Does boredom enrich your life? No, really, we’re serious. Think about it. Philosophy professor Andreas Elpidorou has thought about it a great deal, and he concludes that boredom is necessary and valuable. Read his ideas in this July 2015 essay in Aeon.
Read it here: Elpidorou, "The quiet alarm"
- In regard to boredom, Elpidorou states that “We should give thanks for it—and avoid it like the plague.” What does he mean? Explain Elpidorou’s assertion. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- Elpidorou draws an extended comparison between physical pain and boredom. How effective is the comparison? How appropriate is it? Why do you think so? Would the essay have been clearer without the comparison? Why or why not?
- Elpidorou positions his argument in contrast with “Western literary and philosophical canons,” and he mentions the work of several philosophers and scientists. Which of the moves in Chapter 5 of your text can you identify in Elpidorou’s responses to the They Say?
- Elpidorou praises the emotional benefits of boredom, such as making us more aware of our situation and prompting us into “alternative courses of action.” He even asserts that if an app could be developed to produce the benefits of boredom, people would pay for it. Would you? Why or why not?
- Elpidorou concludes by proposing that boredom should be paid attention to rather than ignored. He asserts that grabbing your phone to distract yourself is the wrong strategy. Take on this challenge for a day or two. When you find yourself bored—waiting for the bus, perhaps, or in a class—just stop and listen to your thoughts and feelings, letting your attention follow where they take you. Then write an account of your experience that either supports or refutes (or both) Elpidorou’s argument. Use the templates in your text to clearly distinguish your ideas from his.
They Say I Blog 
In this article, Andreas Elpidorou addresses the effects of boredom and compares it to the effects of pain. Normally, when one feels the sensation of pain, their body alerts them to change their environment in order to protect them from harm. In the same way, when we begin to feel a sensation of boredom, our bodies tend to alert us, allowing us to make a change in our environment. Elpidorou says that boredom should be treated similarly to the plague, and that we should avoid it at any cost. This means that whenever we begin to feel bored, we should be motivated to seek out new mental stimulation rather than fall into the depths of unending boredom. The reason he contrasts it to pain is that for those who are not able to feel the sensations of pain, the world is a very dangerous place. They lack the normal signals that would generally tell us we are in danger, and must constantly be on the lookout for dangerous situations. In the same way, the world would be a very dangerous place if we could not sense boredom. Nothing would seem draining or pointless to us, we would be satisfied by everything. Like the example given in the article, we would be content watching the same lecture over and over, because we would have no feeling of boredom. There are some situations in which we should feel bored, because we would have the motivation to change our environment and seek new stimulation. This viewpoint is very accurate, because without certain feelings or signals, there is nothing to compare our situation to. If we cannot feel pain, then we live our lives unknowing of a world of pain. In the same way, a world without sadness would simply be repetitive and draining, because all we would know is happiness. Because of this, we would be unaware of how good our current situation is because we would have nothing of the extreme opposite to compare it to, and we would just be constantly content.
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I believe using using an extended comparison between physical pain and boredom, is a very effective. As reading further in the article, you can see the similarities and how both terms relate. As feeling pain, as was said in the article, warns you about the hazardous situation that your in, which instantly tells you take strict measures and removing yourself from such situation, Same as being boredom. When bored, your mind is triggered into finding something else more interesting to do. Just like feeling pain, you are signal about the situation your in and try to remove yourself from out of it.
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When talking about boredom we need to realize that it is possible one of the most valuable things in life today. At least that’s what Elpidourou says. If we didn’t have boredom then we wouldn’t have anything to compare the fun times to which would make the good times seem even more boring then if you were to know what boredom is like. It all makes sense when you think about it, because if you’re never sad, then how will you know what happiness is like? it’s got the same kind of idea here, but even then boredom is still never fun but in the long run it’s going to make things more interesting.
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Andreas Elpidorou argues in there article the quiet alarm that we need to have border in our lives to be truly happy. There argument is that you can not be happy, you can not feel excitement and joy if you do not ever experience boredom. In a way always being happy is its own kind of boredom if you never have experience boredom. In the same way if you have never felt pain you can never truly feel pleasure. You can not be happy without boredom because you don’t haver the capacity to know what its like to be bored.
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Take the following circumstance for example: a family is bothered by boredom on the weekend, and they can either ignore the boredom with digital devices such as television or smartphone, or confront it by figuring out some solutions to enrich their life. Elpidorous encouraged people to choose the latter. Based on his analysis of boredom, if something in our life bores us, it is because that thing does not correlate with our projects or goals. Boredom, then, becomes a signal to tell us that it is time to change our lifestyles. Rather than avoid facing the boredom, we should penetrate into the problems it may suggest in our life, and try to solve them all. My opinion is in accord with Elpidorous’s statement that boredom serves as a reminder and stimulation to humans. I also agree that using high-tech devices as the retreat from boredom, in reality, deepens people’s indifference from the significance of boredom, because the family will never come to notice the problem and think about what is going wrong.
