The value of boredom | Genevieve Bell | TEDxSydney

Recently named one of the top 50 most creative people in Business (Fast Company), Genevieve Bell is an Intel Fellow and director of the Interaction and Experience Research Group within the Intel Labs.
Bell joined Intel in 1998 and has come to lead an R&D team of social scientists, interaction designers and human factors engineers to drive human-centric product innovation in Intel's consumer electronics business. Prior to joining Intel, Bell was a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Stanford University.
She has written more than 30 journal articles and book chapters on a range of subjects focused on the intersection of technology and society. Her book, Divining a Digital Future, co-authored with Professor Paul Dourish, will be released by MIT Press in 2011.
tedxsydney.com/site/newSpeaker...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneviev...
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TEDxSydney 2011 took place on Saturday 28 May 2011 at CarriageWorks. Tens of thousands of people enjoyed the day: 800 in the theatre, over 1,000 via big screen simulcast in The Forum, up to 48,000 online via KZbin ... and up to 80,000 tuning in to ABC Radio National. It was a grand day. About TEDx, x = independently organised event In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organised events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organised TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organised.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@alecelder]

I agree "boredom led me to watch this" and "this is boring". When we are bored we try to find something to engage ourselves in because being bored is "boring". I also agree that the various ways we attempt to alleviate our boredom are sometimes "boring". This is because we are cognitive misers. We make mental shortcuts that sometimes become a way of habit. and when our brains receive the same stimulation over and over again that stimulation becomes in a way indistinguishable.

[@celinavillanueva2815]

Did anybody else end here because you were terrible bored? I just tried to stop being bored by watching a video about boredom haha

[@smithjames2077]

Actually speaking, I really don't know why i become terrible bored abruptly…I feel so bad

[@user-os1gj6ss1g]

I was here in 2.18.2024 - This Ted Talk was 12 years ago today...everything she is saying is true 1millionX Fold...

[@flamingxombie]

Fascinating video.

[@PipatMethavanitpong]

Good revisit of the definition of "boredom" I still does not have clear understand the value of boredom from this talk. My PoV about the value of it is that it leads to some activities whether they are useful or not. Industries use it as a path to profit by giving something needs attention. And, one activity that snatch most of boredom in this age is SNS.

[@brentenireland]

I was told that boredom is wanting to do something but being unable to, being frustrated, rather than simply idleness, having said that I stop this talk 4 times to do other things as well.

[@TheAfrothunderr]

Boredom creates insanity, addiction and depression

[@TheAfrothunderr]

​@Pabriel Gomez what do u do when u are bored

[@TheAfrothunderr]

@Pabriel Gomezboredom creates anxiety in me how can I possibly meditate with so much in my thoughts? ive read some verses. my fav James 4:4

[@rejeanfafard9317]

I’m there

[@AnAnLaoshi100]

what a great thinking!

[@jagizzi]

I disagree with the latest comments on this; most NOT boring! It took a lot to listen to this with very little visual stimulation. Almost so difficult that it was hard to keep my mind from wandering, but that was definitely not boring. I found myself going back and listening again to pieces I missed. She makes sense, if we fill our time with content, we never make personal discoveries, we only relive those of others. Only my opinion, but in some way I would look at that as a loss.

[@rickofvernon]

RickofVernon - 20140823 I very often suffer from crippling anxiety guilt fear, panic, anger and a episode like this, the way she explains boredom / idleness and we should not fear boredom............... I Love this talk

[@RajaramR]

Thank you for the insightful talk. Now i am logging off and be bored :)

[@competitivejourney4853]

Awesome ❤️

[@xqueseraserax]

@meloearth I at least partially agree with you here. Boredom to me denotes a lack of mental stimulation, lack of engagement with the world around us, or lack of feeling. Just because I am not constantly connected to my peers through my phone or laptop doesn't mean I am embracing boredom. People need to fuel their boredom or "I have nothing to do" into something that allows them to engage positively with the outside world around them. Take a walk and allow you thoughts, stress, etc to decompress.

[@archibaldmcglasson7111]

So she said the brain is almost as active bored as it is engauged. It is also active in different parts. Other than that, did she make much of a case for boredom? I seemed to have missed it. I do not advocate overload, but what is great about being bored?

[@DjCosmicRush]

it wasnt mentioned (or at least from the half i watched) but boredom leads to creativity. Perhaps sleep is just an effect of being so overly bored that we start to hallucinate, similar to isolation tanks. The sleep phases could possibly be explained by build of dopamine that eventually causes working memory to turn back on and organize dreams into a sequence. then we could also look at adhd as a disorder being similar to early phases of sleep but then schizophrenia could be deeper sleep like REM.

[@kushsharma3798]

That's true. She doesn't really put forth a convincing argument for boredom. It's more of a how to. In my opinion, boredom is important because it teaches us the futility of our ambitious nature. And allows to move towards something that is more natural to us. Probably a way of living which we might not have thought about had we not switched ourselves off from the continual distractions. A more conscious person would get bored more often because he or she would be more aware of repetition. And this would force such a person to rethink their way of living in such a way that is more joyous.

[@igrewold]

Interesting idea, boredom resets the mind.

[@meloearth]

I think that being bored is only lack of imagination. The way around boredom is not just online. One needs to figure that out for themselves. I see no need to "feel bored".

[@kartikrawat2029]

Boredom is a subjective reaction indicating the person to something abt his future ..def:boredom :- it is a desire for desires

[@Charles-Anthony]

There's no reason to ever be bored: There are always good books to read.

[@meloearth]

@xqueseraserax A lack of engagement with out own selves also. I meant that we are not only social beings. Much joy, clarity and meaning in life can be achieved by going "inside".

