Boredom

This isn't a post about how bored I am, this a post about why we get bored. So, why do people get bored? Most of you will think that its only because we have nothing to do. Then again, we have computers, games, books, friends and knowledge to gain just by at our surroundings, but we still get bored. Why?

From what I have gathered, it's because we strive for new knowledge, basically. For example, people get bored of old jokes, movies they've seen or books they've already read because they know what's going to happen. They know how the joke or story will be presented and this makes the person uninterested. I feel that was obvious enough. Yet, why do we feel bored in classrooms when people are telling us new information almost every hour?

This is because we don't feel the need to learn the knowledge for immediate usage. We know we need to learn the knowledge eventually, but we don't need it at the moment so we find the information boring. It goes deeper than that though. Boredom has played a huge role in our evolution and advancement as a whole. Without boredom, we would probably be years, if not decades, behind in technological advancement than we are now.

Boredom, as stated, means the mind desires new knowledge. When somebody is bored, it means he has run out of things to learn and has wants to gain more. There are people out there who would turn this boredom into a chance to learn something new. People like this are the reason we have things like working wheels. So, when you get bored again, remember that your boredom has helped your ancestors lived better lives in the past.