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The Lost Art of Boredom

I didn’t get my first cellphone until I was 13 years old. Before then, I was often bored. I was bored on the bus ride to and from school, I was bored while shopping with my parents, and I was bored during lulls in class when there was no work left to do. So what is a bored kid to do with himself? Well, I doodled on my papers, I talked to people, but most often I simply thought – a lot. I thought about what I wanted to do when I got home, about what I needed to do each day, about my future, and also about nothing in particular. All of this stopped once I got my cellphone.

I thought it was great. I would never be bored again. I could play games, surf the web, listen to music, and more! Never again would I have to deal with those quiet moments alone with my thoughts. Never again would I have to stare at the clock. Never again would I have to poorly attempt to draw stick people on my papers in class. I haven’t had time alone with my thoughts in the same way as my time pre-cellphone in at almost 7 years.

I feel like most people in my age bracket have a similar story. Anyone older than me either never had a cellphone growing up or got it in their late teens or early adulthood. Anyone younger has had a cellphone since they could babble their father’s name.

It was only recently that I realized that I hadn’t had a good think in a very long time. This led me to contemplate why that might be the case and led me to the cellphone observation that I opened with, although I’m certain there are other factors at play. I feel that, in general, boredom has become a lost art. Before I got my cellphone not only was I often bored during such liminal lulls, but I also didn’t really seek out anything to remedy it. Now, when I try to replicate it by purposefully not using my cellphone or leaving it home, I feel the need to bring a book or paper and a pen. Why is it that I had such an easy time before, but not now? Obviously it’s because I’ve become accustomed to never having a single idle moment save for the shower and a few minutes in bed waiting to fall asleep.

You may still fail to see the problem here, and I don’t blame you if so. When I recall the things I thought about while bored I realize that some of my best creative thoughts came from these moments. I thought about plots for stories to write, I worked out problems that needed solving, et cetera. I still do these things to some extent now, but not to the same degree as before. By losing this precious time, I’ve become much less creative, my days feel more monotonous, and overall I feel like I go through days in a daze. Human beings were meant to have idle thoughts! We were meant to have these moments to work things out! Not to stick an electronic pacifier in our mouths at the slightest hint of boredom.

I’m attempting to make a change. I bought a Cat S22 Flip to replace my smartphone. Its tiny screen and physical buttons make it the perfect replacement. It still is a smartphone under-the-hood so I can use it to watch videos, read email, and surf the web. However, it’s such a miserable experience that I won’t be lost for hours accomplishing nothing. I also installed a minimal launcher, and forced myself to only use the physical T9 keyboard using Traditional T9.

But this post isn’t an ad for a cellphone. I realize that this one change will not be a silver bullet to all my problems. Nor will it make my thought patterns go back as they were. Nevertheless, I hope that by attempting to take a step in the right direction I can improve my life – even a little.

What stops you from having idle thoughts? And what can you do about it?

— Vince