Boredom is a negative feeling that we’ll try to avoid at all costs, but sometimes we just can’t help it. Long business meetings, a lack of things to do on the weekend, even some road trips can lead to boredom and frustration. Boredom has even been attributed to certain ‘criminal acts’ such as trespassing and graffiti.
However, boredom doesn’t always go hand-in-hand with other negative emotions and behaviours; sometimes it can actually spark a creative idea and motivate a person to achieve something meaningful.
Despite the ever-present access to information and entertainment in developed countries, boredom is still prevalent in most societies. So much so that researches have been studying the detailed nature of boredom over the past decade.
The five basic types of boredom
Their cumulative work suggests that there are five basic types of boredom; indifference, calibrating, searching, reactant and apathetic boredom. By knowing what type of boredom you’re experiencing, it may help you to know what to do to counteract its effects.
It’s also important to know that some people have a higher ‘threshold’ to boredom, and others are more prone to it as a result of their personality. Here are the five basic types of boredom:
- Indifferent boredom – This type of boredom is most often experienced by calm and laid-back people. They are withdrawn from the external world but they don’t really mind.
- Calibrating boredom – This is a slightly unpleasant form of boredom. It’s the emotional state experienced when there is a lack of options and an unwillingness to find more. It can leave people not knowing what to do, forcing them to get lost in their thoughts as they daydream. Calibrating boredom is also characterised by a general openness to new ideas and activities.
- Searching boredom – This is a more negative feeling that people experience when they are restless and are actively searching for ways out of their boredom. They know that they lack stimulation so they search for things to do, places to go, people to meet, etc. It can be good in that it will force a person to take action or work harder.
- Reactant boredom – People experiencing reactant boredom have a strong desire to escape the feeling or the boring situation in which they find themselves. They actively avoid people who are responsible for creating boredom, such as certain teachers or their bosses. This is the most extreme type of boredom and can result in aggressive behaviour from frustration and restlessness.
- Apathetic boredom – This is a completely different type of boredom. A person experiencing apathetic boredom has no motivation or drive. They feel depressed and helpless – unwilling to change their situation, thereby actually making it worse. Up to 36% of teenagers are said to experience apathetic boredom in developed countries.
How can you tell what type of boredom you are experiencing?
Besides fitting neatly into one of the five descriptions above, which is often not possible, there is another way to tell what type of boredom you are currently experiencing. Lead researcher and professor at the University of Konstanz in Germany, Thomas Goetz, has developed a two-axis approach to characterising boredom.
Along the horizontal axis, you have positive or negative emotions, scored between one (happy) and five (sad). Along the vertical axis, you have a degree of calmness, scored between one (relaxed) and five (energetic).
You can assess your own scores and work out your boredom by looking at the two numbers. For example, a score of 3/1 reflects a neutral state of emotions with a high degree of calmness, indicative of indifferent boredom. A score of 4/4 reflects a positive set of emotions and lots of energy, indicative of reactant boredom.
These scores can reflect your type of boredom more accurately than the five simple types of boredom labelled above. By knowing what emotions are associated with your boredom and how much energy you have, you can adapt your mindset or change your situation to get out of your state of boredom.
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