Boredom in Psychology

[Milo]

I have recently read a critique of an essay on boredom by Adam Phillips and that raised a few questions about the nature of boredom in our psychology.
Do you often get bored or is it a rare occurrence for you? What brings about the feeling of boredom? How do you experience it (jittery, sad, low energy)?
Is it due to the activity you're engaged in or lack of activity? Is it a sign of dwindling imagination? A paucity in inspiration and creativity?
How do you un-bore yourself? Do you go deeper into a hobby or an interest or do you switch to entertainment and diversions?
What purpose does boredom serve for us, in you opinion? if any what are the relations to socionics types?
essay: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/0...llips-boredom/

[Aramas]

I'm always bored. I typically engage in diversionary practices like watching anime or reading. I don't think going deeper into a hobby or interest counts as anything more than a diversion.

[Exodus]

I am often bored. I need a lot of intellectual stimulation (or simple entertainment) for most interactions or activities to be worthwhile.

Discussing and doing research in socionics and math is interesting and helps to alleviate boredom. Interacting with friends, teachers, and mentors, attending classes, sermons, or lectures. I try to fill my time with productive activities though of course you need some amount of entertainment.

Socionically boredom is a function of Fe and Ne -- Ne recognizes whether information is unexpected and Fe is involved in producing the resulting emotional response.

[Chae]

Boredom happens when you don't get along with yourself and don't see the world from a curious stance. Since my mind remains preoccupied I don't feel boredom, in fact I wish I could experience it. I don't understand people who are languid, there are so many things to do, to talk about, to think about. This planet is quite entertaining in good and bad ways, and there is plenty to see, create, and change. If I could live forever, I would stay busy forever.

[ashlesha]

I mostly get bored at work when I don't have any tasks to work on because I can't just leave and do something and my only option is to fiddle around on my phone. I experience it as antsiness and impatience for something to happen, along with a terrible blankness in my mind. I'm usually most provocative on the forum after prolonged boredom. At home its not as much of as an issue because I have options for things to do. I want to increase my tolerance for boredom bcuz I think high tolerance is good in a lot of ways, increases patience and creativity and stuff. I think yoga and reading helps with that.

[ouronis]

I have anxiety, so I feel stimulated most of the time, even if I'm doing something that would be otherwise boring. When I do get bored it is a blessing and a curse. A curse because it feels terrible, like missing an addiction you've never taken a break from. Boredom is more of a hollow, existential dread feeling for me. A blessing because it helps me slow down and regain some mental flexibility that isn't present when I'm keyed up and riding high over the constant stream of anxious feelings. I find it to have a lot of the same effects of meditation, and I consider the two closely linked.

[Tallmo]

Boredom is related to not being able to engage the strong functions.

[Kernel]

Hm I feel bored when I don't find anything interesting to think about or engage in. I feel very shitty when I'm bored, when same things keep repeating. Once, I was very bored, with no people to talk to, no interesting information, I couldn't find what to do, so I just crawled at my bed for 2 weeks or more, feeling very depressed, I kept searching for something to pique my interest but nothing did, so I felt lifeless at that period and it was horrible, my family thought that something terrible happened to me but it was just boredom. So I concluded that my greatest fears are boredom and isolation.
After some days, I discovered a book that resonated with me at that time and bit by bit it opened a new interest. I think it's a cycle, when I'm bored it's like a big sign that I should change something, that I should find something new, maybe it can lead us to discovering what we are really passionate about.
I get rid of boredom by finding interesting information or new music, writing stories but sometimes the fuel is just not there... I also feel very energized and fulfilled when I talk about something I found/analyzed to friends, it's probably my favorite thing to do.

[Hot Scalding Gayser]

Boredom is a blessing in disguise. You can get a lot of stuff done now in this neutral stance because you aren't letting your feelings get in the way. Including maybe an interesting art project you're working on that's fun/colorful but its gonna take a lot of technical skill to get it completed.

It's good to be bored. Productivity is boring (well maybe if you're not a Te valuer ha), but it's good to be productive. Doing dishes/cleaning the room/taking out the trash- all very boring things. They still need doing.

