The subject of boredom is often studied in relation to the hazards of entertainment because they share an interesting, formerly inverse relationship. I say "formerly" because the erstwhile truism that entertainment counteracts boredom no longer holds true.

 

In fact, these days it is quite possible to be so entertained that you become bored. (And not the good kind, either.)

 

It is not lost on me that while attempting to alleviate boredom via an entertaining podcast I happened across one of the most cogent distillations of an argument I had been attempting to make for quite some time on the importance of forcing oneself to experience the good kind of boredom.

 

The following excerpted transcript is from the underrated politics & pop culture podcast Michael & Us. The topic of conversation was Jim Jarmusch's seminal 1984 observational dramedy Stranger Than Paradise. In setting up the premise of the film, co-host Luke Savage noted, somewhat romantically, that the old gray boredom, well, she ain't what she used to be.

 

(I'm going to quote generously from this excerpt, but I urge you to seek out the entire conversation in context.)

 

 

 

 

 

In his popular denunciation of popular culture Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman was mostly correct to warn that too much entertainment can degrade deep thought, but he failed to foresee a future in which amusement becomes a fate worse than death.

 

So what comes next? Perhaps we'll experience Postman's prediction in reverse. Perhaps instead of amusing ourselves to death we'll bore ourselves back to reading books. Back to meaningful tasks. Back to satisfaction. Perhaps we'll bore ourselves back to life.