For ten years, dozens of neuroscientists have been interested in the benefits of boredom, and from year to year, from study to study, the positive effects are confirmed. Among these researchers who study reverie, Erik Dane, professor specializing in organizational behavior at the University of Saint Louis in Missouri (United States), and author of a study published last November. He explains to washington post why doing nothing would be a very good thing: what his study proves is that daydreaming, mental wandering stimulates creativity and curiosity. For five years, he has been studying the reactions of adult subjects, women and men who work, preferably too much, and who therefore do not have the opportunity to wander.
“What we seeexplains the researcher, is that our daily environment is full of opportunities, things to discover, to explore, but that we can only access it if we get out of our automatic pilot, if we free ourselves from the grip of the agenda, from the permanent succession of tasks to be accomplishedObviously, not everyone can do it, not everyone has this luxury, for example bus drivers, bakers, nurses, home helpers. But for many others, deep down , there is bound to be a space of time, even a short one, which instead of being devoted to deleting emails or updating one’s profile on Twitter, can be used to do nothing.
In fact, most of the time, from a biological and psychological point of view, we almost never do anything.
Erik Dane, author of a study on the benefits of boredomat the Washington Post
Getting bored properly starts with temporarily getting rid of your cell phone. The study proves that the mere presence of phones prevents participants from freeing themselves from stimuli and solicitations. Impliedly, the telephone is there, it may ring, light up, attention is unconsciously focused on it and therefore cannot manage to free itself from it. No telephone, therefore, no objective or problem to solve either. The idea is to do nothing, not to be productive.
Finally, last lesson: being bored can be learned, it is a gymnastics that must be repeated regularly to appreciate the long-term effects, less anxiety, less stress, more creativity, curiosity. Knowing that, “in realitynotes Erik Dane, lMost of the time, biologically and psychologically, we almost never do anything.” Something to question the values so often put forward today, productivity and permanent hyperactivity, and maybe slow down, change pace, at least think about it.