THE VALUE OF BOREDOM

Abstract

Boredom is a modern incurable symptom from which people can only temporarily escape.  It is the state when we cannot identify ourselves with others and cannot define our own actions. Through the lens of cultural analyses, pre-modern experiences such as repetition can cause relaxing boredom because people normally identify themselves and communities through narratives, story-telling, and children’s recreation.  However, due to the arrival of modernity together with city expansion, boredom caused by repetitive experiences does not really lead to any relaxation. In contrast, it makes people feel unbearably bored. The aim of this article is to reveal that boredom has a creative value. The way we deal with boredom is a return to narratives in order to weave our identities which intersect with the narratives of others. This provides the meaning to time which reboots the meaning of the existential project. In other words, the future dominates the present actions rather than waiting aimlessly and letting time go by. In this way, boredom as a negative mood has transformed itself into the condition of hope for a better life.