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  • Part of this video was sponsored by LastPass. Stick around to the end for a word from our sponsor.

  • In a recent study participants were placed in a room for between 6 and 15 minutes.

  • They were given nothing except a button that they knew would shock them if they pressed it.

  • They were asked to entertain themselves with their thoughts,

  • but they could self administer the shock if they so chose.

  • So what happened?

  • Well, 25% of women and 67% of men shocked themselves.

  • This is despite the fact that they had previously told the experimenters

  • that they would pay money to avoid the shock.

  • Apparently they'd rather experience physical pain than just be bored;

  • to have nothing to keep them occupied but their thoughts.

  • But they are not alone.

  • Around 95% of American adults report participating in some leisure activities over the past 24 hours.

  • But only 17% say they spent any time at all just relaxing and thinking,

  • because that apparently is boring, and being bored is unpleasant.

  • So what is boredom? Well contrary to popular belief, it's not when you have absolutely nothing to do.

  • It's just when none of the options you have available to you appeal to you.

  • Boredom is characterized by a lack of concentration, restlessness, but also feeling lethargic.

  • It's really a state of being underwhelmed.

  • And there are now more ways than ever to avoid boredom.

  • With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube,

  • not to mention my chronic news I have waiting in line, sitting in a coffee shop, stopped at a traffic light.

  • Many people reach for their phones to stave off boredom, and nowhere is sacred.

  • Do you ever just let yourself be bored?

  • No, no, I generally don't.

  • But are we losing anything by avoiding boredom?

  • Well, scientific research says yes, and what we're losing is important.

  • When you're bored your mind wanders.

  • That's only natural.

  • The state of boredom is one where your attention is not focused on anything in particular.

  • Researchers have shown this mind wandering is useful for creativity.

  • They gave study participants a random boring task. The most boring one: reading the phone book.

  • Then, they asked participants to be creative;

  • generate as many ideas as they could for what you could do with a plastic cup.

  • Those in the most boring read the phone book condition

  • generated the most creative solutions compared to less bored controls.

  • A major reason many researchers suspect that we experience boredom

  • is because it gives you an indicator of your current state.

  • I mean, if you find yourself feeling bored, you know something about that situation isn't working for you.

  • Let me ask you this. When you're in class and you're a bit bored

  • do you ever just pull out your phone and have a look at stuff?

  • Yeah. All the time.

  • So the paradox of boredom is that it makes you feel tired, sluggish and just disinterested.

  • But it may actually spur you to action. It may get you to make changes that would be positive for your life.

  • And changes like getting this guy's legs out of my face. That would be perfect.

  • In the absence of boredom, one would remain trapped in unfulfilling situations

  • and miss out on many emotionally, cognitively and socially rewarding experiences.

  • Boredom is both a warning that we're not doing what we want to be doing,

  • and a push that motivates us to switch goals and projects.

  • Studies have also shown that boredom may make you more altruistic.

  • Perhaps the acute sense of aimlessness you experience when you're bored gets out of control,

  • and makes you question what you're doing with your life as a whole.

  • But the silver lining is that it may trigger you to think about others and what you can do to help them.

  • And that provides an immediate and concrete purpose to a life that might momentarily feel like it's lacking one.

  • You know, studies designed to induce boredom have shown

  • that more bored participants are more likely to donate to charity, or to give blood.

  • Can I ask what led you to donate blood today?

  • I had free time in my hands. You know, just, waiting for 2 hours, an hour and a half or so.

  • So apparently the opportunity to do meaningful,

  • even if unpleasant activities have more value if you're bored than if you're not.

  • Similarly, this aimless state seems to cultivate thoughts about what you want to do with your life.

  • To think of your life as a story and consider where you want it to go in the future.

  • This is called autobiographical planning.

  • When given tasks that only use a fraction of mental capacity,

  • study participants frequently thought of the future and their plans for it.

  • In this way being bored is essential for goal-setting.

  • If your brain is always consumed with other stimuli,

  • you'll rarely ponder the bigger picture and set long-term goals for yourself and consider how to achieve them.

  • Does a phone get rid of your boredom?

  • Yeah, actually, thinking about it, it does.

  • So every time you're waiting for something,

  • you have a decision to make which seems like a tiny one.

  • Pull out your phone for a few seconds or minutes, or just be bored; experience only your thoughts.

  • It seems like an insignificant decision.

  • And if you don't give it much thought the obvious action is to see what's new on your app of choice

  • And in making that decision you are alleviating a moment of boredom.

  • But you are also likely making yourself less creative, less altruistic,

  • less likely to assess your current state and less likely to set goals for your future.

  • In short, you are the real world example of someone shocking themselves

  • to avoid the unpleasantness of boredom.

  • Except in your case, the pain goes much deeper to the very nature of who you are, and who you will become.

  • So think carefully before pressing that button.

  • So, being bored is apparently something our brains need to do.

  • Something our brains don't need to do, is remember lots of random passwords.

  • Which is why the sponsor of this video is LastPass.

  • LastPass is a password manager

  • that offers unlimited password storage plus free sync across all your devices, and password breach alerts.

  • That way you never have to remember another password or write it down,

  • look for one, forget your passwords, reset them.

  • All of that hassle is just pushed aside and you can put your passwords on autopilot with LastPass.

  • And that way you can free up your valuable brain space for

  • just being bored and thinking about your life rather than remembering your passwords.

  • Now, LastPass has multi-factor authentication which is super important because it keeps your accounts secure.

  • It also interfaces with Microsoft and Yubikey's multi-factor authentication.

  • And one feature I love about LastPass is it allows you to share,

  • safely and securely, your passwords with other people who may need them for certain accounts.

  • That's a very handy feature.

  • So if you want to check out LastPass, click on the link in the description.

Part of this video was sponsored by LastPass. Stick around to the end for a word from our sponsor.

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為什麼無聊對你有好處 (Why Boredom is Good For You)

  • 42 1
    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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