Why You Shouldn’t Trust Boredom | Kevin H. Gary | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: 麗玲 辛

I will always remember my son's first day of school.

我永遠忘不了我兒子上學的第一天。

Lucas was five years old

盧卡斯那時五歲，

and he was going to kindergarten,

他去上幼稚園，

and he was so excited.

他好興奮。

He was going to take the bus. and we were excited for him.

他要去搭巴士，我們為他感到興奮。

And I’ll never forget that day when I came home,

我永遠忘不了那天我回家時， 我急著問他情形：「怎麼樣？」

I was eager to check in with him to hear, "How did it go?"

And Lucas's response was,

盧卡斯的回應是：

"Dad, I'm tired of hearing about hallway procedures."

「爸，我不想再聽 走廊守則了，很煩。」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I found his response both amusing and sad.

我覺得他的回應既有趣又悲傷。

Amusing because I thought, oh my gosh,

很有趣是因為我想，天啊，

you have a lifetime of hallway procedures you're going to have to work through.

你還有一輩子的走廊守則在等著你呢。

And also amusing because it captured so well

很有趣的另一個原因 是因為它精準捕捉到

how schools and institutions can just grind us down

學校和機構如何用它們的官僚規則

with their bureaucratic rules and monotonous procedures.

和單調守則來折磨我們。

But I found it sad because this was his first day of school,

但是我覺得很難過是因為 這是他上學的第一天，

and his takeaway on that very first day, was that school is boring.

而他在第一天最大的收穫

就是學校很無聊。

This is a boring place.

學校是無聊的地方。

However, he's going to have to learn to deal with boredom.

然而，他得學會處理那種無聊。

It's something we all learn to deal with.

我們所有人都要學會處理無聊 。

Boredom is a common and familiar problem.

無聊是一種常見且普遍的問題。

And I think at first it can seem like a trivial problem.

我認為，起初它看似 是微不足道的問題。

If you're bored, just find something interesting,

如果你感到無聊，就去找到 有趣的事，去做下件事就好了。

move on to the next thing.

But actually, I’m going to argue that it’s far more complex.

但我要主張這個問題其實更加複雜，

And that it needs our attention.

而且需要我們的關注。

And I'm going to offer three takeaways for how to contend with boredom well.

至於要如何好好對付無聊， 我會提供三招給大家帶回去使用。

In schools, boredom is a big problem.

在學校，無聊是個很大的問題。

An overwhelming majority of high school students

絕大多數的高中生

report being bored in school.

陳述自己在學校會感到無聊。

這是個問題，因為 當學生在學校感到無聊，

And this is a problem because when students are bored in school,

他們會開始失去興趣， 他們會無法專注。

they begin to lose interest, they can't focus.

And when students are bored in school, they start to misbehave.

當學生在學校感到無聊， 就會開始有不當行為。

I was a high school teacher, and if my students were bored,

我以前是高中老師，

如果我的學生感到無聊，

I was petrified because I was going to have problems.

我會很驚恐，因為我接下來 就會有麻煩，會是場災難。

This was going to be a disaster.

And if students are chronically bored year after year,

如果學生一年又一年都感到無聊，

eventually they just drop out and peel away from school altogether.

最終他們只會退學，完全離開學校。

But boredom is not just a problem in schools.

但無聊不僅是在學校裡的問題， 出了學校它還跟著我們。

It's a problem that tracks us beyond schools.

There are several troubling addictions that are linked to boredom.

有幾種令人困擾的 成癮問題都與無聊有關。

When we're bored, we drink too much,

當我們無聊時， 我們會喝太多、吃太多、

we eat too much,

we spend too much money,

花太多錢，購買我們不需要的東西。

we buy things we don't need.

There are entire industries

有些行業還是以讓我們 感到無聊為基礎所設計出來的。

that are designed around making us bored.

