散文：為什么我們會(huì)如此無聊？

世界那么大，生活那么豐富，可是你是否仍然常常感到無聊呢?

It amazes me when people proclaim that they are bored. Actually, it amazes me that I am ever bored, or that any of us are. With so much to occupy us these days, boredom should be a relic of a bygone age – an age devoid of the internet, social media, multi-channel TV, 24-hour shopping, multiplex cinemas, game consoles, texting and whatever other myriad possibilities are available these days to entertain us.

當(dāng)有人和我說他們很無聊的時(shí)候，我感到很驚訝。事實(shí)上，我也為我自己亦或是任何一個(gè)人的無聊而詫異。我們有那么多事要做，無聊應(yīng)該是過去時(shí)代的遺跡了。過去的那個(gè)時(shí)代沒有網(wǎng)絡(luò)，沒有社交媒體，沒有多國(guó)電視頻道，沒有24小時(shí)購(gòu)物，沒有游戲機(jī)，沒有短信息，等等我們這個(gè)時(shí)代擁有的其他各種各樣的娛樂方式。

Yet despite the plethora of high-intensity entertainment constantly at our disposal, we are still bored. Up to half of us are “often bored” at home or at school, while more than two- thirds of us are chronically bored at work. We are bored by paperwork, by the commute and by dull meetings. TV is boring, as is Facebook and other social media. We spend our weekends at dull parties, watching tedious films or listening to our spouses drone on about their day. Our kids are bored – bored of school, of homework and even of school holidays.

然而即便可供挑選的娛樂方式如此豐富，我們?nèi)詴?huì)覺得無聊。在家或在校的人，有一半“經(jīng)常感到無聊”，而工作的人有三分之二長(zhǎng)期處于無聊中。我們?yōu)槲臅ぷ鞲械綗o聊，為每天的通勤感到無聊，為無趣的會(huì)議感到無聊。電視令人無聊，臉書和其他社交媒體同樣也無聊。我們的周末在無聊的派對(duì)中、 乏味的電影中、伴侶的啐啐念中消磨。孩子們也很無聊--厭煩學(xué)習(xí)、厭煩作業(yè)甚至厭煩放假。

There are a number of explanations for our ennui. This, in fact, is part of the problem – we are overstimulated. The more entertained we are the more entertainment we need in order to feel satisfied . The more we fill our world with fast-moving, high-intensity, ever-changing stimulation, the more we get used to that and the less tolerant we become of lower levels.

對(duì)于我們的無聊，存在著很多解釋。事實(shí)上，這是問題的一部分--我們對(duì)此高估了。我們愈高興，我們就愈需要更多的娛樂來滿足自己。我們愈用更多的快速移動(dòng)的、高強(qiáng)度的、不斷變化的刺激來填補(bǔ)我們的世界，我們就愈習(xí)慣如此，愈變得難以忍受低級(jí)的刺激。

Thus slower-paced activities, such as reading reports, sitting in meetings, attending lectures or studying for exams, bore us because we are accustomed to faster-paced amusements.

因此，那些相對(duì)慢節(jié)奏的活動(dòng)，如閱讀、開會(huì)、參加講座或是準(zhǔn)備考試，都會(huì)讓我們感到煩躁，因?yàn)槲覀円呀?jīng)習(xí)慣了快節(jié)奏的娛樂方式。

Our attention spans are now thought to be less than that of a goldfish (eight seconds). We are hard-wired to seek novelty, which produces a hit of dopamine, that feel-good chemical, in our brains. As soon as a new stimulus is noticed, however, it is no longer new, and after a while it bores us. To get that same pleasurable dopamine hit we seek fresh sources of distraction.

據(jù)認(rèn)為，如今我們注意力的持續(xù)時(shí)間甚至比不過一只金魚(金魚注意力持續(xù)時(shí)間為8秒)。我們總是尋求新鮮事物，這會(huì)產(chǎn)生一種多巴胺(人腦內(nèi)的一種化學(xué)物質(zhì)，讓人感到興奮快樂)。然而，只要一種新的刺激被發(fā)現(xiàn)，它就不再是新的，過了一段時(shí)間，它將令我們感到厭倦。為了獲得同樣令人愉快的多巴胺，我們就會(huì)尋求新的注意力分散來源。

Our increasing reliance on screentime is also to blame. Although we seem to live in a varied and exciting world with a wealth of entertainment at our fingertips, this is actually the problem. Many of these amusements are obtained in remarkably similar ways – via our fingers. We spend much of our work life now tapping away at our keyboard. We then look for stimulation (watching movies, reading books, catching the news, interacting with friends) via the internet or our phone, which means more tapping. On average we spend six to seven hours in front of our phone, tablet, computer and TV screens every day.

對(duì)"屏幕時(shí)間"的依賴也應(yīng)該為我們的無聊買單。雖然我們生活的世界不斷變化，充滿刺激，有著豐富的指尖娛樂方式，但是這恰恰就是問題所在。很多娛樂的獲得都是通過極其相似的方式--就是動(dòng)動(dòng)手指。我們工作生活的大部分時(shí)間都在鍵盤上流走。接著，借助互聯(lián)網(wǎng)或是手機(jī)，我們尋找刺激(看電影、看書、瀏覽新聞、與朋友聊天)，這意味著我們更多的時(shí)間都花在敲擊鍵盤上。平均每天，我們有6到7個(gè)小時(shí)都待在手機(jī)前、平板前、電腦前以及電視屏幕前。

All this is simply becoming boring. Instead of performing varied activities that engage different neural systems (sport, knitting, painting, cooking, etc) to relieve our tedium, we fall back on the same screen-tapping schema for much of our day. The irony is that while our mobile devices should allow us to fill every moment, our means of obtaining that entertainment has become so repetitive and routine that it’s a source of boredom in itself.

所有這些讓我們變得無聊。我們每天大部分時(shí)光都與鍵盤、屏幕為伍，不再參加其他各種各樣的活動(dòng)，這些活動(dòng)占用不同的中立系統(tǒng)(運(yùn)動(dòng)、編織、畫畫、烹飪等)來緩解我們的煩悶。諷刺的是，我們的移動(dòng)設(shè)備是為了讓我們每一刻都變得充實(shí)，然而我們獲得娛樂的方式變得如此單一，而它本身也成為了無聊的根源。

Does any of this matter? Research suggests that chronic boredom is responsible for a profusion of negative outcomes such as overeating, gambling, truancy, antisocial behaviour, drug use, accidents, risk taking and much more. We need less, not more, stimulation and novelty.

這些重要嗎?研究建議，長(zhǎng)期的無聊感將會(huì)造成很多不良后果，如反應(yīng)過激、賭博、曠課、反社會(huì)行為、吸毒、意外、冒險(xiǎn)等等。所以我們需要更少而非更多的刺激和新鮮事物。

It seems paradoxical, but feeling bored in the short term will make us less bored in the long term.

這似乎有些自相矛盾，但是短期的無聊會(huì)讓我們長(zhǎng)期沒那么無聊。