what is boredom?
In my schooldays during the vacation, I’d occasionally complain to Thatha (grandpa) “I’m bored”
And he’d reply… “what is that bored, I say… tell me what do you mean by boredom?”
What a strange question… I’d start to explain… but couldn’t quite get the words right. It was an interesting question, I never really managed to answer it.
Even now I’m not really sure of the answer… just a few ideas which might’ve pleased Thatha had he been around today… 🙂
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 psychological state resulting from any activity that lacks motivation, or from enforced continuance in an uninteresting situation.
Hmm… somewhat vague explanations… but this is my own theory, not sure how much sense it makes:
Boredom is one’s inability to be with oneself.
Sanjay, I think your explanation is very correct
Thanks Anitha 🙂 Richard Bach says
Usually boredom starts from a failure to understand and assimilate what’s going on, for whatever reason, whether it’s a conversation, a jargon-filled lecture or conceptual art. Lacking prior information or unwilling to receive something new, we shut down and identify the frustrated feeling that results as boredom.
To quote Ellen Parr, “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”