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HOW DOES BOREDOM BECOME THE ‘STOP’?
When the concept of boredom becomes to be portrayed as unbearable, voices that regard boredom as a positivity begin to emerge (Cadman, 2014). Regarding the negative impact of overstimulation, sociologists and philosophers suggest that embracing boredom might be the key to reshaping addictive novelty-seeking behaviours.
By suggesting ‘A life too full of excitement is an exhausting life, in which continually stronger stimuli are needed to give the thrill that has come to be thought an essential part of pleasure’, English philosopher Russell stated that the use of boredom could nur ture calmness and devotion (Russell, 2013). This literary statement was examined and proved accurate through Dr Sandi Mann’s boredom intolerance experiment and was later referred to by science journalist Winifred Gallagher in her speech about novelty. Pointing out the problem of novelty overload, Gallagher suggested that the blind pursuit of 'love of the new' can overshadow true educational values when creating and discovering new things (Gallagher, 2012). For the above scholars, boredom is seen as a lifestyle or a mindset, i.e., people would choose to live a more consistent, self-disciplined life and initiate a positive impact. Agreeing that the state of boredom represents possibilities to create meanings, art historian Julian Haladyn proposed that boredom as a positive subjectivity can resist or frustrate the effects of consumerism and capitalism (Haladyn, 2015). In his view, boredom can be seen as a confrontational strategy.
Among the many voices in favour of boredom, it was German philosopher Byunl-chol Han who attempted to point out the functionality of boredom.
In his book <The Disappearance of Rituals>, he positioned boredom as a positive subjectivity against homogenisation. He suggested that in today’s world, time had been fragmented to increase efficiency and had broken the steady model on which it used to rely (Han, 2020)(Guo, 2023). Therefore, the explosive information created is no longer enlightening but only the accumulation of words. Getting used to being fed by such content, people’s perception undergoes generation, and they now adapted to binge-watching (Han, 2020). The role of boredom, or the ability to tolerate boredom can be seen as a chance to restore an independent mind, as well as a way for individuals to break the current time strategy.
Boredom to be Tranquillity
In the research so far, various scholars have supported the possibility and necessity of boredom as resistance to novelty overload, and Byunl-chol Han's theories have made me vaguely aware that boredom contains the meaning of ‘stop’. However, it seems difficult to accurately describe the situation of experiencing media fatigue. With more in-depth research, my chaotic thoughts gained a clearer shape through psychologist Qinglong Cui's analysis of cohesiveness and tranquillity :
What we truly need is to find a form of stillness that allows a pause in time.
The feelings of agitation, anxiety, and depression that result from excessive novelty seeking do not normally correspond to depression or anxiety in pathology, even though they are addressed with similar names. They are considered an easy way to describe the feelings of behavioural disorder that appear when one loses cohesiveness (Cui, 2023). In psychology, the word cohesiveness/cohesion is usually used in groups to evaluate their sense of strength, security and belongingness (Rios, K. and Mackey, C.D., 2020). According to Cui, this concept is also adequate for evaluating the well-being of individuals. When there is a lack of cohesion, it means that the individual is missing senses to experience, such as not being able to focus, or no longer feeling any fun. Therefore, regulation is desperately needed for an individual to regain a sense of perceptual control.
In Cui's interview, he stated that the stability/stillness of boredom can break the state of anxiety. By making the audience ‘stay still’, being bored triggers a new mode of experience by interrupting the continuity of addictive novelty-seeking behaviours. Only when the audience is stopped from their negative actions, they will be able to calm down and gain inner peace, thus beginning to consider what they truly need (Cui, 2023). Being bored helps the audience reawaken sensitivity to changes in oneself, restoring the ability to focus and have fun, thus reviving cohesion. It is worth noticing that becoming bored is never the true outcome, but rather a way to liberate the audience from the state of mindlessly searching for a goal.
The above analysis clarifies the most important function of boredom, which is to serve as a medium that initiates new experiences, thereby helping the mindless self regain cohesion. Therefore, the investigation has responded to the research question's desire to uncover the value of boredom, with an explanation of how beneficial it is to resist novelty overload.
*This article is one part of my graduation essay, Can boredom become the novel?
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