On many days, our 9-year-old son will finish using his allotted time on screens for the day, then spend a while proclaiming "I'm so BOOOOORRREEEDDDDD 😩". As I understand it, this is extremely typical 9-year-old behavior.

I always tell him something along the lines of "this is good", "being bored is healthy", "it means your brain has time to come up with its own thoughts for a while".

The 9-year-old is not amused. Though, it doesn't usually take very long before he's found something else to do. Usually Legos.

This is a pretty regular occurrence, but it was shaken up last time. After I mentioned the benefits of being bored to him, he retorted "when do you get bored then?"

If he had a mic, he would've dropped it.

---

Between that and this month's Bear Blog Carnival, I've been thinking about it more lately, and I've realized that I'm hardly ever bored. My ADHD is no doubt a major factor, but the constant Call of the Content from around the internet is a big reason too.

Should I be trying to make more of a concerted effort to disconnect and be bored on purpose? If the reasoning I'm giving my kid is true, I should put my money where my mouth is, right?

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I see meditation making the rounds again lately. Maybe this is why so many problems are solved in the shower. What if that's another benefit of exercising? What do these places have in common?

Removing outside stimulation, and locking yourself into a routine for some time each day, where your brain HAS to be bored. In these spaces, my brain does not calm down, or go silent - I think my ADHD prevents that, even with medication. But what does happen is that I'm no longer processing incoming stimulation. Instead, my brain is working with the memories it already has. It's putting different concepts together, and through this alchemy of existing ideas, new ones are formed.

This couldn't happen if it's using all the bandwidth on taking in more ideas. It's the equivalent of buying sketchbooks and art supplies more often that using what you have available to you already - another life imbalance I'm working on.

A similar process goes into writing, or indeed, any creative pursuit. There's a brainstorming phase, where all the ideas are involved, no matter how bad or how polished. But after that there needs to be an editing phase, where you stop bringing in new ideas, cut out the unnecessary ones, and reform what you have into a concentrated, purer form.

Boredom is the brain organizing, editing, coalescing.

With all that in mind, I've been trying more lately to purposefully put myself in boredom spaces. When I do regular walking exercises, there is an immediate mental benefit of generally feeling refreshed, more eager to try things. That in turn helps me to get back on the treadmill again the next day.

Reply by email