Peace is boring. I still like it way better than war.

[Hot Scalding Gayser]

Life is naturally bleak, boring and sad. People who are constantly happy and not-bored are just waiting for the train of reality to hit them where it hurts.

Enjoy the good times when They are here, but when they aren't anymore let them go and be tough and brave through the sad. If you can't do this- fuck you- you useless american preppy. The emo ppl are really the strong ones, as they can weather pain while u cannot.

[Exodus]

Boredom happens when you don't get along with yourself and don't see the world from a curious stance. Since my mind remains preoccupied I don't feel boredom, in fact I wish I could experience it. I don't understand people who are languid, there are so many things to do, to talk about, to think about. This planet is quite entertaining in good and bad ways, and there is plenty to see, create, and change. If I could live forever, I would stay busy forever.

Not making excuses or anything, but surely you can see how this might, just maybe, be influenced by your type.

[Bertrand]

yeah if it was as simple as flipping a switch no one would ever be bored. boredom is what we call not seeing the world from a curious stance, its not caused by it. they're the same thing [1]. if you define your worldview as being exclusive of boredom, well for one, it loses all meaning because its like having light without shadow. it reminds me of ESE where attention is so diffuse as to render the gaze itself pointless, its like if you're looking at everything you're looking at nothing. at the same time everything is real, but this includes boredom, it doesn't exclude it. boredom is a phenomenon of value inasmuch as there has to be poles of excess to orient oneself. absolute curiosity is excessive in there is no consolidated territory, thus it spins out to being curious about everything and knowing nothing because before you come to truly know something your attention moves on. which is honestly a real problem for myself included. another word for boredom is "work"

[1] well, technically, curiosity is a subset of not-bored. you don't have to be curious to not be bored, but it always gets the job done

[Attis]

I never experience boredom. I can keep myself entertained in my mind forever.

[niffer]

I have recently read a critique of an essay on boredom by Adam Phillips and that raised a few questions about the nature of boredom in our psychology.
Do you often get bored or is it a rare occurrence for you? What brings about the feeling of boredom? How do you experience it (jittery, sad, low energy)?
Is it due to the activity you're engaged in or lack of activity? Is it a sign of dwindling imagination? A paucity in inspiration and creativity?
How do you un-bore yourself? Do you go deeper into a hobby or an interest or do you switch to entertainment and diversions?
What purpose does boredom serve for us, in you opinion? if any what are the relations to socionics types?
essay: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/0...llips-boredom/

I feel insane thinking about why you haven't added spacing in between your lines right now.

[Bertrand]

I never experience boredom. I can keep myself entertained in my mind forever.

that's only one version of boredom though, what if you had to keep an accurate count of beans for a long time or some such. lets say its sufficiently demanding that you can't go into a dream world, but at the same time its not demanding enough to be exciting

[ashlesha]

I never experience boredom. I can keep myself entertained in my mind forever.

This is what my iei friend says. When I tell him I was bored at work he's like, "why don't you just daydream?" like it's the most obvious thing in the world lol. I do think I could sit there coming up with narratives in my head but they wouldn't be mentally/emotionally engaging if I was forcing it like that.

[lemontrees]

I get bored in prolonged transit ... although I'm usually thinking about something. I too like being somewhere where I can control my own options.

Also I get bored of my own thoughts, which are cyclical, and tend to be about people. It would be awful to not get to read or something - just b/c I would have to think my own thoughts forever. Getting to enter someone else is a relief/escape. I don't know if it's typology related... I like new thoughts introduced to me.

