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'Endless Entertainment' May Actually Increase Boredom
Description
They say you can't have too much of a good thing — but according to a new study, maybe you can!
Researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada found that people are feeling more bored than in the past, even though there are endless types of entertainment available.
Could this endless entertainment actually be causing increased feelings of boredom?
Possibly, the researchers say.
In their study, published in Communications Psychology, Katy Tam and Michael Inzlicht looked at data from 2009 to 2020. They also looked at the relationship between digital media and reported feelings of boredom.
They found that people are reporting higher levels of boredom than ever before, with young people and college students feeling bored more often.
Many people reported feelings of boredom after engaging with digital media, leading Tam and Inzlicht to believe this type of entertainment is increasing feelings of boredom.
Digital media, they explain, is highly stimulating, which could cause people to be less interested in activities with lower stimulation, like reading a book.
And with technology offering so many distractions, people find it more difficult to focus on a single activity and take enjoyment from it, the researchers added.
For example, looking at your phone while watching television makes it difficult to focus on what you're watching on TV, which makes it more difficult to enjoy the show.
There's also so much information available online that people often engage with quick, unrelated pieces of media, instead of longer, more meaningful information, which can leave people feeling unsatisfied and bored.
Earlier research by Tam and Inzlicht supports this idea, after it showed that switching between short videos resulted in increased feelings of boredom.
The researchers said we may need to become more comfortable with feeling bored — since not everything in life is meant to be constantly interesting!
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