Elpidorous wrote about how would it be like to become insensible to pain in the beginning, and in the latter paragraphs kept mentioning the function of “pain” to reinforce his viewpoints, since its meaning to human physical health is, compared with psychological “boredom,” more easy for readers to digest. He drew the parallel between both of the physical pain and boredom for the similarities they share—the characteristics as being aversive and unpleasant, the importance to function as the warning about our physical or mental health, and the truth that both of them are indispensable parts for promoting human welfare, which most of us have never recognized before. For me, this comparison actually helped me a lot when reading Elpidorous’s essay and trying to grasp a rather abstract or philosophical idea from him.
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I think in the blog about boredom, its talking about how we should thank boredom. boredom can be a moment of change, a new way of ideas. a lot can come to your mind when you just sit there and let your mind think and slip away. maybe a new hobbie can be thought of. a lot of beautiful things are mainly created when bored. being bored can also be entertaining, giving you the best of thoughts to change your situation and make the best out of your boredom. so instead of thinking your bored, maybe just sit there and think. see what you come up with, being bored is a good thing.
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I believe that Elpidorou makes a great point when he describes boredom. although it was a bit hard for me to find correlation between his reference of physical pain vs. boredom. i believe that he is trying to make the point that boredom is the time where we can find the good and bad in it. he views boredom as the time where one can find the need or desire to do something bigger or better. i do agree with Elpidorou in a sense that yes boredom is when people are not wanting to do or take part in the task they are needing to do or be a part of but that person wishes to do something else more desirable. i feel as if he compares it to the plauge in the sense that if you never got near someone with it you will be fine, just like if you always stay busy or occupied you can never get bored.
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Elpidorou is attempting to justify boredom, and I think he does an effective job. I think it’s true that we need to have the faculties to sense boredom, and that doing away with it entirely would be counter intuitive, if such a thing were possible. Boredom allows us time to collect our thoughts, gives us a neutral ground and time to explore other options. Just the usual feeling of boredom is enough to set off a kind of radar to ask yourself questions, such as how it came to this, and should you be doing something more valuable or productive with your time if you’re at all able? Some people do have a greater propensity to experience boredom than others. It can seem like a terrible thing, but sometimes you have to experience the vile aspects of it enough before it disturbs you enough to want to change your course to see if there are more promising ventures out there for you. Overall, I think the author wanted to draw our attention to the notion that boredom can talk to us, and if we listen we can hopefully use it for the best.
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According to the author, Andreas Elpidorou, boredom is something that, “We should give thanks for it-and avoid it like the plague.”
He believes that being bored is not always a bad thing, it can encourage us to make a change in our lives. He further states that,
“To escape boredom, in other words, we need to seek activities that seem congruent with our wishes.” “He explains that when we are bored, we feel uneasy and restless. Our minds wander. Even our perception of the passage of time is altered.” This image of boredom is one with which many people can identify.
Elpidorou’s comparison between physical pain and boredom offers a unique perspective. While pain is immediate and must be taken care of right away, boredom allows time to think about and plan a positive solution. This is an effective comparison, because both pain and boredom force us to change our behavior, in order to help ourselves. We cannot avoid pain, it helps us know when something is wrong, and boredom helps us analyze where we are and where we want to be.
This is evidenced by the author’s conclusion, ” Furthermore, if the sensation of pain is meant (most often) to motivate us to change our behavior in order to protect ourselves, then likewise the sensation of boredom is meant to motivate us to find something else to do, something that is not boring.”
Although I agree with Elpidorou up to a point, I believe that though boredom is bad, It is not as severe as physical pain. Therefore , I am not in complete agreement with his comparison.
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Andrea Wisenre states that she disagrees with, “Elpidorou’s belief that boredom can be compared to physical pain.” I agree with her observation that, “Pain is the bodies way of signalling distress to protect it from injury. Boredom is an individual’s view to a certain situation that one conceives as useless.” In reality, being in pain is more serious and could be fatal, while being bored gives you time to think, but it is not life-threatening.
Once more, I agree with Andrea that I would not buy in app to help with being bored. I enjoy having quiet time to think about my life, make goals and plan for my future.
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I agree with Cynthia V’s statement that, “Boredom could otherwise help one reflect on themselves, how to change the situation and find a fulfillment.” When a person is bored, he or she should utilize that time to think deeply about life, and be proactive about making positive changes. Like Cynthia V, I also agree with Elpidorou that,
“Boredom is necessary.” Often boredom enables creativity, and sparks meaningful life changes.
When it comes to pain however, I disagree that it should be compared to being bored. Though one could live with periods of boredom, it would be terrible to live with constant pain.
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