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Comment by seedie | Hacker News Reader

True boredom seems to be something that we learn over the years. Watching my 3y old daughter she never seems to get bored. If shes not entertained and realizes she won't get entertained anytime soon she starts singing (improving songs with her own text ;), telling herself stories that evolve while shes talking, exploring things that are around her. She grabs everyday things and looks what she is able to do with them and what the charecteristic of the object is. She knocks it on the table, sees if she can bend it, if they can be stacked etc. Shes not looking at them for what she learned they are, but what she can do with them. I often caught myself when I wanted to say "that won't work or that's not how it is used" just to see her doing something wonderful or funny or stupid.. She does that to not be bored. Getting creative is a wonderful smartphone replacement.

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> exploring things that are around her.

That works for first few years of life.

> She does that to not be bored.

Exactly. But at age 7 or 9 she'll have most of the things figured out and when you place hear in novelty lacking, restricted environment like at or near the table adults are eating and talking about same things seemingly forever you'll see her suffer. I hope you'll notice and help her find entertainment.

I grew up without phones, and for the most part without computers (early years). There were many times I was bored as a kid but most of the time I found activities to fill that time. Being bored a is okay and should not be seen as time needed to be filled. Kids require boredom to enable creativity. It takes imagination to go from bored to doing something. It’s actually part of the developmental process and should not be disrupted by screen time.

My guess is you don’t have kids. This certainly feels like an opinion of a younger person and I can’t blame you for thinking that way. We were all once ignorant and if you ask a person yet older, we never stop.

Think about how long it took for humans to involve to get to where we were before instant entertainment. Now think about how long it’s been since we advanced from first mobile entertainment to now. Do you think hay sudden change is good for you as a natural evolving being?

> My guess is you don’t have kids. This certainly feels like an opinion of a younger person

I'm 40 and I don't have kids, but I remember quite a bit from my childhood and its challenges. My friends have kids and I like them and I see how they struggle to entertain themselves. I buy them legos to enrich their environments. I even occasionally get concerned how much they play on their phones when I'm not playing with them.

> Now think about how long it’s been since we advanced from first mobile entertainment to now.

Since first mobile entertainment device was a stick I'd say quite a bit of time has passed.

Smartphone is not the ultimate boredome nullifier. It's just the best, richest, most versatile tool we have so far. But if you think your kids should get bored don't worry. Boredom will always find the way. Kids get plenty bored when they are on their phones (more than a-dull-ts). Then they seek new stuff, on their phones and outside of them. There are lots of worse ways to fight the boredom like joining some cultish group or trying drugs.

>> exploring things that are around her.

> That works for first few years of life.

I don't think so. If I look around me right now there are hundreds of objects and there are lots of questions I've never asked myself and might be worth thinking about. Why is the cups handle placed like this, what made the designer choose this font on this brochure etc.

But reading your comment again I think we talked past each other. While I was talking about the "I have to wait in line for the next 15 minutes boredom" you seem to talk about something totally different.

> because they can't stand how dull the inside of their head is

This sounds more like you are talking about a state of mind

> I hope you'll notice and help her find entertainment.

Thanks, I'll give my best :)

I sometimes go on 8 hour car rides and don't require entertainment. Maybe it's just my personality, but the key is to foster interests that can live in your head. It's possible to spend 8 hours thinking about musical temperament, or lapsteel tunings, or word etymology, or writing song lyrics. Boredom just means you are used to low-effort stimuli being readily available.

I got asked on a 2.5 hour flight recently why I wasn't reading or looking at my phone/laptop. I like just zoning out and thinking about things. It's almost meditative, and being on a plane without internet access gives me a good reason not to be staring a screen for a change.

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