It’s Debatable – Boredom: Next Gen, Now Gen

It’s Debatable –

Boredom

We are introducing a new column this month, to gain and share young people’s perspectives from our community. 

Leonard Cavallaro, a year 11 student at Kelvin Grove State College, has generously volunteered to be our guest writer. You may remember a bit about Leonard from the September edition, where Colin Bushell interviewed him for his “Col’s Chat” column. 

“Boredom” the desire for desires” – Leo Tolstoy  

When Tolstoy wrote these words, he couldn’t have imagined a world where that desire could be satisfied instantly. Yet here we are, able to scroll through infinite content while waiting for buses and doom-scroll news during lunch breaks. Genuine boredom has become almost extinct. 

Waiting at the local barber? Phone. Taking the bus from school? Phone.  

It’s truly quite ironic that in our quest to never be bored, we risk creating genuinely boring lives. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve lived my whole life with this technology, and I won’t be trading it away anytime soon. But what if it’s robbing us of something essential? 

Dr. Timothy Wilson’s 2014 study revealed something unsettling about our relationship with our own thoughts. Participants were placed alone in a room for 15 minutes with nothing but a button that delivered painful electric shocks. These same people had previously said they’d pay money to avoid such pain. Yet when faced with pure boredom, 67% of men and 25% of women chose to shock themselves rather than sit any longer. 

Silly Americans, perhaps, but I’d still be interested to run the same test with some of my classmates (though I fear the electric shock part might be a tough sell). 

Neuroscientists and researchers have established what we already knew. Being bored is very boring and all-round unpleasant. However, it is worth pushing through and activating what’s called the “default mode network”, something which actually does wonders for the brain.  

As Dr. Sandi Mann noted, a state of boredom “allows our mind to wander, allows us to daydream, and that can actually lead us to problem solving and creativity”. Think about your own experience. When did you last have a great idea while scrolling social media or binge-watching Netflix? No, our best thoughts emerge during walks, showers, or those increasingly rare moments when we’re not consuming content.  

Still, there’s real pushback against that this culture of needing endless entertainment. Students are downloading apps to block extra screentime, setting limits or never joining certain platforms in the first place. Not everyone wants to look up and wonder where the hours went. So, let’s try eating, waiting, and walking without a screen. Not only for ourselves but for our siblings, our children, our grandchildren. Be a positive influence and get comfortable with boredom.   

Philosopher Bertrand Russell warned that “a generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men.” Perhaps it’s time we discovered what emerges when we stop crowding out our own thoughts.  

After all, there’s nothing more boring than a life without boredom. 

Author: Leonard Cavallaro