Cambridge 13 | Test 1 | Passage 2
Why Being Bored is Useful
Psychologist Sandi Mann at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, believes that “all emotions are there for a reason, including boredom.” Mann has found that being bored makes us more creative. “We’re all afraid of being bored but in actual fact it can lead to all kinds of amazing things.” In experiments published last year, Mann found that people who had been made to feel bored by copying numbers out of the phone book for 15 minutes came up with more creative ideas about how to use a polystyrene cup than a control group. Mann concluded that a passive, boring activity is best for creativity because it allows the mind to wander. In fact, she goes so far as to suggest that we should seek out more boredom in our lives.
boredom (noun) [ U ]
the state of being bored
wander (verb)
If your mind or your thoughts wander, you stop thinking about the subject that you should be giving your attention to and start thinking about other matters
seek out (verb)
to search for and find (someone or something)
