More Boredom
Boredom and anger – how are they related? Responses to yesterday’s post sparked my interest in knowing more.
When I asked the psychologist “Does it mean anything that a person is 'always' bored?” I had a particular person in mind. The psychologist responded that boredom is a symptom of anger. In that one case he may have been right – the person was bored and angry much of the time. I think it’s important to note that we were talking about “chronic” boredom. Personally, I don’t think all boredom is related to anger, but perhaps in some cases – perhaps extreme cases – there may be a correlation.
The second person in yesterday's post is someone who exhibits little interest or motivation which seems inconsistent with other things that I know about him. Also, I see some things in his experience that would make me angry if I was in his place and I wonder if his lack of interest is a pointer to hidden anger. I don't know. I'm just wondering out loud about these things.
I did some quick research and found the following:
"Another interesting observation is that we become bored at something: "the lecture is boring," "I'm bored with reading," "we are bored with each other," "my work is boring," etc. One implication is that "I'm not responsible for the boredom, I'm the victim." Another is that "someone else is doing this to me," and things would be okay if I could get away from them. This certainly hints at both anger and helplessness." (http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap6/chap6r.htm)
If you find my post boring then, most likely, it’s NOT because you’re angry, but my post just isn’t entertaining or thought provoking to you. And that's OK.
When I asked the psychologist “Does it mean anything that a person is 'always' bored?” I had a particular person in mind. The psychologist responded that boredom is a symptom of anger. In that one case he may have been right – the person was bored and angry much of the time. I think it’s important to note that we were talking about “chronic” boredom. Personally, I don’t think all boredom is related to anger, but perhaps in some cases – perhaps extreme cases – there may be a correlation.
The second person in yesterday's post is someone who exhibits little interest or motivation which seems inconsistent with other things that I know about him. Also, I see some things in his experience that would make me angry if I was in his place and I wonder if his lack of interest is a pointer to hidden anger. I don't know. I'm just wondering out loud about these things.
I did some quick research and found the following:
"Another interesting observation is that we become bored at something: "the lecture is boring," "I'm bored with reading," "we are bored with each other," "my work is boring," etc. One implication is that "I'm not responsible for the boredom, I'm the victim." Another is that "someone else is doing this to me," and things would be okay if I could get away from them. This certainly hints at both anger and helplessness." (http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap6/chap6r.htm)
If you find my post boring then, most likely, it’s NOT because you’re angry, but my post just isn’t entertaining or thought provoking to you. And that's OK.
posted by Paul at 7:29 AM
5 Comments:
The most boring thing is people who keep insisting that they are bored or that something or other is boring. I figure that you bring your own interest to the things that you do. To say you are bored is to say that you are boring.
People have a couple of very basic responses to unpleasant circumstances; they get emotional, or they get emotionless; they act, or they shut down. It seems that the response is often correlated to the degree to which the person feels empowered or helpless to change the situation.
Perhaps some peoples' apathy about the current state of the world, society, starving people in Africa and right outside my door, etc ... is because they feel helpless to do enough to make a difference.
Never stopped to think that my periods of boredom were caused by my actions - or lack there of.
Guess I'm not too old to learn.
A not boring post, Paul.
Interesting...I never considered there was a link between boredom and anger.
I suppose if you tend to psychoanalyze things to death, you could correlate boredom with all kinds of emotions, but I tend to get bored when I'm stuck in a situation with no mental stimulation, such as in the Doctor's office with no decent magazines to read. My anger is manifested and dealt with by writing about it or emersing myself in a distraction, in which case I am not bored, for I am to busy distracting myself from my anger to be so.
And just because some people bore the hell out of me does not mean I am angry at them, I would just rather not be in their company.
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