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5:49
Transcript
0:00
ARTHUR BROOKS: You
need to be bored.
0:01
You will have less
meaning and you
0:03
will be more depressed
if you never are bored.
0:05
I mean, it couldn't be clearer.
0:10
Let me give you the good
side of boredom in general.
0:14
Boredom is a tendency
for us to not be occupied
0:18
otherwise cognitively, which
switches over our thinking
0:22
system to use a
part of our brain
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0:24
that's called the
default mode network.
0:27
That sounds fancy.
0:27
It's really not.
0:28
The default mode
network is a bunch
0:30
of structures in your
brain that switch
0:32
on when you don't have
anything else to think about.
0:35
So you forgot your
phone and you're sitting
0:37
at a light, for example.
0:39
That's when your default
mode network goes on.
0:42
We don't like it.
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0:43
My colleague in the
psychology department
0:45
here at Harvard, Dan
Gilbert, he did experiments
0:48
where people had to
sit in a room for 15
0:50
minutes with instructions
to do absolutely nothing,
0:53
and there was nothing
in the room to do,
0:55
except there was a
button in front of them
0:57
that they could push.
0:58
And if they did,
they gave themselves
1:00
a painful electric shock.
1:02
Sit there bored, or get a shock.
1:04
A big majority of
the participants
1:05
gave themselves shocks instead
of thinking about nothing.
1:08
We don't like boredom.
1:09
Boredom is boredom is terrible.
1:11
Why is boredom so bad?
1:12
Well, because the default
mode network makes
1:15
us think about things that
might be kind of uncomfortable.
1:18
When you think about nothing
while your mind wanders
1:20
and thinks about, for example,
big questions of meaning
1:23
in your life.
1:24
What does my life mean?
1:25
You go to uncomfortable
existential questions
1:28
when you're bored.
1:29
That turns out to be incredibly
important, incredibly good.
1:32
One of the reasons we have
such an explosion of depression
1:35
and anxiety in our society
today is because people actually
1:38
don't know the meaning
of their lives,
1:40
much less so in
previous generations.
1:42
Tons of data show this,
and furthermore, we're
1:45
not even looking.
1:46
Why not?
1:48
I'll tell you why not.
1:49
We figured out a way
to eliminate boredom.
1:52
We've been able,
almost completely,
1:56
to shut off the default
mode network in our brains.
1:59
How?
2:00
The answer is that thing in
your pocket with the screen,
2:03
which you take out even when
you're standing on the street
2:06
corner waiting for
the light to change,
2:07
is like, I might have to
wait here for 15 seconds.
2:12
What are you doing?
2:12
You're actually trying to not be
bored because the default mode
2:15
network is mildly uncomfortable,
because it sends you
2:18
to the types of questions that
you can't get your mind around.
2:20
You can't get your arms around.
2:22
Well, that's a big problem.
2:23
That's a doom loop of meaning.
2:26
If every time you're slightly
bored pull out your phone,
2:29
it's going to get harder and
harder for you to find meaning,
2:32
and that's the recipe for
depression and anxiety
2:36
and a sense of hollowness,
which, by the way,
2:39
are all through the roof.
2:42
I get it.
2:43
You don't want to be bored.
2:44
You need to be bored.
2:46
Be bored more.
2:47
Tomorrow, when you go to
the gym in the morning
2:49
after you wake up,
don't take your phone.
2:52
Can you handle it?
2:53
Not listening to a podcast
while you're working out.
2:56
Just being in your head.
2:57
I promise you, you'll have
your most interesting ideas
3:00
while you're working
out without devices.
3:02
It's probably been a long
time since you've done that.
3:04
Commute with nothing,
not even the radio.
3:07
Can you do that?
3:08
Start getting better
at periods that
3:10
are 15 minutes and
longer of boredom,
3:13
and watch your life change.
3:16
Number one, you'll be less
bored with ordinary things
3:18
in your life.
3:19
If you get better at
the skill of boredom,
3:21
you'll be less
bored with your job.
3:22
You'll be less bored
with your relationships.
3:24
You'll be less bored
with the things that
3:25
are going on around you.
3:27
But more importantly,
you'll start digging
3:29
into the biggest questions in
your life, purpose, meaning,
3:33
coherence, significance.
3:36
And who knows?
3:38
You might just get happier.
3:40
People ask me all the
time, is the doctor
3:42
taking his own prescriptions?
3:44
And the answer is, yes.
3:45
Yes, I am.
3:46
I'm prone to the same
pathologies as anybody else
3:49
because I have the same brain
chemistry as everybody else.
3:51
So what do I do to fight that?
3:52
And the answer is, well,
I do a number of things.
3:54
I have a no device policy
after 7:00 in the afternoon.
3:59
I don't sleep with my phone.
4:01
We don't have devices when
we have meals in my family.
4:06
Because we're there
for each other.
4:07
We're not there for
people who aren't there.
4:10
Three, I have
regular social media
4:12
and screen cleanses where
I don't use my device
4:16
for longer periods of time.
4:18
First, it's like children
screaming in my head
4:22
because that's how dopamine
is saying, get the phone,
4:25
get the phone.
4:26
That's addiction.
4:27
But it calms down
and I feel better.
4:30
And I feel sort of
blessed by the end.
4:33
And I pick the
phone up by the end
4:35
because I have to
check my emails.
4:36
And I have to be a normal,
functioning, connected person
4:39
in the world.
4:40
But it does remind me that my
life doesn't have to revolve
4:43
around these devices.
4:44
These protocols are
really, really helpful
4:46
and I recommend them to
anybody and everybody.
4:49
Don't sleep with your phone.
4:50
No phones during meals.
4:52
Regular social media fasts.
4:54
You'll get better.
4:56
People worry that if
they do these things,
4:58
they're going to miss something.
4:59
There are ways that
you can remedy that.
5:01
One of the things
that you can do
5:02
is you can have your phone on.
5:03
You're just not looking
at it, and there's
5:05
only one or two numbers
that can reach you
5:07
in case of emergencies.
5:09
Phones can do that by the way.
5:10
If you don't have to
do that, ask your kid.
5:13
But don't use emergencies
in as an excuse.
5:15
Here's something that's
not an emergency.
5:18
What's going on Twitter.
5:19
That's not an emergency
answer nothing.
5:23
It doesn't matter.
5:24
The news can wait.
5:25
Seriously your
grandparents didn't
5:27
what was going on every single
second in Washington, DC.
5:30
You're killing yourself
with this stuff.
5:33
Are you kidding me?
5:34
It's bad for you.
5:35
So let me say it
straight to my kids.
5:38
Put down your phones.
5:41
You need more
meaning in your life.
5:43
And so do I.
— end of transcript —
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