Could you sit by yourself for 15 minutes quite comfortably, even though you had nothing to do? Your smartphone has been taken off you, there is nothing to read, no pictures on the walls or windows to look out of. Some of you are getting chills even imagining such a radical scenario.
The thing is, in modern life there is
rarely any need to get bored. If you’re
stuck on a train or in a dentist’s waiting lounge or whatever, no problem. Just whip out a little electronic
device and you can compose a witty reply to your friend’s email, defeat an
invasion force of electronic aliens, or listen to your favourite album.
Perhaps I’m just jealous, since I can’t use
a smartphone, but it seems like there is something which has been lost as well
as gained by the generation of youngsters who are never allowed to be bored. A lack of instant entertainment forces you to
be creative, imaginative, introspective.
I certainly wouldn’t want too much boredom in my life, but I probably
wouldn’t have bothered to learn how to play the guitar, or have stuck at my
Japanese lessons without it. New hobbies
tend to be boring at first. The guitar
is nothing but pain for your fingertips and unsatisfactory attempts to play F
for ages until you get the hang of it.
What got me thinking about this topic was
hearing recently about a bizarre experiment.
A number of people were placed in a bare room, with no entertainment
available, for 15 minutes. They were
given a device which produces electric shocks and told that, if they got bored,
they could use the device to give themselves a painful electric shock.
You’re probably now asking, “Well just how
painful was the electric shock?” Fair
enough. We’re all curious. Everybody must have known that they wouldn’t
be seriously injured. I probably would
have electrocuted myself just to see how painful it was. But I think I would have stopped at one
shock.
18 men and 24 women took part in the
experiment. Of the 18 men, 12 chose to
electrocute themselves at least four times during the 15 minutes. Of the 24 women, 6 chose to electrocute
themselves at least four times.
Does this demonstrate that people nowadays
have such a hard time putting up with boredom that they would rather feel pain
than be left to their own thoughts for only 15 minutes? Does it again demonstrate that men are bigger
idiots than women? Or were the electric
shocks just not painful enough?
Perhaps it says something about human
nature. We’re too curious for our own
good, and forget the pains of the past too quickly. I imagine someone saying to Adolf Hitler,
“Don’t invade Russia. It’ll be terribly cold
and might end in disaster exactly like it did for Napoleon.” Hitler was just sitting there thinking, “I wonder
how cold it really gets?”
to zap – This is a casual word, meaning to
electrocute, shoot with a laser etc.
a biped – a two-legged animal; a human
to get chills – to shiver, especially in
fear
to whip something out – to pull something
out very quickly
introspective – inward-looking; thoughtful
about oneself
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