Morning:
5°c
Ennui has been decreed this year's fashionable affliction.
“I'm bored” was once a phrase regularly uttered only by children. Now, the two-word whinge has become the chief complaint of the most self-indulgent of their elders, distressed to discover that their days are not packed with endless entertainment.
At a party recently, a couple in their thirties — home-owners, two sprogs, successful at work — confessed they found their lives “chronically dull”. Then I overheard a 19-year-old student grouchily moaning he had “nothing to do” until university restarted.
This attitude has become so common that one magazine has declared tedium the new “modern malaise”.
Surely though — what with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the economy and the discovery that James Blunt is still singing (to our poor troops, no less) — there are bigger blights on summer 2010 than boredom?
After all, being bored means being blessed. Whether it manifests itself in longing for an escape from the nine-to-five drudge, in leaving one party for another or in spending a day doing nothing other than playing on your PlayStation in your undies, this largely Western worry suggests that your days are not spent under a hail of bullets or enduring the true tedium of having to walk for an hour to get water.
It is a bit like the upper classes moaning about damp in their castles; that you are even able to complain suggests you are a member of the jammy club. If people still had to risk losing a limb down the mine, being jaded wouldn't be a primary concern.
The boredom outbreak has been blamed on lifestyle envy. Now, I have watched the most horrendous show on TV — My Super Sweet Sixteen: UK — and seen double-barrelled, miraculously acne-free teenagers being invited to far better parties than I ever will. And I know these same spoilt pubescents will spend their whole summer lying on a yacht, while the rest of us count ourselves lucky if we spend just seven days in the sun.
But the long periods of torpor they skip really can be both character- and imagination-forming. Growing up, my siblings and I spent most of our holidays conjuring up novel ways to amuse ourselves — without Sky Plus or an assault of organised activities. The skill of combating boredom and the ability to take satisfaction from smaller pleasures are being lost to society.
I wonder if this widespread listlessness isn't one cause of the tepid reception to David Cameron's “Big Society”. If that is to be more than just an idealistic dream, the PM will need a nation of keen bean citizens.
How can Bored of Barnet — with their short attention span — be persuaded that volunteering is more fun than party-hopping? Or that they should have more obligations when they already have to “put up” with so many at work and at home?
Maybe the way to convince them to sacrifice some PlayStation pant time is to show that their own emotion is felt more acutely by others. According to Help the Aged, nearly half a million pensioners only leave their homes once a week and another 300,000 are housebound completely. If anyone has real cause for world-weariness, it is they.
The bored could even discover they enjoy visiting the elderly. At the very least, they may find their new friend offers that ancient wisdom on their affliction: “Only boring people stay bored for long.”
Reader views (3)
Every generation of School leavers and University Graduates go through difficult times. The current generations are no different. One problem is that some folks are so materialistic, that they expect 'Everything Now'. The "Me, I Want It Now" generation.
If those generations of First World War school leavers had sunk into their "Pity Pots", wailing and bleating to indulge in the "Poor Mees", then what would have happened. Then those coming home after the First World war to a so-called 'Land Fit for Heroes' only to be thrown out of work by the Great Depression some years later. The same for those who endured the Second World War.
People expect far too much out of society, education, the government etc. What some would call the "Instant Coffee" society of "Easy Come, Easy Go!"
There are those where I live who think that anyone working voluntarily for no pay, or who volunteer their spare time to charity work etc., are mad!!
A sad reflection on some in UK society in the 21st century possibly?
- Mr Unclevanya, East Anglia Area England UK, 17/08/2010 15:28
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I seldom agree with the general drift of your articles, but this one is spot on in my less than humble opinion.
- Rogan, Irving, 16/08/2010 19:11
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How about fair pay instead of all the jobs that offer miserly wages of under £10 an hour
- John Smith, London, 16/08/2010 14:43
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