Maybe Boredom was doing something for us?

What if our critical thinking and problem solving skills haven't diminished because we've lost the ability to think? What if we're simply spending less time in the conditions that require us to?

Yesterday I decided to go for a walk and see what happened.

Some of my best and most important thinking is done when I’m thinking about nothing at all. Stay with me...

Yesterday afternoon I decided to go for a walk.  I didn’t plan a route. I didn’t grab my AirPods. I didn’t bring anything to distract, entertain or otherwise engage my mind. My plan was just to walk.  I had no destination in mind and no timeframe for how long I would be away. I simply wanted to see where it would take me.

Perhaps saying I had no plan isn’t exactly accurate.  I did have a plan.  Boredom.  I wanted my mind to wander. I wanted to struggle a little to entertain myself.

A few years ago I read a book I simply couldn’t put down called The Brain by David Eagleman. It was a fascinating look at how the brain functions, changes and ultimately helps guide our everyday lives.  One idea from the book that stayed with me was how some of our most important thinking and problem solving happens in the background, during moments when we don’t even realize we’re doing it.  Those times when nothing specific is going on.  You aren’t listening to music or a podcast. You aren’t engaged in conversation. You aren't looking something up. Your mind just meanders, with nowhere in particular to go as if on autopilot.

I became fascinated by the idea that some very important thinking might happen precisely when we aren't deliberately trying to think.  Not long after reading the book, I started taking notice of people I encountered each day, on planes, in airports, on walking trails.  I would look to see who was simply alone with their thoughts.  Who wasn’t wearing headphones?  Who wasn’t staring at a phone?  Who wasn’t reading or watching something?  Over the last 10 or 15 years, they have become increasingly difficult to spot.

I’ll never forget my first overseas trip.  When flying from North America to Europe, the flight was overnight, so it was relatively easy to manage. You slept.  The return was a different story.  It was an Air Canada Boeing 747 from Paris to Toronto. Eight hours all daytime hours.  At the time there was no personal seatback entertainment system. We weren’t yet at the point where everyone carried a phone in their pocket. Cell phones were mostly those big bag phones that stayed in your car.  I didn’t have a book.  I didn’t have that ancient device we used to call a Walkman. (If you don’t know what that is, ask someone who was alive in the '80s.).

I remember taking my seat and wondering: What am I going to do for eight hours? I don't have that problem today. I can watch almost anything I want on the screen in front of me. I can connect to inflight Wi-Fi. I have my own mobile entertainment system sitting in my pocket. I can listen to virtually any song I can think of within seconds.  We have become extraordinarily good at eliminating boredom.  It leaves me wondering if we've ever really considered the trade-off.

In the '80s, information didn't travel the way it does today. If someone asked us the capital of Nigeria and we didn't know, there wasn't an immediate way to find out.  Maybe there was an encyclopedia somewhere in the house. Maybe we'd remember to look it up later. Maybe we wouldn't.  We had to be comfortable with not knowing because there wasn't another option.

Today?  Give me ten seconds.  Abuja.

Information is everywhere. Entertainment is everywhere. Stimulation is everywhere, and that's an incredible thing.

I'm beginning to wonder whether something was lost in the exchange.  One of the concerns we increasingly hear today is that our critical thinking skills are diminishing. What if our critical thinking skills haven't diminished because we've lost the ability to think? What if we're simply spending less time in the conditions required for it to happen?  I don't know whether that's true, or whether technology and constant stimulation have anything to do with it.

Google it. What does ChatGPT say? I'm going for a run. Where are my AirPods?

So yesterday I went for a walk.  No AirPods. No destination. No entertainment. Nothing to occupy my mind.  Just walking. Something interesting happened.  I didn't feel bored at all.  I couldn't possibly tell you the thousands of thoughts that went through my head. Most disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived, but when I got home, I knew exactly what I wanted my next post to be about.

Thought provoking? I don't know. Perhaps only to me.  I can't remember anyone worrying about the loss of critical thinking in the '80s or '90s.  Maybe boredom wasn't something we needed to solve.  Maybe every once in a while, it was doing something for us.  Something worth thinking about.