The Positive Sides of Feeling Bored (Boredom)

Feeling bored might have given you new ideas (image credit to telegraph.co.uk)

As a human, we often feel bored when some of our activities are not encouraging us to be active. Although boredom is considered as something that makes you to feel bored, it turns out to have certain positive impacts. The feeling of “bored” actually can give you ways to be smart according to Psychologist, Dr Sandi Mann. Everyone knows the mind-numbing feeling of being bored, and according to the psychologist, he could reveal five reasons why boredom is good for us.

Firstly, it inspires creativity. Well, when we are in bored state, dawning comes directly. To avoid this kind of situation we often look for stimulation so that we could be motivated. However, when we can’t get that physically by doing something exciting, we try to get it by daydreaming, allowing your thoughts to wander. This helps us to see things differently, to imagine and to innovate: all processes required for creativity. In a 2012 study, it found that 20 per cent of people believed that being bored made them more creative.

Next, Feeling bored could have made us kinder than before. Our boredom, it seems, may benefit others too. A 2011 study have reported that being cored can inspire people to be altruistic, empathetic and to perform good deeds such as giving to charity, volunteering or even donating blood. Moreover, when we are bored, we lack meaningfulness so are more likely to seek out kind and meaningful activities.

Then, boredom might have increased our attention span. Constant stimulation may appear to keep us from being bored, but novelty is addictive. We get a dopamine hit each time we experience something new, but as we become accustomed to this we seek ever newer and more exciting stimulants to satisfy our dopamine cravings. This means that we lose the ability to focus on one unchanging stimulus for a long time. However, allowing ourselves to be bored can start to undo that.

Finally, the bored state gives us time for resting from anything that we are currently doing or experiencing. In 24/7 world of connectivity with the presence of the Internet, our minds are constantly active, alert and primed due to the notifications from emails, status updates, messages and latest news. Consequently, we have to think without realizing to push our brain to work hard, but boredom allows us to live in a non-world-thinking. It helps us to enter a state of mindfulness to appreciate where we are and who we are, and to momentarily slow down the life cycles.