Boredom is when none of the options you have available, appeal to you. It is portrayed by the lack of concentration and restlessness. It is a condition of feeling underwhelmed.
Boredom unleashes creativity
When you’re bored, your mind ponders. This is because your attention is not centred on anything specifically. Researchers have demonstrated that this mind wondering is useful for creativity. They gave study participants a boring task. Then they asked participants to be creative, generate as many ideas as they could for what you could do with a plastic cup. Those that were bored generated the most creative ideas on what you could do with a plastic cup than those that were less bored.
Boredom allows you to assess your life
A reason numerous researchers suspect you encounter boredom is because it gives you an indictor of your present state. If you find yourself bored in a situation you know something about that situation isn’t working for you.
The contradiction of boredom is that it may make you feel tired and unengaged however it may spur you to action. It may inspire you to make changes that would be positive for your life. Without boredom, one would remain trapped in an unfulfilling situation and miss out on cognitively and socially rewarding experiences. Boredom is both a warning that we are not doing what we want to be doing and a push that motivates us to switch objectives.
Boredom allows you to become benevolent
Studies have also demonstrated that boredom may make you more progressively philanthropic. The aimlessness you feel when you’re bored makes you question what you’re doing with your life but this also may trigger you to think about others and what you could do to help them that would help to provide you a tangible purpose to your life. The opportunity to do meaningful things even in unpleasant activities, have more value if you’re bored than if you’re not.
Boredom allows you to find purpose
This aimless state develops thoughts on what you want to do with your life and where you want it to go in the future, this is called autobiographical planning. When undertaking a task that only utilizes a fraction of your mental capacity, study participants often thought of the future and their plans for it. In this way, being bored is fundamental for goal setting. If your brain is always consumed with stimuli, you’ll rarely ponder the bigger picture and set long term goals for yourself and how to accomplish them.
When you are waiting for something, you have a decision to make, that’s whether you should go on your phone or face boredom and experience only your thought. This may appear to be an insignificant decision and without any considering the obvious thought would be to see what’s new on your phone. Making that decision mitigates a moment of boredom but you are also making yourself less likely to be creative, altruistic, and less inclined to assess your current situation and set objectives for your future.
