Maybe Boredom is Beneficial
By: Tessie
Mom and Dad are both working normal schedules this week, and during the time they had off on Tuesday morning, they opted to go mountain biking rather than take Mala and me for a hike. All this lying around, even if it is outside on the deck, has me bored. My parents tease me about my reaction, saying, “Oh, you poor dog, your life is so tough,” with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
Mom told me this morning that experts say boredom is good for you. When people allow time in their lives to do nothing, it boosts their creativity.
Psychologist Dr. Sandi Mann from the University of Central Lancashire conducted a famous study in which she had participants do the ultimate boring task: copying numbers from a phone book. After the boring task, participants were asked to come up with creative uses for two styrofoam cups. The bored group came up with significantly more creative and unusual ideas than the control group. I suppose this is true. When I’m staring out the window, waiting for them to come home, I think of all the ways I can try to catch that darn squirrel the next time I go outside.
According to research published in the journal Academy of Management Discoveries, boredom serves as an emotional signal that we are in a rut. It sparks a search for variety and novelty, encouraging people to find new ways to stimulate their minds. This can lead to greater creativity and original thinking. So, when you do not provide entertainment, my mind might naturally find creative ways to occupy itself, even if that means inventing new ways to steal the cat’s food.
We have a road trip coming up in a few weeks, but hopefully we’ll get to do some long hikes between now and then. In the meantime, I’ll continue throwing blankets and pillows off the couch to make myself comfortable and keep scheming ways to catch that squirrel.
