Why we are bored?

We have at hand many tasks to do at a time. Take for example, watching television. One remote and multiple channels. Yet in few minutes, we are bored and actually don’t know what to see. We switch off or watch some crap reality show, WWE, cookery show or 24/7 repetitive news channels for a while. Take another example; we are out there in a lurch for choosing our career. What to do after 12th standard? Medicine, law, engineering, perusing business, banking, scientist or lusting after limelight through entertainment media?

Wanting to take a bath? Which soap to use? Lime, oats, blueberry, kesar, coconut milk? Want to eat out? Which cuisine to choose from- Thai. Mughlai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese or Italian? Desire to go for a party? What to wear? The latest present from aunt, recent purchase from Thailand, great old grandmas stuff that’s back in fashion or to wear ‘out of the box’?

Yet in spite of so many choices we are in a dismay which cuisine to choose from, which channel to select, which career to choose, which dress to wear, which friend to go out on a date with, which  designated vacation to select, which shampoo to apply, where to purchase our dream house? Confusion is only adding up.

The reason is that since there are so many options to choose from, we get engrossed in making up our minds and complicating things. A few options are perfect, but having dozens of options only leads to things going haywire. It actually leads to one’s doom. We, today are living in a so called ‘modern society’. Our minds in today’s lifestyle aren’t stable at all. We’re back to same square. Let me give a clearer picture through the famous quote:- “What is this life if full of care? We have no time to stand and stare!”

Why was this situation not prevalent some years back, why were people happier, less confused,  more focused, more decisive?. This was because humans   were focusing on one task at a time.  One thing to think and then action to be taken. Today mind is jumping from one task to another within no time. We are doing shallow breathing, allowing our mind to pick up activities with no thought process and activating it with no rest, recreation or simply no breathing space.

Our forefathers knew what to do at a given time. They thus grew more patient, alert, and introspective, judged
their self-worth and in turn never were bored. Today we have myriad things in hand, jet speed to push from task to task, no time for self-talk, family, neighbours, country. And in all this we are bored. Why then are we bored when we have multiple tasks in hand?

We are constantly thinking what we could be doing rather than what we are doing. Deadlines, commitments, distractions don’t let us breathe, we are on at the go, calling ourselves modern age creatures who can do much more than our ancestors , earn more, own more apartments, eat smarter, play with gadgets at age of 2,  yet we are bored. On a Sunday , we don’t know what to do. Just imagine the conditions prevalent in yesteryears. There was no television, no mobile phone, no electronic gadgets, etc. How did people keep themselves occupied? They inculcated various skills in themselves. They admired nature, spent time with loved ones and remained happy. Nowadays children don’t even get to see the faces of their parents. The parents are slogging day and night to make two ends meet and live up to their respective statuses, to actually maintain their ‘class’. Yes, this is indeed the grim reality. Children too haven’t got any time for their family. Their schedule only revolves around hanging around with friends, wandering here and there, tuition classes and hundreds of other classes to choose from. Ultimately even these classes aren’t able to develop a child’s abilities. Where is this taking us? You see today’s youth. They’re in just a couple of hours bored. Let’s take the example while travelling. They don’t want to look out of the window to sight the lovely farms, the remote villages, the stations at which the train halts, the hawkers who sell odds and ends, the beggar children doing their famous acrobats, or their co-passengers. For them the trip is a time to show their latest shopped attire and technology they are comfortable with. Yet they don’t know what to do in a while.

Who wants to do simple things? Trying to hold the sand in your fist, pitter patter of rain drops in your palm, spending time with parents to look at old black and white photographs, relishing home made food, reunion with old colleagues, a walk in the park.

We are more creative when we mono task. Mono tasks like showering, swimming, reading, don’t take away our focus. Here we deliberately choose our task and focus on one thing. We have too often heard to do one thing at a time. Yet we end up watching TV while we eat, use laptop while sipping tea/ cola, browse twitter and Facebook while sending emails. Why do we multitask? To get a more satisfying feeling,  to be able to compete with smart colleagues/siblings, feeling of satisfaction to eat, chat with friends and study at the same time, accomplishing more in less time. But the opposite is happening. We are tired too fast, bored early. Our brains in reality can’t take it. The syndrome is what researchers call as ‘ spotlights’. What is our brain doing? Accumulating to actualize our potential or is it?

It amazes me when people say they are bored. This should have been the mantra in the bygone era. Today with multiple channels, social media, multiple cinemas, 24 hour shopping, we are bored. Our attention span is less than even a goldfish that is, 8 seconds. Thus, any activity, be it reading reports, texting, movie watching, attending lectures, writing exams, leads us to boredom. From 5 day test match, to one day and now 20 over format, we still, can’t focus on cricket. We want faster paced amusement. We want a new stimulus all the time. We only seem to be living in an exciting new world of entertainment, fashion, phone, tablet, laptop, television, cinema. Instead of being more occupied , we are bored. Even when mobile devices are occupying every moment of our day, we find tasks repetitive and routinely.

What is the final analysis? How to avoid more of ADHD type of children ? How to reduce increasing rate of infertility among couples, how to reduce divorce rate, how to reduce stress and related diseases and above all how not to be bored? Find pleasure in little things  in life. It’s actually the small things in life that matter the most. Make a cup of coffee on a rainy day, be more supportive, be a better listener, share and care, be less critical, enjoy the less important things in life, reduce your pace, take more pauses, find time to eat and also sleep like a baby, re- center self, ideas are endless. Prioritize things, focus on one thing at a time, value time and loved ones, de-addict from gadgets, etc. This is the time to put a brake on the rush of our lives and introspect, why actually are we bored.