And so boredom has some really problematic behaviors linked to it,

因此，無聊也與一些 非常有問題的行為有關聯，

但除了這些令人困擾的 成癮問題外，還有些更小的事。

but even more than these troubling addictions,

there are also these smaller things.

The half-listening to friends and acquaintances when we’re bored.

我們無聊時，聽朋友和熟人 說話都變得愛聽不聽。

Or just the way we idle our time when we’re bored.

或我們無聊殺時間的 方式本身也是問題。

I'm dating myself,

我這是洩漏自己年齡，不過若我能把 玩俄羅斯方塊的一萬小時拿回來，

but if I could take back the 10,000 hours I put into Tetris

and put that into actually playing guitar,

把這時間拿來彈吉他， 我現在就是專業音樂家了。

I'd be a professional musician right now.

That was kind of a joke, anyway.

反正這是個笑話。

So, boredom is something we need to look at,

所以，無聊是我們需要關注的狀況，

and we look at boredom, we tend to think about it objectively.

而我們通常會從客觀角度看待無聊。

這位老師讓我感到無聊，

I’m bored by this teacher

or I’m bored by this book I’m reading

我正在讀的這本書或我正在 交談的對象讓我感到無聊。

or this person I'm talking to.

And boredom tends to objectify things

無聊通常會把事物給物化， 其實很批判和自大。

and actually be quite judgmental and arrogant.

That's a boring person, that's a boring book.

那是個無聊的人， 那是一本無聊的書。

But in truth, boredom is both objective and subjective.

但事實上，無聊是既客觀又主觀的。

We're actually making a judgment call,

我們實際上是在做判斷， 判定某事物是否無聊。

deciding whether something is boring or not.

And we know that what bores one person

我們知道，某人覺得很無聊的事物 在另一個人眼中可能很有趣。

could actually be very interesting to another.

So in this respect,

就這方面來說，

boredom is kind of a curious and perplexing mood state.

無聊是種奇怪且 讓人困惑的心情狀態。

What do we make of it?

我們該如何理解它？

It's kind of like a dashboard light,

它有點像儀表板燈號，

當你在汽車上，燈號亮起， 這就給你非常清楚的指示。

when you're in your car and a light goes on

and it gives you very clear directives.

需要加油了，需要潤滑了， 輪胎需要打氣了。

You need to get gas, you need to get oil,

you need to put air in the tires.

The problem with the boredom light is it goes on and there's no clear direction.

無聊燈號的問題在於 它亮起來時卻沒有明確的指示。

We're not sure what to do with it,

我們不確定該怎麼處理，

and most of the time we don't even notice the boredom dashboard light

而且大多數的時候，我們甚至 不會注意到無聊儀表板燈號，

because it's going on all the time.

因為它總是會亮，不斷在閃， 就變成了白噪音，

It's kind of blinking and it just becomes white noise

and we're dealing with it.

而我們會去處理它。

We're dealing without even realizing it.

我們有在處理，卻不自覺。

Day in and day out, we're constantly navigating away

日復一日，我們不斷地 從無聊的空間前往有趣的地方。

from boring spaces into interesting spaces.

And how do we do this?

我們怎麼辦到的？

There are two dominant ways

我們已經演化出兩種主要的方式 來對付這種讓人困擾的心情狀態。

that we've evolved to contend with this troubling mood state.

On the one hand, you've got avoidance.

首先，你用閃避法。

So if I'm in a boring situation, the first move we make is,

如果身在無聊的情境中，

我們採取第一步是，該如何脫身？

how do I get out of this?

I can physically get out of this,

我可以實際離開現場，

or what do I do?

或者我能怎麼辦？

I daydream.

我做白日夢。

Or the most obvious thing we do is we check our phones.

或我們最明顯的做法是看手機。

Our phones are these sophisticated boredom-avoidance devices.

我們的手機是精密的避免無聊裝置。

And we avoid boredom because it’s actually painful.

我們會想避免無聊， 是因為它讓人痛苦。

I don't know if you've ever felt the pain of boredom.