[Bertrand]

This is what my iei friend says. When I tell him I was bored at work he's like, "why don't you just daydream?" like it's the most obvious thing in the world lol. I do think I could sit there coming up with narratives in my head but they wouldn't be mentally/emotionally engaging if I was forcing it like that.

i have an SLE instructor and you can tell all the work is subconsciously calculated to be within that window of being unable to daydream but also still being meaningless drudgery, its super annoying because its like I can tell right off the bat where the whole thing is going and what the solution is, but all the credit is for the useless busy work. its like this is how they keep their spacey dual engaged, but for me its just a complete waste of time

[maniac]

boredom is connected with depression

[Attis]

that's only one version of boredom though, what if you had to keep an accurate count of beans for a long time or some such. lets say its sufficiently demanding that you can't go into a dream world, but at the same time its not demanding enough to be exciting

I guess I've never been in such an odd situation. If I'm doing something in reality which is exciting, I'm not bored, and if I'm doing something in reality which isn't exciting, I'm entrenched in my mind. I don't think keeping a count of beans would prevent my imagination from running. It's something that happens unconsciously. As I type this post, my mind is racing with concepts and music and fantasies and memories. Even if I try to stop it, I cannot. This has been my experience for as long as I can remember. If something isn't sufficiently exciting to pull me out of my dream world, I will remain in my dream world. I can't recall ever being bored. I've had people get frustrated with me because I can sit around doing nothing all day and not get bored, whereas they have to constantly be doing things or they get bored. I suppose in some hypothetical perfect storm of tedium and forced concentration I might get bored, but this has never happened.

[Bertrand]

it sounds like you've just defined boredom out of existence, what is boredom then? something only other people experience? I would argue its a feeling or experience not necessarily related to (in)activity. thus boredom might be what you experience when you attend to what you'd rather not. for example, thinking about how you may actually be bored quite frequently and aren't just above it all could be quite boring, so you may not do it

[Attis]

it sounds like you've just defined boredom out of existence, what is boredom then? something only other people experience? I would argue its a feeling or experience not necessarily related to (in)activity. thus boredom might be what you experience when you attend to what you'd rather not. for example, thinking about how you may actually be bored quite frequently and aren't just above it all could be quite boring, so you may not do it

From Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boredom

"the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest" I do not experience this.

From dictionary.com: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/bored

"to weary by dullness, tedious repetition, unwelcome attentions, etc." I do not experience this. I learn exceptionally well via rote.

[squark]

I find being by myself with nothing going on perfectly pleasant - I can just think, or look at things, imagine, and it's not something I want to escape from. I like having lots of time to just think, and don't feel bored.

I think the feeling of boredom comes with a feeling of wanting to escape something and get to something else. A one-sided conversation with someone who drones on without breaks invokes this feeling - because you can't let your mind wander and still be listening to what they're saying, but you really don't want to be stuck there listening. Anything that prevents you from being able to be involved in your own thoughts - constant interruptions or disruptions, while also being unengaging itself causes this feeling. It's a feeling of being stuck and looking for a way out but not being able to find one.

So, because there are limited conditions that cause this feeling, I don't really experience feeling bored very often. I like lots of quiet to just think and amuse myself, and things that other people might find excruciatingly boring don't bother me at all. It gives me a chance to just think, which I enjoy. I also like movement though, and need to do something physical as well after a period of time, or I suffer a kind of body-boredom, where I find an increasingly pressing need to get moving, even just walking. And a similar trapped/stuck feeling can come over me physically as comes over me mentally in mind-boredom.

[Number 9 large]

For me boredom manifests itself as being out of options. I dont like what im doing, but also dont feel like doing something else. Usually simply going outside instantly makes me feel engaged and better.

[velveteen]

I grow bored when I've been isolated for too long. I need regular interaction with people, to know what's happening in the world outside of myself lol. When I'm alone, I usually need to entertain myself somehow, books, movies, any kind of intellectual stimulation. But if I do that for too long, I go loopy. I have all this information in my head that I'm not doing anything with it and that really strains me.

[whodat]

i have an SLE instructor and you can tell all the work is subconsciously calculated to be within that window of being unable to daydream but also still being meaningless drudgery, its super annoying because its like I can tell right off the bat where the whole thing is going and what the solution is, but all the credit is for the useless busy work. its like this is how they keep their spacey dual engaged, but for me its just a complete waste of time

Explain more here, please, for real.

[Bertrand]

a more constructive interpretation is they're training their dual on their weak super ego, but for someone who is stronger in (or does not value) those functions it feels like a boring waste of time