Boredom Bytes The Dust- The Art of Boredom
The following is another essay prompted by a school assignment while I was attending Northern Essex Community College. The piece is inspired by Charlie Simic's article A Reunion With Boredom , which maybe helpful when reading for reference. For the purpose of this blog I have re-wrote the entire class essay to fit into more of my writing style and not a rubric guideline. As always, feel free to comment, share, or message me your thoughts and comments.
Before you peruse this, ask your self, "Why am I reading this?".
Now don't over think this. Maybe it's because you thought it was a subject that might interest you, or perhaps your finger accidentally clicked this link on social media and my (obvious) magnetic, gravitational charm has encapsulated you within these first few sentences and now you must read forth. Perhaps I asked you to read this essay to proof read, edit or give feedback. No matter what the reason is, you are here. You are reading this article and answering this question, even if it was a quick subconscious answer.
Now ask yourself, "Why am I reading this right now?"
Most likely it's because you have nothing better to do with your time. You're bored and this essay provides you with an excuse to pass time in this hour of nothingness. But how bored can you actually be?
This afternoon I was sitting on my couch watching Extras, one of Ricky Gervais's sitcoms, thinking to myself, "There's absolutely nothing to do."
I took out my phone and scrolled through the various means of Twitter and Instagram. Laid my head back on the couch, closing my eyes for a moment to exhale, before grabbing a cup of green tea and my laptop to write this.
"There's absolutely nothing to do." but as I'm saying that I was watching T.V, stimulating my mind through British comedy. My hand was exercising its thumb and straining my eyes trying to depict others emoji messages as if it was written in hieroglyphics.
As anyone reading this, it is easily observed that we are living in a time period where a new iPhone model is marketed each year and a plethora of mediums to watch or stream television shows are at the click of a button. With all of this technology at our fingertips and television screens in our faces (whether that be at bars or lounges- as pointed out by Simic- or even now in our cars!), we are never truly left with nothing to do. Hell, you are reading this article on a smartphone or laptop, an endless world of the web to explore if you get bored reading this essay.
So have we lost the art of boredom? You know that feeling of laying on the dry grass in the warm heat of a summers day, mulch wafting through the air and through your squinting eyes you wonder if the clouds are even moving. Or the absolute shear boredom that you find yourself zoning out into one particular spot in a room, releasing all of you thoughts but not breaking eye contact from that one dent in your wall from perhaps the time you moved a coffee table. This zoning is almost like transitioning into a meditative state, but instead of feeling relaxed, refreshed, and rooted, you feel more agitated and embarrassed that your life is so boring that the most interesting activity you've done all day is finding a new spot on the wall.
Charlie Simic talks about this idea in his article A Reunion with Boredom, even stating that a modern Romeo and Juliet would converse over text instead of under a balcony. Simic's story is about sitting in technology isolation for three days after Hurricane Irene forcing him to reconnect with the unsocial media, book reading, youth. He shares how without television or phones, books where what drove his friends and himself mad. That he remembers the feeling that comes with absolute boredom, has time completely stopped? Reflecting on uniting with this old feeling he shared,
Jokes are made today with "If you don't post (on social media) about it, did it really happen?". To simply answer that, yes. An example I like to use are concerts. I use to love taking photos at shows, but realized I was watching more of the show through the lens of my camera rather than my own eyes. Concert venues are filled with the blue illuminations of phones recording and photographing the artist on stage, which I understand capturing a moment but there's also a recognition of even if you capture the moment in video and 100 photos what did you get out of it? Just something to post on Facebook instead of actually experiencing it. Buy the T-shirt, wear it and show it to your friends. Keep your phone in your pocket. Same goes for dates or when you're sitting with another human being. We (you're friends) believe you're hanging out with Bobby, you don't need to post a picture about it. We don't need the selfies. I'm sure Bobby would like your phone away as well. Now this went off topic. Nothing to do with boredom, just etiquette. But life goes on without social media knowing about it. Now back to the program.