我不知道各位是否曾經 感受過無聊的痛苦。

The pain of boredom was illustrated in a recent study

維吉尼亞大學最近有一項研究 說明了無聊的痛苦。

at the University of Virginia.

They asked subjects to come into a room

他們請受試者進入一間房間，

and just sit with their thoughts for 15 minutes.

足足十五分鐘就只是 坐著，自己想事情。

And these are folks that were 18 to 70.

受試者的年齡從十八歲到七十歲。

And they could do that,

他們可以照做，

or they could put their finger in a machine

也可以選擇把手指放在 機器上，接受痛苦的電擊。

and receive a painful shock.

The results of the study were, pun intended, shocking:

此研究的結果很驚人 （電擊），這是雙關語。

30 percent of the women and 60 percent of the men

30% 的女性和 60% 的男性

chose to shock themselves rather than sit with their thoughts

選擇被電擊，而不是坐著 自己想事情十五分鐘。

for 15 minutes.

All of this is to say that we would rather have physical pain,

上述研究的意思是， 許多人寧可承受身體的痛苦，

many of us, than the pain of boredom.

也不要承受無聊的痛苦。

So avoidance is the common go-to way that we contend with it

因此，閃避法是我們 常用來應對無聊的方式，

without even thinking about it, it's automatic.

不用去想，自動就會做。

The other strategy that we employ is resignation.

我們會採用的另一種策略是屈從法。

You've perhaps heard grown-ups say to children

你也許聽過大人對抱怨無聊的孩子說：

when they complain of boredom, "That's life. Get used to it."

「這就是人生。去習慣它吧。」

And so the idea is that you just have to endure it.

這個概念就是你得忍耐，你得撐過去。

You just have to push through it.

I'm a teacher of teachers and a privilege I get

我是師培的老師，我的特權之一 就是可以接觸到各年級的老師。

is I get to see teachers across all grade levels.

And I've seen some incredible spaces where the teaching is dynamic, engaging,

我看過一些極佳的場所，那裡的教學 是動態的、吸引人的、有意義的。

it's meaningful.

If there is boredom, it passes.

如果無聊出現了，很快也會過去。

The students know how to deal with it in a good way.

學生知道如何用好的方式處理無聊。

But sometimes I go to classes and it's boring.

但有時我去到的課堂就很無聊。

And usually in those classes the students are misbehaving,

通常在這些課堂上的學生 會有不當的行為，

and that's completely understandable.

那是完全可以理解的，

And I would say even appropriate, sometimes,

我甚至覺得有時也應該 讓老師知道需要改變。

to let the teacher know that they need to change it up here.

但有時我進到一間無聊的教室裡，

But sometimes I go into a boring classroom

and the students are not misbehaving.

學生並沒有不當行為。

I was in a classroom a few years ago, a seventh-grade classroom,

幾年前，我到一間七年級的教室裡，

and the students were tasked with copying a PowerPoint,

學生被要求逐字逐句抄寫一份 投影片，足足四十五分鐘。

word for word, for 45 minutes.

I was bored out of my mind.

我感到無聊到極點。

And I turned to the student next to me and I said,

我轉向我旁邊的學生，說： 「你們都這樣上課嗎？」

"Is this kind of what you do?"

他說：「我們每天都這樣。」

And he said, "We do this every day."

And what amazed me was the students were docile.

讓我驚訝的是學生都很順服，肯依從。

They were compliant.

I expected, I actually hoped there would be a protest or a revolution.

我以為，實際上是希望， 會發生抗議或革命。

I thought this teacher should be punished for having such a boring class.

我認為這位老師應該被處罰， 因為他把課教到這麼無聊。

But instead, the students just were passive.

但學生反而很消極。

They were just resigned.

他們就只是屈從。

When my kids were younger, they would complain to me,

我的孩子更小時會對我抱怨： 「爸，我好無聊，沒事可以做。」

"Dad, I'm so bored, there's nothing to do."

