Blogpost #2: Psychology :O

We have all experienced boredom.  Sitting in a class where the teacher is droning on about a topic you don’t care about, you may find yourself daydreaming or staring at a clock that doesn't seem to be moving.  Waiting for a delayed flight to take off at the airport, you may search in vain for something to distract you. Well, I myself experience this daily especially when I'm not interested to the topic, I tend to daydream thinking of games and future happenings.

I read this nice article which it explained what is boredom in psychological terms, the article is written by Art Markman with the title "The key factors underlying boredom." "Boredom often occurs when you have little control over your situation.  Waiting rooms, lectures, and airline gates are all places where you have little control over your situation.  Normally, we react to unpleasant situations by changing the situation."

Boredom often occurs when you have little control over your situation.  Waiting rooms, lectures, and airline gates are all places where you have little control over your situation.  Normally, we react to unpleasant situations by changing the situation.  If you don’t like a book you are reading, for example, you close it and do something else.  Boredom happens when you are unable to change the situation.  

Boredom is unpleasant and physically painful.  It can make you angry and frustrated.  Boredom can also influence your actions in negative ways. Bored people are prone to overeat, for example. 

Boredom typically occurs when people have trouble focusing their attention and they believe the reason for this difficulty is in the environment.  When sitting in the airport, for example, there is probably a lot going on.  There are people having conversations that you could listen to.  You probably have something to read.  There may be televisions showing the news.  But, the stress of waiting for a delayed flight often makes it hard to concentrate, and so your mind jumps from one thing to another.  You assume that this is caused by the environment, and so you feel boredom.

What can you do about boredom? Obviously, there are times when you are stuck. If you are listening to a lecture that you cannot leave, then you just need to find a way to get through it. When you have some control, though, use your understanding of boredom to help you out.

 If you can, try to do a meditation exercise to lower your arousal level. If you can lower your arousal, it will help you to feel less bored. Also, keep some music handy. Music you enjoy can crowd out distractions in the environment. It can also influence your mood in positive ways to counteract the pain of being bored.

In this article, I learned more about boredom and what are the things happen to you while you're experiencing boredom but when I read that boredom can affect us in negative ways that shocked me because based on my experience boredom is hurtful