Jul. 20th, 2017

boredom

Jul. 20th, 2017 08:05 am
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[personal profile] underused

bored: feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity

boredom: the state of feeling bored


Boring, right? Well, it turns out boredom is kind of surprising. First set in print by Charles Dickens, boredom (as a concept) didn't exist until the Victorians, when the prevalence of office and factory jobs created set periods for leisure:

By the 19th century, leisure was conceived among the middle classes as a space for self-improving recreation. Victorian city dwellers delighted in science lectures and circuses, and a growing tourist industry took people on educational trips abroad. To find yourself at a loose end, or trapped in dreary company, or feeling inattentive or purposeless in such a context became a mark of general inadequacy. Doctors made boredom a medical complaint; politicians made it a moral one...


OMG get off the internet: Studies show boredom makes you more creative.

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