Some argue, "What about when the power goes out?" Well, I currently am a part-time employee at Home Depot and I'd like to inform you that I know most people in my general area have generators, BECAUSE WE SOLD A LOT OF THEM THIS YEAR. Also, living in rural areas, mentioned in Charlie Simic's article as well, residents are accustomed to the simplest of things knocking out the power or cable ( Simic mentioning this in weather situations. I, however, have experienced this with a heavy UPS truck riding over these three little indentions, resulting in Comcast coming out to fix the neighborhoods cable- only to knock it out again when they ride over the three dips). For those whom do not have generators, like myself- because retail's a hard business and sometimes the hardest customer is your father- blizzards, rain, and wind knock-outs allow us to indulge into this boredom mindset for a minute or two.
As our iPhones are piled away to save for a flashlight for early morning bathroom trips (so we don't literally trip), and emergencies, we have to turn to ourselves as our own source of entertainment. This may mean laying on the kitchen floor with your legs sprawled out as if doing a half floor-angel, tapping your foot against the kitchen stool, matching the ticking to the clock on the wall- but wait, there is not clock on the wall, that's just your imagination because time is moving so slowly with nothing to do, nothing to look at, and now your imagining not visions but sounds. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. No, you're not going crazy. You're just bored.
When we give up our social media, our television, and our texting we rely on other sources to quench our bored selves. Pick up a book, pick up a pen or pencil, paint or clay, or go on a walk and listen to the oldest DJ around (getting hotter every year too, because some of you still refuse to recycle- but I digress), Mama Nature.
I'm not a poster child for Boredom, nor do I want that title, but I appreciate the art and the creativity the emotion evokes in me. Yes, I am currently reading two books and have two more lined up but still find myself passing time scrolling through social media. This is not an article knocking technology, but an article to remind ourselves to allow ourselves to go mad and be vulnerable to a techless world. You might just find yourself. Discover a new interest or dig deeper into one you have rooted in you that may open your eyes and smile a little wider.
Thank you Charlie Simic for writing the article that inspired this essay. Thanks to my English Comp. 101 Professor for giving open options in our assignments. A big thank you to you who have engulfed in boredom long enough to read this article from start to end.
Simic, Charles. “A Reunion with Boredom.” The New York Review of Books, 31 Aug. 2011, 2:00, www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/08/31/hurricane-irene-reunion-with-boredom/.
Now don't over think this. Maybe it's because you thought it was a subject that might interest you, or perhaps your finger accidentally clicked this link on social media and my (obvious) magnetic, gravitational charm has encapsulated you within these first few sentences and now you must read forth. Perhaps I asked you to read this essay to proof read, edit or give feedback. No matter what the reason is, you are here. You are reading this article and answering this question, even if it was a quick subconscious answer.
Now ask yourself, "Why am I reading this right now?"
Most likely it's because you have nothing better to do with your time. You're bored and this essay provides you with an excuse to pass time in this hour of nothingness. But how bored can you actually be?
This afternoon I was sitting on my couch watching Extras, one of Ricky Gervais's sitcoms, thinking to myself, "There's absolutely nothing to do."
I took out my phone and scrolled through the various means of Twitter and Instagram. Laid my head back on the couch, closing my eyes for a moment to exhale, before grabbing a cup of green tea and my laptop to write this.
"There's absolutely nothing to do." but as I'm saying that I was watching T.V, stimulating my mind through British comedy. My hand was exercising its thumb and straining my eyes trying to depict others emoji messages as if it was written in hieroglyphics.
As anyone reading this, it is easily observed that we are living in a time period where a new iPhone model is marketed each year and a plethora of mediums to watch or stream television shows are at the click of a button. With all of this technology at our fingertips and television screens in our faces (whether that be at bars or lounges- as pointed out by Simic- or even now in our cars!), we are never truly left with nothing to do. Hell, you are reading this article on a smartphone or laptop, an endless world of the web to explore if you get bored reading this essay.
So have we lost the art of boredom? You know that feeling of laying on the dry grass in the warm heat of a summers day, mulch wafting through the air and through your squinting eyes you wonder if the clouds are even moving. Or the absolute shear boredom that you find yourself zoning out into one particular spot in a room, releasing all of you thoughts but not breaking eye contact from that one dent in your wall from perhaps the time you moved a coffee table. This zoning is almost like transitioning into a meditative state, but instead of feeling relaxed, refreshed, and rooted, you feel more agitated and embarrassed that your life is so boring that the most interesting activity you've done all day is finding a new spot on the wall.
