CO
Since then, we've been spending
a lot more time at home to slow the spread of the virus.
Not going to lie. In the early days, it was pretty fun
making coffee every day, staying in my PJs,
rearranging my room like ten times.
But to be honest, 365 days later, I'm low key
really over it. And it seems like other kids are too.
Kids are definitely bored
approaching another pandemic spring break.
It's like what are we going to do with all this time off?
I feel like I've done everything
there is possible to do in my house.
But what really is boredom? Where does it come from?
Also, how can we train our brains to not be bored?
Maybe the answers to all of these questions
can help us push through another pandemic spring break.
Lydia Muyingo is a Ph.D. student
in Clinical Psychology at Dalhousie University.
She specializes in working with kids and teens
on a variety of mental health issues.
So I got to talking with her about boredom
and what effect it has on kids today.
So if we're looking at the actual definition of boredom,
it's the state of being weary or tired
and restless through a lack of interest.
Basically, what it's not is
it's not meaning that you have nothing to do.
It's about not feeling stimulated or meaning like,
energized or it's like you're not feeling really motivated.
Everyone has felt bored at some point in their life.
It's really common. In terms of personality,
there are some people who are just more prone to be bored.
People who need more excitement.
They can't really stay focused on one thing at a time,
that they need new things all the time.
And another thing would be people with negative attitudes
tend to be bored more often.
So they might think more negatively about
what's going on in their lives or just about themselves.
How come when we're bored we feel sorry for ourselves,
but when other people are bored, we tell them,
oh, just go do this, go do that?
Well, I think one part of it,
which I'm sure we'll touch on a bit later,
is sometimes we say we're bored,
but we don't actually mean we're bored.
We might actually mean we're feeling sad,
we're feeling lonely, we're feeling angry.
I think one of the reasons why it's easy for us
to tell other people is because we think
that they actually just want something to do.
But maybe what they're actually saying is
I feel lonely and what they actually want would be
someone to talk to.
What are some causes of boredom?
Definitely, especially in COVID, one of them is repetition.
When you're doing the exact same thing every day
in the exact same way.
Maybe you're doing your school work online
and you're sitting in the same spot every single day
and it's the same time every day.
So a way that would kind of fight that boredom would be
well, how about you change locations?
How about you wear something different?
So it's like even though you're doing the same thing,
maybe there's different ways that you could do it.
Another thing that can cause boredom,
it's kind of the opposite where
you're doing too many things at once,
especially with technology.
It's possible that you could be on the phone,
watching TV, and playing video games all at the same time.
And if you're doing all those things with your brain,
it's really stimulating.
And then when you go to your room, it's like
all those things are gone
and you get used to doing so many things all the time.
So one way to kind of fight boredom is to kind of
focus in on doing one thing at a time and doing that really well
instead of always trying to do so many things at once.
Do you think social media is helping boredom
or do you think it's making it worse?
Like, for example, I know for me, I can sit there
and just mindlessly scroll through
TikTok
even though I'm doing something and I'm watching something
or engaged, I still feel bored.
Unfortunately, I do believe that in some ways technology is
making it easier for us to be bored
because we're always getting new content.
It's like we need to be stimulated all the time.
And then we kind of think that because it's like that online
that our real life should be like that as well.
But on the other side, for some people
TikTok
are ways that they show their creativity.
It helps them when they're bored.
Like creating content can be really helpful for that.
So what are the actual, like,
psychological effects of boredom in kids?
Sometimes parents feel the need to
always make their kids busy,
so they might always be in like sports and activities and like
extracurriculars and stuff. And when they're bored,
it can sometimes actually be a good thing
because it gives their brain rest.
It gives us a period to just calm down and space to breathe
and a chance to take a break.
Boredom could be a time to be creative.
That's when kids can think of new games to play.
So while being bored can
sometimes feel really unpleasant,
it can actually provide our brain some space
to be creative and problem solve.
What are some ways that kids can combat boredom?
There's a psychological technique called mindfulness.
It's all about being present in the moment,
because it's really easy to think about,
oh, I wish I was doing this,
or if only I can do this in the future.
Mindfulness is about, what am I feeling right now?
How does the chair feel that I'm sitting on?
Kind of looking around the room and noticing things
that you might not normally notice because
we're always on the move.
Being really present and focusing on what's happening
right now and remembering that it's not going to last forever.
It's OK to feel bored, especially right now.
Making sure that we're not, you know,
getting down on ourselves for that or feeling ashamed of that.
When I'm bored I write down things I want to do
when COVID is over. So when I have a thought, it's like
oh, I wish I could just go to the movies right now.
OK, well, let's write that down and put it in our jar
and it's showing us that this feeling is not going to
last forever, that this COVID is not going to last forever.
Lydia had a lot of great tips and info
and it's got me thinking about how I can use this information
to get through my spring break.
So sit back, relax, and stay tuned
for part two of my boredom 101 series.
For