“A generation that cannot stand boredom will be a generation of little value”

Before we get into philosophical matters, let me ask you a personal question: When was the last time you got on a train, no matter if it was an AVE or the subway that takes you from home to the office? And what did you do during that trip? What were the rest of the passengers doing? I don’t know the first answer. Regarding the other two… it is quite likely that I will be right because they will coincide with what I myself do when I travel: I take out my phone, read the news, open Instagram, browse TikTok, X… Anything to distract myself.

Is the most normal No?

The same thing happens when we are in the dentist’s waiting room, we wait our turn at the butcher shop, we wait for our son to get out of the pool or we are simply in the elevator that takes us from the hall to the floor where we live. We look for stimuli, a quick way to fill our attention.

The opposite would be almost counterintuitive because, after all, who would choose to be bored when they have unlimited distractions in the palm of the hand?

Who wants to be bored?

Networks and cell phones may be relatively modern inventions, but the ‘allergy’ to boredom is not. Neither the debate about the place it occupies (or should occupy) in our lives. In fact, a few decades ago, one of the most prominent and media thinkers of the 20th century, the British philosopher, logician, mathematician and writer, was already reflecting on this matter. Bertrand Russell.

Throughout his prolific career Russell delved into the highest terrains of mathematical theorybut he also wrote a huge number of articles and essays on topics much closer to the asphalt, with titles as suggestive as ‘Why I’m not a Christian’ (1927) or ‘The conquest of happiness’ (1930).

In one of his many memorable lines he left a phrase precisely about idleness and boredom that today sounds with a special force. So much in fact that every so often it sneaks in articles about psychology or in those proverb collections philosophical ones that then tend to populate the footers of the agendas.

The phrase in question says: “A generation that cannot stand boredom will be a generation of little value.” A whole plea in favor of torpor that is reminiscent of the proclamation of another great intellectual of the 20th century, Miguel de Unamuno, who in his day also confessed to appreciating boredom. “something sweet and calming”.

But… What the hell does Russell mean by a “low-value generation”? Is it so important to know how to be bored? At the end of the day, Europe at the beginning of the 20th century in which he lived is one thing and our hyperconnected world, that of TikTok, Spotify and Netflix, is another. What sense does it make to tolerate boredom in an era in which production, efficiency reign, and in which there is no pocket without a cell phone?

Should we cross our arms on the subway instead of take out the smartphone and see how our cousin is doing on his vacation, read the latest Xataka posts or watch videos of kittens on TikTok abandoned to the pleasure of scroll infinite?

Today we know that Russell I was not wrong. At least if we base ourselves on the observations carried out a few years ago by Dr Teresa Belton, from the University of East Anglia, who already in the 1990s began to explore how television was affecting the development of children.

It wasn’t the first. Their work was supported in turn in other previous studiessuch as macro research conducted in the 1980s in Canada that found that children raised in communities without TV obtained higher scores in “divergent thinking skills,” an indicator of their imagination. That advantage disappeared as soon as the small screen came into their lives.

What did Belton verify? Basically, despite the ‘bad press’ of boredom, there are certain professionals who claim that boredom has played a key role in their creative development, both in childhood and in adulthood. As an example, he quotes Meera SyalEnglish writer, playwright and actress.

“Boredom led her to keep a diary, and this is what she attributes her career to,” explains the researcher. Another example he presents is that of the neuroscientist and writer Susan Greenfieldwho is also convinced that the time she spent as a child with no other occupation than writing and drawing laid the foundations for her career as a student of human behavior.

“You don’t need to have a special talent. You just let the mind wander from time to time seems important for mental well-being and functioning. One study has even shown that if we do some simple, undemanding activity, the wandering mind is more likely to generate imaginative ideas and solutions to problems,” reflect in The Conversation.

“It’s good to help children learn to simply enjoy leisure, and not grow up with the expectation that they should always be active or entertained.”

“Children need time to stop and observe, time to imagine and develop their own thought processes or assimilate their experiences through play or simply observing the world around them,” comments Belton. before warning that screens can “short-circuit” that process and the development of creativity.

In one of his articles he even remembers “flow” concept coined by the psychologist Mihalyi Csickzentmihalyi, something that can also be transferred to adults who like to escape by taking out their cell phone in the subway or elevator.

“Paradoxically, this attempt to avoid boredom can result in a kind of dissatisfaction that is experienced as boredom,” comment. “He flow is the satisfying feeling of total absorption that we obtain when we concentrate on an enjoyable activity, over which we have control, but which tests our ability. Climb, write, solve equations or assemble furniture. But if our skills are greater than those needed for that activity, such as casual use of the Internet, the result is boredom.”

Nothing surprising if we take into account how young people (and adults) they are launching to the “infinite scroll” in search of constant stimulation, without pause, and the instantaneous kick of satisfaction. “They’re looking for that novelty, that next hit of pleasure, whatever it is that we can really enjoy,” comments Eilish Dukesenior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, before remembering that this constant flow of content keeps the “reward circuit” of adolescent brains on “high alert.”

There is studies which even suggest that our brain is especially “programmed to ramble” and that the ability to jump from one way to another could have an “evolutionary adaptive value” that distinguishes us as a species. “We are usually told that it is a waste of time and mental energy, but the ability to daydream offers us enormous flexibility in our daily lives,” argues Muireann Irishfrom Neuroscience Research Australia.

“It facilitates creative problem solving, like that ‘eureka’ moment in the shower (…). Other research suggests that our sense of identity is strengthened when daydreaming. By remembering events from the past and imagining what the future could be like, we form a solid idea about who we are.”

Does that mean that boredom is a balm for creativity and our brains and that we should actively seek it out? The reality is more complex.

Boredom can also connect with much less edifying issuesas a failure in attention, and there is no shortage of authors who clarify that “situational boredom” is not the same as “existence boredom”, but at least 21st century science shows that Russell was not wrong when issuing his warning to the younger generations.

Its value will not only depend on its ability to work, make efforts and sacrifices, but also to get bored, a state that today we tend to flee and that some experts consider something like “the anteroom of creativity”.

Images | Wikipedia, Sinitta Leunen (Unsplash) and Ramiro Pianarosa (Unsplash)

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