On boredom

Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom,
by James Danckert and John Eastwood
Listen to the interview on CBC's The Current

Heard an interesting interview today with 2 Canadian experts on boredom, prior to their upcoming book launch. It's a topic that would always be interesting to me, but of course, in the time of isolation, it is particularly timely. I don't often experience boredom, and sometimes express disbelief when people say they are bored... there is always something to learn about! Give me a stack of books, some art supplies and an internet connection and it is hard to imagine getting bored. Yet, it does happen occasionally. And when it does, I think about the creativity to come, as it inevitably does. But it is uncomfortable in the moment. This interview, however, had me rethinking my frankly holier-than-thou attitude about when others are bored. Jeez, Roberta, give people a break, eh? Everyone experiences boredom differently. And for those who normally are running all the time, I have new appreciation for how they may be experiencing boredom at this time. I particularly enjoyed the aspect of the interview of how boredom emerges when we have a lack of agency over our own lives... interesting stuff. They didn't get into whether this differs for introverts and extroverts, as I suspect it does, but maybe that's a reason to get the book (no audiobook yet, fingers crossed...).

Anyways, it was fascinating, and worth a listen.

CBC's The Current's Matt Galloway interviewed James Danckert and John Eastwood, co-authors of Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom.
Listen to the interview (recommended)
About the book

Documenting life during a pandemic

Today I listened to TWO interesting CBC Radio shows about pandemic diaries: who's keeping them, and why, and how they have value beyond the personal. It turns out there are a few initiatives to encourage recording this period for their historical value. A few highlights from each:

'We want it all': Keeping a COVID-19 diary? It could help future historians — and your mental health - The Current

Dr. Karen Blair, an assistant professor of psychology at St. Francis Xavier University... is part of a team that's collecting diary entries from those in the thick of isolation. They hope to shed light on how the pandemic is affecting mental health. Each day, participants check in with a short survey. Some even share details about their experiences that day."

It's so interesting that I have joined the COVID-19 Diary Study project.

The Current story resources
Keeping a COVID-19 diary? It could help future historians - podcast episode and transcript
COVID-19 Diary Study - join Dr. Karen Blair's project

National Museum of Denmark's
Christian Sune Pedersen is leading the journal project

Danes are sending their quarantine journals to the national museum - Day 6

"Lots of people are turning to social media to chronicle the monotony of quarantine, peppered with the brief excitement of sourdough starters and family kitchen parties. But folks in Denmark are taking it a step further, by sending pages of their lockdown journals to the national museum to preserve them for posterity. Conveniently, Denmark already has a blueprint for the journal experiment..."

They've done it before, in 1992 (when they received 51,000 entries) and again in 2017. An interesting listen.

Day 6 story resources
Danes are sending their quarantine journals to the national museum - podcast episode and transcript
National Museum of Denmark - official website (19 museums/sites)

Is it just me, or all introverts?

Listening to CBC today, and the various stories about how people are handling isolation, it left me feeling grateful for being who I am: an introvert who enjoys my own company and perfectly content to spends days on my own.

Aside of those with genuine concerns as a result of their health, family or work situation (which I have total empathy for), it was those who simply don't know what to do with themselves home along for long stretches that got my attention.

Beyond that, it was the ones that were feeling traumatized that interested me. Really? I don't say that in a sarcastic way, I say it in a "oh, so some people are really torn apart to be alone?". As in learning, and having my eyes opened. It was a comment by an extrovert that made the penny drop. I know that extroverts get their energy from others, but I don't think I'd understood how distressful it can be just to be alone for long stretches.

But perhaps I can understand, from the other side, as an introvert who just spent 10 years living with others and I almost lost my mind. If I don't spend copious amounts of time alone, I can't think, and I don't know who I am. I have no energy and I become desperate. Same thing, other side?

Anyways, I do not mind days at home alone. Having lived alone for 30 years, it's a common way of being for me, and I'm perfectly content. Since (finally) having my own place again, the days at home since December have been bliss.

Yes, I do like to do stuff, and not having access to coffee shops, and arts, and so on, is certainly missed, but it's not upsetting. Just think of the money I'll save!

Right now I have my headphones on, listening to jazz, with my feet up, and sun bouncing off the windows of the hotel across the street. Trying to decide which book I'll turn to after this, a historical novel set in Egypt in the 20's (a library score), or the Audible memoir of a woman who fell for a fake man. Wish I had more library books, but there is no lack of reading material here on my bursting bookshelves. And Audible is endless in terms of content.

I am quite happily living without TV, especially in current circumstances. CBC Radio One gives me pretty well all I need, without endless visuals of masks and hazmat suits to haunt me. Podcasts and online content fill in the rest. I'm actually not big into social media at the moment, but it's there if I need it. I've only recently been taking advantage of my Prime Video, maybe watching an hour or two most evenings, as distraction.

Then, there's silence.

Anyways... was curious as to whether other introverts feel the same. And if I was truly in isolation for weeks perhaps I'd feel differently, but I don't think so. Good thing, and I feel grateful that I am so well positioned to whether this storm.

It leaves me lots of room to learn about how others are coping without it overwhelming me.

And having this ah ha moment about how hard others are finding this is one such learning.