In modern society, boredom is largely considered a bad thing. Stephen M. Gorn Family Assistant Professor of English Lilith Todd thinks people can reframe how to think about being idle.
2 min. read
Anyone without an exciting answer to what they did over the weekend may be familiar with the sensation of creeping shame. Maybe they did nothing notable—a popular pastime on a day off, but being idle can feel socially unacceptable. After all, it’s boring. But is boredom actually a bad thing? Not necessarily, says Lilith Todd, Stephen M. Gorn Family Assistant Professor of English in the School of Arts & Sciences.
This semester marks the first time Todd has taught How and When to be Bored: Literature and Attention. The class prods students to inspect not just why boredom feels like a vice, but also the evolution of boredom as a concept. “Cultural historians have noticed that boredom emerges from particular historical circumstances and media environments,” says Todd. “In fact, it is somewhat counterintuitive to think that doing nothing is bad or feels bad. Shouldn’t it be relaxing or restorative?”
Since we can’t all attend Todd’s class, she has advice for anyone looking to revisit the much-maligned art of doing nothing. Here are three ways she says we can approach—and maybe learn to appreciate—boredom.
First: Look at history. To fully understand how our modern aversion to boredom developed, Todd says we need to gaze back to the time when it first became a concept: 18th-century Britain. Second, read “boring” literature. And lastly, assess the present moment. Todd says one shouldn’t lose sight of the present even when studying the past.
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