Sunday, April 26, 2009

Boring, Boring, Gone

The media finally stopped blathering about shortened attention spans. It’s assumed that between video games, Twitter and whatnot, none of us can think about anything for more than a nanosecond because we get bored.

How often do you read an entire webpage, Godforbid a book? Okay, I’m cheating here. Obviously you are capable of following multiple paragraphs. Let’s move on and discuss boring people. You know some, though none of your close friends are boring. None of mine are, either. We’re not, you and I. So what makes those other people so tiresome to be around?

Maybe boringness (not boredom) is like villainy. A good villain doesn’t think s/he is evil. Nobody thinks they’re boring. When I tell a story or joke, or try to convince someone that something is interesting, it’s because I believe it really is interesting or funny or significant. Maybe boring people just aren’t persuasive enough.

But what about boredom itself? I’ve been trying to figure out what it is. Is it emotional, a form of depression? Is it intellectual, a form of – well, I hesitate to call it stupidity. I’ve been bored, and I’ve been stupid, and I believe there is a difference. I think boredom hits us in the spirit, but I’m not sure what I mean by that.

My mother doesn’t understand boredom. She associates it with a vacuity of mind that is incomprehensible given how interesting the world is. What do you think boredom is? And don’t just say you know it when you feel it.

Maybe I’ll have some more insight into all this after I sit through another hour of online traffic school. That’s what got me this far.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

traffic school makes me a more interested and interesting person.
L.A. Weakly