Why you should get interested in boredom
In an age of perpetual distraction have we forgotten how to be bored? Or are we, instead, more deeply and insidiously bored than before?
We struggle to take boredom seriously: it seems like such a spoilt, adolescent complaint. We are told repeatedly as children not to admit to boredom because it means we have no inner resources. I conclude now I have no/ inner resources, because I am heavy bored, wrote the US poet John Berryman in Dream Song 14. (He received more hate mail for this poem than any other).
But we make a mistake in dismissing or trivialising boredom. It is a devastatingly powerful force. Marriages end from boredom; addictions take hold in boredom; violence thrives on boredom. In some respects our tireless efforts to evade boredom have shaped the modern world. What powers Facebook, Instagram and Twitter if not the ever-replenishing fuel of our boredom? The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard called it “the root of all evil”...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.