In defense of being really bored.

Remember a time, when you said, "Ah! I am bored of this book." or "This game is so boring" and you will just sit in your chair and look at the wall not knowing what to do for hours. Even your parent's constant nagging to move your butt or go outside and play would not seem to matter. Because you are just so bored of everything. Again it is not a nostalgia post, i.e., ah the 90's were so much better. 

To come to think about it, today the whole system is designed around us to entertain us constantly. We all are addicts, addicts to entertainment, addicts to keep our minds busy with new information all the time. Think about it, at the slightest inkling of getting bored, we switch to do something about it, call someone, go to youtube rewatch clips from the old movies, watch the top ten lists of everything on this earth, keep scrolling on facebook, buzzfeed, buy things on Amazon and ebay, buy things we may never need (or may just write blogs :))

If you tell people that you are bored. Everyone around you will come up with an instant solution. Oh here look at this cat video, or watch this movie, play this game, why don't you go out ? Why don't you meet new people who can effectively suggest you more things to do. The point I am trying to make is that the society thinks that getting bored is a bad thing. As if it is something unnatural and a sign that you are going to be moping and sad in some time if you are not entertained immediately and put out of your misery that is boredom. This is also reflected in a day to day conversation with most people. It has become more of a competition to constantly be saying interesting or funny things. However, as a human being you can practically come up with so many interesting things at regular intervals of time. 

An addiction:

Being entertained is addictive. I think it is almost as bad an addiction as any other drug. Maybe the idea of being entertained constantly is a precursor to drug usage. We are heavily surrounded by the next most super awesome amazing thing in the world which you can enjoy right now on your finger tips and not a minute later. We feed our reward center of the brain by entertaining ourselves constantly to such a point that it becomes numb. At this point we need more and newer forms of entertainment, which is not bad, but again there is something called indulgence. It seems like we can never satiate our quest to be fully entertained.

Being bored can be a wonderful thing. It is a time, when one can think about new ideas or maybe not think, just being in the moment of time. Being bored is the cradle of creativity. It is the time when we can reflect and create something out of thin air, come up with interesting ideas and learn to appreciate the little things around us and feel truly entertained. Being bored also gives the time to take a step back and look at ourselves from a different plane, feel empathy towards others. Its a beautiful thing. 

There was a time not too long ago, when if you want to watch a play you really need to travel to that distant village where it was being performed, if you heard the most beautiful song in your life at some place being played by some musician, you actually need to travel to a place where he/she was playing. There was a huge price tag attached with the idea of being entertained. Today we have the luxury of listening to the same song again and again if our heart so desires. Entertainment is cheap, but it comes at a heavy price of indulgence. 

So, next time you feel bored, do not pick up the phone and dial your friend just yet  or go to youtube to re-watch the same thing you watched a million times before in attempt to chase the first high. Just let it sync, be bored more often to enjoy the things that really matter.