Boredom is Essential.ON BOREDOM AS A NEW CULTURE & ART: Apparently, with social media and always being connected, the problem is that we are not deeply, intrinsically, bored enough. The state of boredom is very important as a survival mechanism. Why? Because a fair bit of reality is absolutely boring a fair bit of the time. Having a 24 hour news cycle doesn't change the fact that not much in the news isn't boring. Fortunately, when bored, a person's mind is processing millions of things just under the glance of consciousness, working out problems, developing future survival scenarios, etc...most of the mind is about surviving the future rather than enjoying Netflix or football or horseraces...but with too much active thoughtful absorption in the present, too many activities, too many stimuli, we strand ourselves and dumb ourselves down into acceptance of the relentlessly mediocre. To deal with this, you can actually go to 5 day conferences on Boredom where experts talk about the likelihood of lottery wins, aeroplane meals, new word meanings, Hollywood, plankton, veganism, etc, and whilst they talk, and talk, and show slides, you, in the audience just kind of ...get functionally bored for hours ...and re-visit yourself unconsciously and devise your good future...and your good future is...dear lord...for fuck's sake...anything but this!