Charlie Simic talks about this idea in his article A Reunion with Boredom, even stating that a modern Romeo and Juliet would converse over text instead of under a balcony. Simic's story is about sitting in technology isolation for three days after Hurricane Irene forcing him to reconnect with the unsocial media, book reading, youth. He shares how without television or phones, books where what drove his friends and himself mad. That he remembers the feeling that comes with absolute boredom, has time completely stopped? Reflecting on uniting with this old feeling he shared,
"Even so, looking back now, I realize how much I owe to my boredom. Drowning in it, I came face to face with myself as if in a mirror. I became a spectator of my own existence, which by turns struck me as being either too real or totally unreal."
Jokes are made today with "If you don't post (on social media) about it, did it really happen?". To simply answer that, yes. An example I like to use are concerts. I use to love taking photos at shows, but realized I was watching more of the show through the lens of my camera rather than my own eyes. Concert venues are filled with the blue illuminations of phones recording and photographing the artist on stage, which I understand capturing a moment but there's also a recognition of even if you capture the moment in video and 100 photos what did you get out of it? Just something to post on Facebook instead of actually experiencing it. Buy the T-shirt, wear it and show it to your friends. Keep your phone in your pocket. Same goes for dates or when you're sitting with another human being. We (you're friends) believe you're hanging out with Bobby, you don't need to post a picture about it. We don't need the selfies. I'm sure Bobby would like your phone away as well. Now this went off topic. Nothing to do with boredom, just etiquette. But life goes on without social media knowing about it. Now back to the program.
Some argue, "What about when the power goes out?" Well, I currently am a part-time employee at Home Depot and I'd like to inform you that I know most people in my general area have generators, BECAUSE WE SOLD A LOT OF THEM THIS YEAR. Also, living in rural areas, mentioned in Charlie Simic's article as well, residents are accustomed to the simplest of things knocking out the power or cable ( Simic mentioning this in weather situations. I, however, have experienced this with a heavy UPS truck riding over these three little indentions, resulting in Comcast coming out to fix the neighborhoods cable- only to knock it out again when they ride over the three dips). For those whom do not have generators, like myself- because retail's a hard business and sometimes the hardest customer is your father- blizzards, rain, and wind knock-outs allow us to indulge into this boredom mindset for a minute or two.
As our iPhones are piled away to save for a flashlight for early morning bathroom trips (so we don't literally trip), and emergencies, we have to turn to ourselves as our own source of entertainment. This may mean laying on the kitchen floor with your legs sprawled out as if doing a half floor-angel, tapping your foot against the kitchen stool, matching the ticking to the clock on the wall- but wait, there is not clock on the wall, that's just your imagination because time is moving so slowly with nothing to do, nothing to look at, and now your imagining not visions but sounds. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. No, you're not going crazy. You're just bored.
When we give up our social media, our television, and our texting we rely on other sources to quench our bored selves. Pick up a book, pick up a pen or pencil, paint or clay, or go on a walk and listen to the oldest DJ around (getting hotter every year too, because some of you still refuse to recycle- but I digress), Mama Nature.
I'm not a poster child for Boredom, nor do I want that title, but I appreciate the art and the creativity the emotion evokes in me. Yes, I am currently reading two books and have two more lined up but still find myself passing time scrolling through social media. This is not an article knocking technology, but an article to remind ourselves to allow ourselves to go mad and be vulnerable to a techless world. You might just find yourself. Discover a new interest or dig deeper into one you have rooted in you that may open your eyes and smile a little wider.
Thank you Charlie Simic for writing the article that inspired this essay. Thanks to my English Comp. 101 Professor for giving open options in our assignments. A big thank you to you who have engulfed in boredom long enough to read this article from start to end.
Simic, Charles. “A Reunion with Boredom.” The New York Review of Books, 31 Aug. 2011, 2:00, www.nybooks.com/daily/2011/08/31/hurricane-irene-reunion-with-boredom/.
