we are not BORED enough!
How Modern Devices and Media Contacts Destroy our Curiosity and Creativity.
Since the beginning of the human race, people have tried to blend themselves. It’s in our nature, to avoid boredom. We invented time-consuming disruptions like games, poetry, or comedy, as well as the idea of numbing or “expanding “our mental capacity by taking drugs whatsoever. Even our brains blend themselves by fantasizing overnight.
All those actions follow the same principals; to distract from reality. And that’s completely ok. We need to “turn off “sometime; otherwise, being real the whole time, not joking, we likely would drive crazy or lose what’s human about us.
the Introduction of Modern devices
Since the beginning of the modern age, life quality, on average, got better. After the First World War, rowing twenty’s brought wealth and recognition to the people. They were able to spend some of their money on leisure activities or modern machines like the radio, and later its visually capable successor, the so-called TV.
Nowadays, we got the internet, which allows us to communicate and distract ourselves online, as pointed out above. What shifted was the medium and content-accessibility. That made it easier to consume and interact more at the same time, by spending less effort. And since people in general are lazy, they often rather relex, letting themselves be entertained, rather then actually having to do stuff. By the way, the average person will lose (spent) two years of their lifespan on Facebook or Facebook products (study).
All in the Right Dosage
Since, as pointed out already, media, so-called products, now we’re more accessible to the people, the overusing problem developed. Being able to access knowledge and, of course, every tv show ever produced within an instance of clicks, actual physical, social interaction went down. One Movement, begging Marc Zuckerberg to rename Facebook to an anti-social network.
My father often tells me stories about him being a kid, not knowing what to do, count seconds, or wander around, letting his imagination roll. “Go out and play… be back at 7”, my grandparents would tell him.
Now, unfortunately, I was born into a time with phones, not having the privilege to experience both worlds. I still remember foldable phones, but in 2007 (me being 4), I remember seeing many people walking around with some kind of new device. I wondered why they wouldn’t even look up if they pass somebody, or literally cross streets. Now I do. I even take my phone with me when I just get a coffee or go to the bathroom. I bet you too!
We Need Boredness
Boredom is the mother of all creativity. -Kelly Cleeve
Boredness is great for you. Studies show that being bored, your brain is restructuring and organizing itself, giving you space for new ideas or projects.
For example, when was the last time you focused a point in space longer than one minute without doing anything else? Think about it! It might have been last night at 3 am, when you couldn’t sleep and panicked about how tired you will be the next day.
Shortly after that, your consciousness shifted to a much more specific thought. You might have been “day “dreaming, thinking about you being the first (wo)man stepping on mars, might be about you getting a promotion or people celebrating you for a specific reason. You would start thinking about random topics, → interests → things you could do.
It doesn’t matter what silly subject it was about, its all the same. You cleared up your mind. It’s called thinking!
Sign Out
Only drug dealers and technologist call customers users
Stop using your phone all the time:
- Don’t always pick up if you get a snack.
- Don’t always be on your phone in public transport.
- Don’t always prevent to be on your phone to avoid conversations.
Last year, I was on my phone a lot. Sometimes 5–6 hours a day. That doesn’t include Netflix or Video-games, since I use my iPad for that kind of stuff. When I dropped my phone and completely destroyed it, I downgraded to an iPhone 5, which is obviously not fun to use in 2020. That’s how I got my screen time to about 45 minutes a day!
If you got an iPhone, go to:
- settings → Screentime → See All Activity
- Check what applications are taking away most of your time. And then, depending on how drastically you want to transform, either set an App Limit or delete them completely…
You’ll see the results! Cheers!
