News JVTech Why smartphones kill boredom, and that’s very bad news for humanity!
Published on 31/12/2022 at 17:20
Smartphones and especially modern social networks bring our daily dose of entertainment, even to the point of indigestion. They ended up suppressing boredom, for many studies that tend to prove that boredom is essential.
Technology is not evil, but it must be moderated
Social networks have brought many advantages: communication with the whole world, independent learning, killing time, etc. The goal here is not to dismantle the technology and show how harmful it is to humans. The goal is to show who is moderation.
Social networks and our smartphones bring us our dose of daily stimulus that fills the gap. This replaces the boredom that one might have. For example, you can’t sleep: the instinct is to take out your phone. Not to mention blue light, it puts the brain in a phase of awakening and stimulation. This case also applies during the day, where a 20-minute nap would be more beneficial than scrolling for the same period of time.
Boredom: the cure for technology
There are two troubles to distinguish, the superficial and the deep. This first will result in a short period of vacuum or with little stimulus. A doctor’s waiting room would be a good example. Then there is the deep boredom which can result in a moment of complete emptiness for a shorter period. This can be before falling asleep for example.
In
study
, Dr. Heidegger considers that deep boredom can increase indifference and apathy. By reuniting with yourself, you are able to better approach your mind. Your brain is not diverted to other thoughts. Your creativity can also be boosted.
You can imagine your brain as a giant hard disk in which everything is thrown around. The role of memory is to sort out the information you want. It is for this reason that memo-technical means are so powerful that they allow the brain to facilitate the task. Thus, a person with more memory is actually a person who uses their memory better. The phases of trouble thus make you go deep into your mind. It could be likened to deep meditation.
It is generally in phases of boredom that you start thinking about improbable things. While awake, the brain needs to work. So, you might as well let him do it instead of wanting to give him something else to break the boredom.
Using boredom to your advantage
In the study taking up the theories of Dr. Heidegger, they test this famous boredom on 15 patients by letting their brains wander. According to him “this boredom wants to tell us something.” It is an introspection on oneself that one does.
The contribution of social networks to fill boredom tends to make us feel guilty. In one case, after spending 1 hour scrolling, you tell yourself that you have wasted time. Conversely, you simply sat in your thoughts for 1 hour, it is very likely that something positive will come out of it. In the worst case, you will have rested.
But be careful to enter these phases of trouble in all conscience and especially in a voluntary way the risk is to feel what one of the participants in the study experienced:
I felt empty, an emptiness that was hard to escape. The more bored I was, the worse I felt. Who am I and what do I want to do with my life? (…) And I was very bored last year, especially since the first confinement was prolonged and there was not much work to do and obviously we could not go out. But one positive thing is that it made me take on new things to escape that feeling of emptiness.
Although the boredom is assimilated as negative, the finality remains positive. Be careful not to take the whole study literally. This applies to 15 patients and even if many studies also go in the direction that boredom is positive, it is essential to document beforehand. Boredom can also cause long periods of emptiness from which it will be difficult to exit. You won’t want anything anymore. The feeling of guilt then arises.
The conclusion that can be drawn is that technology is not the nemesis of personal development. Boredom, on the other hand, should be viewed positively. The two are not incompatible and above all should be used in moderation. Filling all your boredom with social networks is harmful, just as spending your time sinking into your boredom can be dangerous.
