Exploring Boredom: How monotony can stimulate and be beneficial

A

We all know how it feels – it’s impossible to keep your mind on anything, time stretches out, and all the things you could do seem equally unlikely to make you feel better. But defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult. For a start, it can include a lot of other mental states, such as frustration, apathy, depression and indifference. There isn’t even agreement over whether boredom is always a low-energy, flat kind of emotion or whether feeling agitated and restless counts as boredom, too. In his book, Boredom: A Lively History, Peter Toohey at the University of Calgary, Canada, compares it to disgust – an emotion that motivates us to stay away from certain situations. ‘If disgust protects humans from infection, boredom may protect them from “infectious” social situations,’ he suggests.

B

Thomas Goetz and his team at the University of Konstanz in Germany recently identified five distinct types of boredom through surveys: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant, and apathetic. These types can be graphed on two axes: one measuring arousal from low to high and the other measuring positivity or negativity. Interestingly, Goetz discovered that people tend to specialize in one type of boredom. Among these, 'reactant' boredom, with its explosive combination of high arousal and negative emotions, is the most harmful. Conversely, 'indifferent' boredom, where someone is not engaged in anything fulfilling but feels relaxed and calm, is the most beneficial. However, it remains unclear if there are specific personality traits that predispose individuals to particular types of boredom.

C

Psychologist Sandi Mann at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK takes a different perspective. 'All emotions serve a purpose, including boredom,' she argues. Mann's research indicates that boredom enhances creativity. 'We fear boredom, yet it can lead to remarkable discoveries,' she asserts. In a recent study, participants tasked with monotonous activities, like copying numbers from a phone book for 15 minutes, generated more creative ideas about using a polystyrene cup than those in a control group. Mann suggests that engaging in passive, boring tasks can foster creativity by allowing the mind to wander. She even suggests actively seeking out moments of boredom in our lives.

D

Psychologist John Eastwood from York University in Toronto, Canada, holds a contrasting view. 'Mind-wandering isn't boredom,' he contends. 'Boredom, by definition, is an unpleasant state.' Nonetheless, Eastwood acknowledges its potential benefits. 'Pain serves a purpose - without physical pain, harm could occur. But does that mean we should seek pain? No. Similarly, although boredom may have evolved to aid survival, allowing it to persist can be detrimental.' Eastwood identifies the core of boredom as an inability to engage one's attention system, resulting in an inability to focus and a perception of time dragging. Furthermore, efforts to alleviate boredom often exacerbate the feeling. 'People attempt to connect with their surroundings, and if unsuccessful, frustration and irritability ensue,' he warns. Most concerning, Eastwood suggests that prolonged attentional failures may lead to a state where one loses direction and motivation.

E

Eastwood’s team is currently investigating why the attention system fails. It's early days, but they suspect that personality plays a role. Boredom proneness appears to correlate with various traits; individuals driven by pleasure tend to experience it more intensely. Conversely, curiosity seems to increase tolerance for boredom. Further evidence of boredom's negative impact comes from studies on individuals more or less prone to it. Those susceptible often face challenges in education, career, and overall life satisfaction. However, boredom itself isn't fatal – it's our coping mechanisms that may pose risks. How can we alleviate boredom before it becomes detrimental? Goetz's team proposes one solution: when working with adolescents, they found that approaching boring situations rather than avoiding them with snacks, TV, or social media leads to reduced boredom.

F

Psychologist Francoise Wemelsfelder suggests that our hyper-connected lifestyles may be a newfound source of boredom. 'In today's society, there's excessive stimulation but a struggle to find meaning,' she observes. Instead of seeking more mental stimulation, perhaps we should set aside our phones and let boredom motivate us to engage with the world in deeper, more meaningful ways.

Questions 14-19

Reading Passage 2 has six paragraphs, A-F

Choose the appropriate heading for each paragraph from the provided list of headings.

Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 14-19 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

i       The productive outcomes that may result from boredom

ii      What teachers can do to prevent boredom

iii     A new explanation and a new cure for boredom

iv      Problems with a scientific approach to boredom

v      A potential danger arising from boredom

vi     Creating a system of classification for feelings of boredom

vii    Age groups most affected by boredom

viii    Identifying those most affected by boredom

14   Paragraph A

15   Paragraph B

16   Paragraph C

17   Paragraph D

18   Paragraph E

19   Paragraph F

Questions 20-23

Look at the following people (Questions 20-23) and the list of ideas below.

Match each person with the correct idea, A-E.

Write the correct letter, A-E, in boxes 20-23 on your answer sheet.

20   Peter Toohey

21   Thomas Goetz

22   John Eastwood

23   Francoise Wemelsfelder

List of Ideas

A The way we live today may encourage boredom.

B One sort of boredom is worse than all the others.

C Levels of boredom may fall in the future.

D Trying to cope with boredom can increase its negative effects.

E Boredom may encourage us to avoid an unpleasant experience.

Questions 24-26

Provide answers to the summary below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.

Reactions to monotony

For John Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is that people cannot 24……………………………, due to a failure in what he calls the ‘attention system’, and as a result they become frustrated and irritable. His team suggests that those for whom 25……………………….. is an important aim in life may have problems in coping with boredom, whereas those who have the characteristic of 26……………………….. can generally cope with it.

Solutions

14. iv (Đoạn A, “But defining boredom so that it can be studied in the lab has proved difficult.” → vấn đề nan giải

15. vi (Đoạn B, “By asking people about their experiences of boredom, …five distinct types: indifferent, calibrating, searching, reactant and apathetic. These can be plotted on two axes” → Phân loại các mực độ của sự chán nản)

16. i (Đoạn C, “ Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative.” → Tác động tích cực của việc chán nản)

17. v (Đoạn D, “But even if boredom has evolved to help us survive, it can still be toxic if allowed to fester.” → Sự nguy hiểm của việc chán nản)

18. viii (Đoạn E, “Eastwood’s team is now trying to explore why the attention system fails. It’s early days but they think that at least some of it comes down to personality. Boredom proneness has been linked with a variety of traits.” → Xác định những người nào chịu tác động mạnh nhất của việc chán nản)

19. iii (Đoạn F, “So instead of seeking yet more mental stimulation, perhaps we should leave our phones alone, and use boredom to motivate us to engage with the world in a more meaningful way.” → Gợi ý cách chữa bệnh chán nản trong cuộc sống)

20. E (Đoạn A, “Peter Toohey at the University of Calgary, Canada, … ‘If disgust protects humans from infection, boredom may protect them from “infectious” social situations,’ he suggests.”

21. B (Đoạn B, “Of the five types, the most damaging is ‘reactant’ boredom with its explosive combination of high arousal and negative emotion.”)

22. D (Đoạn D, “For Eastwood, the central feature of boredom is a failure to put our ‘attention system’ into gear. … What’s more, your efforts to improve the situation can end up making you feel worse.” → Càng tìm cách đối phó với sự chán nản càng gây ra tác động tiêu cực.)

23. A (Đoạn F, “Psychologist Francoise Wemelsfelder speculates that our over-connected lifestyles might even be a new source of boredom.” → Thế giới hiện đại làm con người dễ chán nản.)

24. Focus (Đoạn D, “This causes an inability to focus on anything…”)

25. Pleasure (Đoạn E, “People who are motivated by pleasure seem to suffer particularly badly.)