Living in reality
Thoughts on idleness, boredom, and the digital world
Hola a todos !
A few days ago, I wrote about my bus ride home after work and my, how should I say, “old-fashioned” thoughts as I noticed how many of the younger passengers around me were on their phones the entire time while the world more or less passed them by. I’m in my mid-30s, and I work in science, so I would argue that advancements in technology are crucial for the advancements in society. But, as the age-old question goes: when does too much of a good thing become bad?
I wonder if there’s a phenomenon where being idle causes a sense of fear because idleness → boredom → thinking. And, let me be honest, sometimes thinking can lead to overthinking, anxiety, and even depression, which is not very appealing. Thus, instinctively, I reach for my phone to turn on music or an audiobook — anything with noise that can help quiet my overthinking.
But then I think: Isn’t quietness good? Isn’t having space to think good? Maybe idleness, and even boredom, are necessary components of a life well lived. And are forms of digital-device-based entertainment, like endlessly scrolling through media on our phones, really helping to decrease boredom?
What if being idle created space to think about hobbies that could fill our lives in more meaningful ways — reading, drawing, puzzles, gardening, birdwatching, and so on?
I’m not going to stand on a pedestal and pretend I don’t have my own forms of digital media. Pinterest, for example.
And, I’m certainly not trying to convince anyone that they should embrace idleness or boredom. I’m only thinking about my future self and whether I’ll be able to say that I truly lived in reality rather than primarily in a digital one.
In my next post, I plan to discuss some current research on boredom as it relates to arousal and our digital age.
Leaving this thought here for now.
P.S. If this resonates with you, I’d genuinely enjoy hearing your perspective. I’d also be interested to know how others balance technology, boredom, and quietness in daily life.
This is great insight! What strikes me is the reaching for the phone because of the idleness to boredom to overthinking pipeline. So the screen essentially becomes a distraction from ourselves. While I do notice a disconcerting number of individuals glued to their phones in public/social spaces, there’s also a growing movement of people actively resisting screen time and going “analog” to live in the present moment by choosing older devices like digital cameras or iPods that you can’t be pinged on. Idleness is not uncomfortable, but I do believe we’ve been socially conditioned to avoid it with all the optimization that technology affords us.