Our collective obsession with boredom: Interview with a boredom lab researcher | Hacker News Reader

Our collective obsession with boredom: Interview with a boredom lab researcher

nautil.us

33 pointsakakievich10 comments

I think the researcher (and probably a lot of the people engaging in this challenge) are missing one of the major benefits of these do nothing challenges. 4+ hours is excessive, but the main point is that modern life is just constant stimulation. From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep it's just "input", news articles, social media content, TV shows. There is always something to consume.

Doing nothing for even just 15 minutes is a way to conciously stop consuming for a little bit.

I would also be interested to know about the researcher's relationship with their phone. If they aren't prone to doomscrolling it would probably be pretty hard to relate to the need/want to do nothing.

Imo new life is far less stimulating than old life.

Wander in the trees and your brain is processing all the light reflecting off surfaces at endless angles given textured surfaces everywhere. Brain be processing the crunch of the sticks and grass.

Reading books was at an all-time high. Ear training making music with friends, was a constant.

Physically sitting still staring at a 2D screen, saving the universe from yet another alien threat video game, scanning likely repetitive and meaningless social commentary since no one is taking salient actions, just spinning wheels in place... modern life can't compete with that information overload.

Modern life is actually whittled down to "protect big corp profits" via consumption of their media and services. It's the opposite of diverse. It is hypernormalized and stagnant

This reads as extremely "old man yells at clouds about kids these days". At no point does your comment come into contact with reality, just this confabulated idea of the world.

It's possible for people to have lived experiences that differ from yours.

I'm not going to sit in front of a time-lapse camera with a timer app running on my lap(top), but I wholeheartedly push for everyone that can to hit the road.

My long-format road trips have been my peace of mind… perhaps my whole adult life (certainly for my years as an Apple engineer, husband and father). Perhaps others can find some solace from them.

Never in an entire year was I more at peace than when I was rolling down a highway for days at a time—just staring at the passing scenery, thoughts going through my head, ideas springing to mind, and at other times maybe conversing in my head with my dead mother…

My "worries" seem to dwindle to just, "When should I look for gas?" and "Where am I going to sleep tonight?". (I feel guilty about the gas part—I mean the pollution involved. I wish an electric, road-trip-worthy van was a thing already.)

When I became aware of the release and relaxation I was getting from road-tripping (still as an Apple engineer) I made plans to build out an RV (recreational vehicle, campervan, caravan, motorhome) in time for my retirement.

I purchased a van a couple years out from my planned retirement (my youngest daughter exiting high school, the "empty nest", was when I was heading out of the rat-race, heading out of the Bay Area—so I knew pretty exactly when I was going to retire). And so I spent a year cutting holes in the van to fit windows, a fan. I built a bed, cabinetry for the van, fitted it with a water tank, propane, a stove, batteries, solar power, a refrigerator… [1]

Surprisingly (for me) the plan worked. The wife and I hit the road during the nicer parts of the year. On less ambitious outings we will spend a week or so touring a single state—seeing what Kansas has to offer, for example. Our most ambitious road trip was to Alaska and back to surprise my aging father with a visit.

However you do it (and I met people on the road to Alaska on motorcycles, sleeping in their cars, etc.) hitting the road seems to be about embracing the boredom and swapping out your daily concerns with (hopefully) a much smaller and more fundamental set of concerns (like gas, food and lodging). I don't doubt long-term through-hiking gives you the same experience. (Likely more-so.)

I always come back with notes for several great (?) ideas that come to me on those long stretches of watching the scenery roll by. I also tend to find some kind of clarity of purpose (for some amount of time at least).

[1] https://www.fordtransitusaforum.com/threads/hot-tamale-build...

It's a nice bit of prose but I am struggling to see what this has to do with boredom.

Staring out of window looking at scenery is for all intents and purposes doing something. This isn't even close to the silly pre-oocupation with 'raw dogging'. Being in a place (even if it is only in your mind) that brings you peace as you describe it above is not boredom. There is no tension to be doing something else, at least it doesn't sound like it.

I can sit in a room in the dark lying on the couch staring at the ceiling (that I cannot actually see) and stay like that for hours - I am absolutely 'doing' nothing but I am also absolutely not bored.

So I don't think 'hitting the road' is as you put it 'embracing boredom at all' it simply doing something else.

The next time you feel like hitting the road, don't. Stay at home and be truly bored.

THIS! YES! WOW!, this is so excellent! do this with a clean heart and mind, and no further proof of self is needed. I am humbled by the wisdom and resiliance of our species.

My totally wiser than anyone else Gran once said: "There is an excuse for everything except boredom".

Wow. Fascinating.

"boredom lab researcher"? Well...

I remember as it was yesterday, many years ago I saw on National Geographic a NGO lady flown thousands of miles to Africa to sit on a boulder and explain (I imagine - the Tv was on mute) the intricacies of her trade. Lower left on the screen there was her name and her job title: "Human Lion Conflict Specialist"

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