In the era of speed, instant messaging, social networks and cyber dating we get used to keeping our mind always alert and active, but is it possible that we are rejecting boredom a useful tool?
How can boredom help you be more creative?
There is evidence that boredom is, in fact, beneficial.According to a couple of recent scientific studies, boredom it is a significant experience that can lead us to moments of deep reflection and creativity.
In the first experiment, scientists asked the thirty participants to copy the numbers of the telephone guide for 15 minutes and at the end, they were asked to think about different uses that can be given to a couple of cups.
In this exercise, the researchers observed that the boring subjects presented more ideas than those in the co group ntrol with non-bored subjects.
The second study consisted of a word association test.However, a group of participants were forced to observe a still image for a long period of time. managed to present a greater number of answers than those who had not been bored.
These experiments show that a restless mind is capable of inciting creativity. «Boredom becomes a search status », explains the psychologist in charge of studies, Texas A&M University Heather Lench.
Sandi Mann, psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire of the United Kingdom and author of research , believes that boredom should not be seen as something that should be eliminated, but as a way to enhance creativity.
Another researcher who has agreed with this theory is Teresa Belton, from the University of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom.
Belton converted writer Meera Syal and artist Grayson Perry to determine how boredom influenced their creative processes.
About Syal, Belton comments:
«Boredom is often associated with loneliness and Syal spent hours of his life, during his childhood, watching through the window through fields and forests, seeing the change of weather and the seasons.But the most important thing is that boredom made her write.She kept a diary since she was very young, filled it with her observations, stories, poems and diatribas.And she attributes to these beginnings that she later became a writer ».
However, a concern that plagues scientists is that the use of smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices are preventing people from experiencing those moments of boredom .
According to Mann, this can be comparable to eating junk food, in the sense that it can fill you up but it does not feed you, just like spending time checking social networks or with some online game can entertain you for a while, but closes the path to deep thinking.
However, there is not just one kind of boredom.We have a good one, which promotes critical thinking and creativity and on the other hand, we have a negative one, called lethargic boredom by specialists, which makes you feel with no intention of doing anything.
The key is then to differentiate between these two kinds of boredom and identify the moments in which we can take advantage. Are you willing to get bored a little?
Images: olegdudko/123RF File photo, bowie15/123RF File photo, nastya_gepp/PublicDomainPictures,
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