[@treasurecompanion]

Boredom isn't good for you causes anxiety restlessness and even depression. Not good for the brain could it lead to dementia?, I think old people in nursing homes can desperately bored and the brain gives up on them. Try and never be bored is what I say. Healthier.

[@user-gw1bh8sm2t]

Boredom is interesting and got fame with the industrial century .. you are good woman

[@megavide0]

"... have a brief moment of being bored!" ;)

[@xqueseraserax]

When I speak of 'positive engagement', I mean interacting within oneself and the world. Engagement denotes experiencing thoughts, feelings, etc. and taking time to mull over them and incorporating what we are doing or thinking into our lives.

[@BuickGeek24]

That seems a bit overkill to have a signal jammer anywhere

[@00076Paint]

Turning off notifications helps.

[@gulllars4620]

Could please whoever uploads these run a quick volume leveling pass so the beginning/end of talks don't make people wearing headphones (like me) cringe and reach for the volume control? Thanks.

[@charliechen1]

Why am I watching this when I am bored?

[@XiDingArt]

can't put it better

[@RubiconXing]

Schopenhauer covered this over a century ago, and with greater depth.

[@KoolPaulie]

Want to bring a good kind of boredom back? Read Proust.

[@FoilGuru]

boredom led me to watch this

[@fritzkrieger3316]

i think my head is gunna explode

[@elsapadrons]

Am I the only one who thinks she is not really saying anything?

[@Huu159]

I think so too

[@treasurecompanion]

Elsa Padrón Serrano I thought the same .

[@igrewold]

Remember all the times in your life you were bored, how did it help/affect you? Did it make you concentrate better? work better? study better? find new activity? do something new? take a walk? ....etc.

[@MANIAKRA]

Yeah I got nothing out of that.

[@edufur]

She is actually highly intelligent and sees things that engineers miss. She is more connected and in tune with the real world than most I have ever met. Because of this, I think she would be a highly successful CEO at Intel. The company desperately needs her at the helm. Lets hope that it happens.

[@Khaled_Fadl]

I feel like the video speed is put on 1.25

[@XiDingArt]

she doesn't need to tell us to get bored. her talk is so profoundly boring! no evidence, no original ideas, but only some anecdotes and some questionable metaphysical theory (if not half a theory).

[@doubleRprodutions]

Ironically her voice is pretty monotonous, very few highs and lows; very difficult not to get bored whilst watching her. Interesting subject matter though :-)

[@rayg5604]

This is a word salad.

[@debbiewasshername]

sounds like a typical attack on apple

[@flamingxombie]

Hmm how is it a good thing to be bored?

[@neo5kali]

She advocates regular fasting from social media as a way to reboot creativity and generate new ideas.

[@goosetyc145]

this is boring

[@rverma222]

utterly boring!

[@joellesahar]

I usually almost never critique anyone, but she is very very wrong on so many levels. I'm a person that's never been bored and never will be bored. She obviously doesn't anything about what boredom really is.... Boredom is a state of mind where one is not able to create anything to do, even when you're in a class where you're not able to focus because the teacher is not doing it for you, you could still do something, you have the power to daydream , the power to create, you could create a whole movie, vision, idea in your head while the teacher is talking, you could do the same if you're at a tedious job. The state of boredom falls into the category of people who have not been taught to use their right brain enough, they don't know how to use is to go beyond what is around them. The only way to fight boredom is tap into the right brain and use that part to be able creative, be or do anything in any situation or circumstance. Now what the lady above is talking about is NOT boredom, she's saying it's good to relax the brain and turn off from the world, so the brain could get recharged. That is not boredom, that is actively CHOOSING to turn off and doing completely nothing, that is something that someone could do and that is choice, so ultimately that's not boredom, it's a choice to unwind, detach, or do nothing. I choose to do nothing sometimes, which means just actively doing nothing and being completely aware that I AM relaxing, turning off, unwinding. Boredom is NOT a good thing.. even if I was in Jail, I wouldn't be bored. There's too much to do in this life, and not enough time to do it, too much to create, and because creativity is limitless, how is it possible to be bored? I wish there was 48 hours in the day!! If you get bored, go take a class or course on how to tap into your right brain... then sky will be the limit, and boredom will no longer exist.

As a neuropsychologist I can tell you that what she says makes perfect sense, listen the part where she says that the brain switches on different parts of the brain when you are "doing nothing". That is exactly correct. When one is not focusing on anything the mind goes to a diffuse mode and starts making connection with what we already know, subconsciously we are working. That's what she meant. That's the point of meditation. Just practice it, when you are running, when you shower, when you're about to sleep, when you are bored, your mind starts wondering. As an anthropologist, every act, is a symbol, even being bored, remembered when she says "boredom" did not come to language until 1800's, that means that boredom didn't exist before, is a social constructed thing. Society says, that we are bored, and so we are; if society didn't say anythig then we wouldn't be bored, we would be wondering, thinkig, creating.

[@Alen_Starkly]

Thank you for this comment! :D

[@kartikrawat2029]

joellesahar there's no such thing as a right brain

[@diwr]

+Vinik Juré "that means that boredom didn't exist before, is a social constructed thing. Society says, that we are bored, and so we are; if society didn't say anythig then we wouldn't be bored, we would be wondering, thinkig, creating." Haven't you got the cause and effect back to front there? The word "boredom" (or "bored") by the very nature of language must be referring at least indirectly to some perceived phenomenon to have been invented in the first place (that's what meaning is after all) so it seems that society is only describing what was there already. Else how would you explain causally how the word(s) came to be in the first place. "Socially constructed" is a phrase thrown around without further explanation. Of course the causal chain doesn't end there so what's the explanation? The cart before the horse...