability to change the situation or may lack the motivation to do so. In a learning environment, a common cause of boredom is lack of understanding; for instance, if one is not following or connecting to the material in a class or lecture, it may seem boring. However, the opposite is also true; something that is too easily understood to the point of being predictable to the students is likely to bore them (Small 1996). Boredom is often inversely related to learning, and in school it may be a sign that a student is not challenged enough. Boredom can be a symptom of clinical depression; some boredom is a form of learned helplessness, a phenomenon closely related to depression. Some philosophies of parenting propose that if children are raised in an environment devoid of stimuli, and are not allowed or encouraged to interact with their environment, they will fail to develop the mental capacities to do so. These children are then bored even when placed in an environment others would find stimulating. Boredom is often associated with adolescence, especially in suburbs, small towns, and other isolated areas. A typical teenager's complaint is that there is 'nothing to do'; this statement can have a number of economic and social causes. Younger teens cannot drive, but in many communities are unable to get anywhere without a car possibly due to lack of public transportation. It may also mean that their desired sources of entertainment are too expensive. It could also be a symptom of learned helplessness, possibly related to boredom experienced at school. Some people hold the belief that having too much spare time causes boredom; for example, parents might encourage their children to fill their time with extracurricular activities or homework. Others disagree, arguing that few environments are inherently 'boring', and that boredom reflects a lack of imagination, initiative and creativity. Effects Far from being a minor annoyance, boredom can have major negative impacts on people. Perhaps more importantly, boredom is often a symptom of deeper problems, such as depression, ineffective teaching, or ineffective management in a workplace. This can also be due to the fact that some people just communicate poorly. Boredom has long been recognized as being connected to drug abuse among teens. (Iso-Ahola 1991) Boredom in the workplace does more than just waste time. Studies in behavioral finance have shown that stock traders can enter into "overtrading" (buying or selling even without any objective reason to do so) because they feel bored when they have nothing "productive" to do. Boredom in the workplace also hurts peoples' sense of self-worth, which can cause them to work less effectively when their work is truly needed. Philosophy Arthur Schopenhauer used the existence of boredom in an attempt to prove the vanity of human existence, stating: "For if life, in the desire for which our essence and existence consists, possessed in itself a positive value and real content, there would be no such thing as boredom: mere existence would fufill and satisfy us". See also | ||||||||
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