這句話裡，有兩個狀況。

And there are two things going on there in that comment.

第一個是缺乏想像力。

The first is a lack of imagination.

「我好無聊，我找不到 任何值得做的事。」

"I'm so bored, I can't see anything worthwhile to do."

That's resignation.

那就是屈從。

And then there's also a loss of agency.

第二個是自主權的喪失：

「我好無聊，我無法做什麼 來脫離這個情境。」

"I'm so bored, there's nothing I can do to get out of this."

So we have resignation on the one hand and we have avoidance.

所以我們有屈從法，也有閃避法。

These are the two common strategies

我們常採用這兩種策略卻不自知。

that we employ without even recognizing it.

I'm interested in what is a practically wise way,

我想知道有什麼明智的方法，

a middle way between avoidance on the one hand

如果一端是閃避法，

另一端是屈從法， 兩者間的中道是什麼？

and resignation on the other.

And I think about this in light of two stories from my own life.

我從我自己生活中的 兩個故事來思考這一點。

After college, I lived in a house in Chicago with with three teachers.

大學畢業後，我和三位老師 住在芝加哥的一間房子裡。

And one of my roommates, Mark,

其中一位室友叫馬克，

I met him the first day and probably within the first day,

我第一天就見到了他，也許在 那天，我就認定他很無聊了。

I decided he was just kind of dull.

He kind of took his time to make his points,

他會花時間慢慢表達他的觀點，

and I decided that I was going to limit the amount of time I spent with Mark.

我決定我要限縮 我和馬克相處的時間。

我打算避開他。

I was going to avoid him.

We were roommates, though.

不過，我們是室友。 我每天都會見到馬克。

I would see Mark every day.

We used the same bathroom.

我們共用同一間浴室，

Every day after school, we would talk about teaching.

每天放學後，我們都會談論教學。

And I discovered that Mark actually was a really thoughtful teacher.

我發現馬克其實是個很周到的老師。 他是個有創意、會創新的老師。

He was a creative teacher, he was an innovative teacher.

他不只會試著改善他的教學， 還會試著改善他自己。

And he wasn’t just trying to improve his teaching,

he was also trying to improve himself.

他總是在思考工作和生活， 想找出好的平衡點。

And he was always thinking about work and life

and figuring out the right balance.

隨著時間，我發現馬克並不無聊， 事實上，他很有智慧。

And over time, I realized Mark is not boring.

Actually he's wise.

And he's a dear friend to this day.

至今，他還是我的摯友。

But my initial assessment of Mark as a boring person

但我一開始評估認為馬克 是個無聊的人，那是大錯特錯。

was just completely wrong.

The mood state was giving me information

在那種心情狀態中，我誤判了資訊。

that I was not reading correctly.

The second story is from my first year of high school teaching,

第二個故事發生在 我到高中教書的第一年，

which, the first year is demanding work,

第一年的工作很吃力， 會需要尋找避風港和慰藉。

and you're kind of looking for shelter and comfort.

And I found a group of teachers to have lunch with

我找到一群老師可以共進午餐，

and would go there to eat lunch.

我會去跟他們吃午餐。

But eventually the conversations were just complaint sessions,

但最終，這些談話 變成只是抱怨的場合。

day in and day out.

日復一日。

And we usually complained about administrators.

我們通常會抱怨管理階層的人。

他們是我們的頭號目標， 尤其是沒教過書的行政人員。

That was our number one target,

especially administrators who hadn't taught.

排名第二的也許是 難搞的學生或家長，

Our second complaint was maybe a difficult student or parent,

but day in and day out, it was this negative loop.

但日復一日，這是種負面的迴圈。

It was like being stuck in the first part of the movie "Groundhog Day,"

就好像被困在《今天暫時 停止》電影的第一部分，

且沒有止盡。

and it was just unending.

最終，我厭煩了這些對話。

And eventually I just got bored with this conversation.

