The Radio Static of Boredom
This is a post for the Bear Blog Carnival, with the topic coming from Winther.
Boredom isn't a bad thing. It's basically your brain telling you that what you are doing (or not doing) is not engaging enough, and you need to find something engaging to do. Boredom is like the static between radio stations, and you have to tune your activity to find a clear channel. The problem is, instead of tuning to a clear channel on the radio we cover the static up using a noise machine that is just constant, unending noise, rather than music.
I didn't always struggle with boredom. I used to be able to daydream and read and write and channel boredom into something positive. I wrote a lot. I used to be able to read 80-100 books in a year, and that's where my boredom went.
But now, instead, I reach for my phone. I pacify my bored brain with mindless games or Youtube shorts or Pinterest. And it's a shame, because I enjoy reading and writing so much more than playing the dumb Arrows game and X-ing out of ads every two levels.
We live in a world under a constant blaring noise machine making it harder and harder to even hear the clear music channels, much less tune to them. Social media and phone games are specifically designed to steal your attention and hold it for ransom, and we too often let them. I know for me it will take a lot of intentional thought and action to to turn back to the radio and get back in the habit of using the boredom static as a guide to changing the channel to something engaging and worthwhile rather than letting the blaring noise machine drown it all out.
Check out my book reviews
Take a peek at my worldbuilding project