12 Riveting Studies About Boredom — Why (Almost) Everything We Do To Escape Is Wrong (P)

Boredom is an emotional state that involves a lack of stimulation, any activity to do or any interest in the environment.

Some estimates suggest up to 50 percent of us often feel bored -- for teenagers that is definitely an underestimate.

And boredom is not to be taken lightly: there’s evidence that those who are bored are more likely to die earlier than others (Britton & Shipley, 2010).

Also, bored airline pilots make more mistakes as do bored nuclear military personnel.

So, you really can be bored to death.

French philosopher Albert Camus said (in The Plague):

“The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.”

The psychological research below explores a few common boring activities, the strange effects it has on our minds and some of the dysfunctional ways we try and cope with it.