And I pulled away.

然後我離開了。

I began to eat lunch in my classroom by myself.

我開始自己在教室裡吃午餐。

But eventually I found other teachers

但最終，我找到了一些老師，

who were also vigilant about steering away from complaint culture,

他們也很謹慎地避開 令人上癮的抱怨文化，

which is addictive.

It seems interesting, but eventually, it gets very, very boring,

抱怨文化看似很有趣， 但到頭來，會變得非常無聊。

complaint culture.

And instead of complaining,

他們不抱怨，

they would talk about books they were enjoying

他們會談論他們喜歡的書籍

or hobbies that they loved

或他們喜愛的嗜好，

or what went well in their teaching.

或他們的教學中的亮點。

And these were conversations that I found very interesting.

我覺得這些談話非常有趣，

也很療癒，能鼓舞我的士氣去上課。

And also they were restorative.

They lifted my spirits to go in and teach my classes.

I share these two stories because in both instances

我分享這兩個故事， 因為在這兩個例子中，

I was experiencing boredom.

我都有感到無聊。

But what to make of it was not clear.

但並不清楚該怎麼看待它。

And so I want to offer three takeaways.

所以我想提供三招。

我想幫助年輕人想出策略 來應對這種讓人困擾的心情狀態。

And I'm thinking of young people as they figure out strategies

for contending with this troubling mood state.

The first takeaway is that boredom should not be trusted.

第一招是別相信無聊。

We tend to trust boredom.

我們通常會相信無聊。

We make an implicit judgment about something or someone

我們會在心中對某人、 某事，或某物做出評斷，

and decide it's boring.

認定它／他很無聊。

And it’s arrogant, it’s judgmental

那樣太自大且太評斷，

and often is wrong.

且通常是錯的。

We need to take a careful look

我們需要仔細看看，確認 可能會有一些值得之處，

and make sure that there might be something here worthwhile,

worth attending to.

值得注意之處。

So don't trust boredom is takeaway one.

第一招是別相信無聊。

第二招是要保護我們的注意力。

The second takeaway is we need to protect our attention.

A bored mind is primed to get distracted from distraction by distraction.

我們的心在無聊的時候， 很容易被各種干擾分散注意力。

It is looking to be distracted.

它想要被分散注意力。

And when we think about the things we care about, our friends

想想我們所在乎的、我們的朋友， 或我們試著改進的事，

or something we’re trying to get good at

or a hobby that we love,

或喜愛的嗜好，

each of these things will be afflicted by boredom.

上述這些通通會被無聊所困擾。

It will come.

無聊會出現。

And if we are in an environment where we're easily distracted,

如果我們處在容易分心的環境中，

boredom will get the better of us.

無聊就會戰勝我們。

Don't trust boredom, protect our attention.

別相信無聊，保護我們的注意力。

And then finally, we need to talk about boredom.

最後，我們需要去談論無聊。

We all have strategies that we employ.

我們都會採用一些策略。

We need to name those strategies.

我們需要把這些策略點出來。

There was a great writer in the '80s who described our modern life

八○年代有位偉大的作家 將我們的現代生活

as a sophisticated boredom-avoidance scheme.

描述為避免無聊的精密計畫。

Walker Percy said that.

他就是沃克‧柏西。

The scheme is far more sophisticated today.

現今，這計畫還更精密， 我們知道這一點。

We know that.

But to the extent that we're not reflecting on it and thinking about it,

但已經到了我們不去反思它、 不去思考它的程度。

boredom plays us and gets the better of us.

無聊左右著我們，戰勝我們。

But the extent that we're reflecting on it and thinking about it,

但若我們去反思它、思考它，

we can put boredom in its place and give our attention

我們就能讓無聊不再放肆，

付出我們的注意力， 保護我們的注意力，

and protect our attention

to those things we love and the people we care about.

去關注我們所愛的事物、 我們在乎的人。

Thank you very much.

非常謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）