We're doing an Academic Study on Boredom, give us 5 minutes? | Hacker News Reader

We're doing an Academic Study on Boredom, give us 5 minutes?

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27 pointscaptaincrunch21 comments

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This feels like a startup is doing marketing research to justify their product.

"Do you think there is something missing from the internet?" [Maybe like our site?]

"What recurring sites do you visit?" [Who is our competition?]

"You find $30.00 on the ground, what are you going to do with it?" [Would you maybe spend it with us?]

How about asking things like:

- What parts of the internet are truly useful to you? Are there any compromises that those benefits introduce?

- What parts of the internet are harmful to you? What are those things attempting to accomplish?

- What could we take away from the internet? How would we do that?

This is not an "academic study". No institutional review board of a university would approve this.

> How generally do you pass time when you're bored?

I’m never bored.

How do you manage that?

I basically said, if I realize I'm bored then I take it as an indicator that there's a deeper problem with me and I should get some sunshine or take a walk. For me, the root of boredom is avoidant behavior.

Honestly, when a work problem is too annoying, I open a new tab and go to one of about 4 sites, HN being one.

I stop when I notice I'm doing it, but it's often reflexive. I'm giving my brain a little hit of endorphins to offset an annoying real-life problem. This cycle could easily end up vicious.

Now, pardon me, I need to go back and deal with that bug.

Edit I'm kind of glad Google Reader closed down, because I was spending too much time "keeping up with things" and not enough time "getting things done."

> For me, the root of boredom is avoidant behavior.

Yes!

With three kids, a business to run, and a household to care for, I'm never bored. There's always something that needs to be done. I come from generations of farmers, and it has always seemed to be that when someone says "I'm bored" they are really saying "I'm lazy and don't want to do the next thing that needs to be done."

I manage it by having an asston of personal projects I never have time to properly finish. There's always more to be done than time to do it.

Ever since the advent of the smartphone and the fast web, I haven't really been bored either. Distraction is just a tap or a click away. I think it's unfortunate, actually; I feel like a lot of our best ideas and thinking time comes from boredom.

I don't think boredom is the same that having nothing to do.

Agree. Also feel like I'd solve my boredom with more gratifying endeavors--creating things--than my typical method, which is "read about other people creating things."

I'm one of those people who can't get past feeling like I'm wasting non-productive time.

distraction is just a more desperate form of boredom. but i get what you mean

I don't believe you.

In moments I used to be bored as a kid I now have something to think about (about work, side-projects, internet comments, books etc.) or have an internet enabled device that shows me something interesting. I might be forced to be bored, for example when I have to watch a boring film, play a boring game or read a boring text, but I guess that's not what they are asking about.

What is boredom to someone who meditates?

If this is an academic study, why do you offer a cat option in the gender question?

If this were an academic study, there'd be a giant informed consent notice at the top.

Maybe as a way to mark people who didn't treat it very seriously?

The irony on this was not missed.

Is there any particular reason why gender listed the way it is?

I found that curious, as well, and think another commenter's suggestion makes the most sense. EDIT: As opposed to robo-detectors that ask seemingly-nonsensical questions such as, "Are you a human?"

    spindritf 32 minutes ago
    Maybe as a way to mark people who didn't treat it very seriously?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8367812

Cat is a dumb option. That being said, the list order seems randomized.

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