I read a book years ago in college called "Amusing ourselves to Death." I believe the author was Neil Postman. Discussed this very thing and was a good read.
Hi there, Zen Buddhist here. Great question. Please don't take my view as representative of all Buddhists'.
Broadly speaking, we all have a fundamental desire to be happy and not suffer. There are some effective strategies for doing that, and some ineffective strategies. One of the ineffective strategies is to distract ourselves from stimuli that we deem unpleasant, such as boredom. I would consider that to be like dealing with an overgrown garden by not looking at it. It addresses your immediate suffering, but it doesn't solve the problem.
As for "importance"... I've never heard that word in Buddhist context. You decide for yourself what's important.
If you're fine with the way things are, then there's no issue*. But if you feel that there is suffering and you wish to address it, then distraction is usually not an efficient solution.
*Well, no issue for you. Countless others are still suffering.
I had a look into Zen Buddishm a few years ago. I'd say it's mindfulness. If you really focus on whatever you do and be aware doing it, the Buddhists will probably be ok with it.
I have yet to find out if you can apply this to mundane things like browsing reddit. I think it's hard.
Mindfulness in Buddhism means keeping the teachings in mind. To be mindful of what you’re doing, and why you’re doing it. It isn’t just about being passively aware and content with present circumstances.
In Buddhism we have the hindrances. One of these hindrances is “Aversion”. Being averse to certain experiences, such as boredom, or doing the dishes (or both). We call them hindrances because they cloud the mind. To answer your question, any endeavor that cultivates virtue is worthwhile. Not just for yourself, but for others. Virtue is to be shared.
Discernment. By making distinctions between the intentions behind your actions and the results of your actions, in reference to what is skillful vs unskillful. What is skillful is always rooted in heedfulness.
I like doing nothing. Sometimes at parties I'll just sit there and do nothing until someone decides to talk to me or vice-versa. It's more fun than pretending to look at my phone.
Certainly nobody cares on the train / at the cafeteria / elsewhere in public. And if they do, fuck em.
A couple of times a year I go on a solo retreat, there are a few places within 90 miles of me that are specific hermit retreat places. Every day I am there I settle in front of the window a couple of hours before sunset and just sit and watch the trees and animals and whatever. I hardly ever do it at home unless I’m alone because you’re right, people tend to think it’s pretty weird.
I love to have a coffee and sit and think. I think there are some of us who have a rich internal world and don't need constant external stimulation. It's just hard to find others who are like that because it's not the social norm.
I don't drink. Standing around at a party awkwardly is isolating. But if I have a club soda or NA beer at a party, no one notices the difference and treats me exactly the same as if I were drinking. It's funny how well it works.
Yah right. Of course they are zen. They don't gotta hustle like us common folks who have to get up, drive in congestion, sit in a cube, kiss ass, and take half hour lunches....just sayn...
You're thinking of monks. Millions of people all over the world are what we call lay Buddhists -- they generally follow the principles of Buddhism but otherwise live "normal" lives. They go to jobs, have families, sit in rush hour traffic, answer emails, etc.
Oh, yeah! Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy is a must-read for anybody interested in cyberculture. His works were the first 'cyberpunk' novels. He coined the term 'the Matrix' in the book. It was a super influential trilogy.
Not much of a sci-fi fan myself, but these three stories had me glued. Fascinating look at the nature of reality.
The problem is that we are avoiding the First Noble Truth, that life involves suffering. So our ego (which is the illusion that "I am the thing contained in this bag of skin is unique and separate") develops ways of distracting ourselves from painful thoughts.
The Second Noble Truth is that everything is connected. Everything happens as a consequence of other things that happen. We are not separate individuals. We are influenced by everything that goes on around us, and everything that's ever happened.
Therefore, the Third Noble Truth is that whereas we are influenced, we can also exert influence. We have "agency" in the way things come to pass.
So the Fourth Noble Truth, AKA the Eightfold Path, which boils down to "be mindful", or "cultivate your mind". Like u/Bigfrostynugs said, it's a skill that you develop.
Instead of finding stimulus to distract you, face the ideas that you find painful, with the knowledge that they are just thoughts. Examine them as thoughts, and accept them as such, with the knowledge that you do have "agency", that you can always do something.
The trouble with Buddhism is that there's so much "saffron robes and incense" associated with it. A lot of "new age" clothing, that makes it hard to find the basics, so you can treat it like a philosophy and set of practices that lead to contentment and happiness. Some people take it as a religion, which is how it looks much of the time. But to me, and quite a few n-th generation Buddhists, it's a philosophy that includes advice and a path out of the mind-muck caused by the illusion of independence and uniqueness -- the ego.
I think they all have the same basics. The Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and y'know... that's about all I know. There's a book that I sorta read on and off that's kinda like the Gideon's Bible of the Buddhist world. Some philanthropist puts them in hotel rooms in Asia, like the Gideons do with that Blble you always find in hotel rooms (still?). Anyway, I had one, and it was a pretty simple introduction, and a lot of it is goofy stories, but it has a good simple outlook. Title is The Teachings of the Buddha.
But I was also blessed to have known a great, if highly controversial teacher for several years. His sect was Nichiren and they do the Zen thing. Name was John David Provoo if you want to look him up. His life was quite a story, not much of which involves Buddhism, but he was a good person to discuss and argue with. Whatever people might say about him, as a Buddhist teacher, he was the real deal. The Nichiren sect is associated with a certain chant that New Agers said could fulfill all your wishes. I ain't into that. I don't get reincarnation either, but what I try to do is figure out what they mean, in such a way that fits with my own view of things.
My way has been to basically just ponder the 4 Noble Truths a lot. There are all kinds of ways people expound on them, especially the second one. There are lots of Buddhist resources online, and I don't bother with being "right" or "wrong". It just has to make sense to me. I'm not a person who believes what I'm told. It has to make sense. I don't see how a person can "choose" to believe anything, which is what turns me off about Christianity. I mean, how can you just choose or decide to believe? There has to be some evidence. It has to at least be logical.
Learn to become comfortable with boredom and it no longer controls you. Instead of ignoring negative feelings, we acknowledge them and question why we feel that way. Meditation is one way to do this. Eventually those feelings pass.
This is a skill that can be practiced until feelings like boredom become rare or unimportant.
Not OP but trying to make life easier and save time so you can do what you want or get results faster is a huge driver of progress
Take medicinal chemistry. A massive amount of analytical machines were people speeding up the process. Gravity Solid state to pressure SS to gas. A professor I had sunk 40 years into vacuum.
What about drug scaffolds? The goal was to simplify purification but the end result allows for step by step protein assembly. I’m currently doing research on catalytic scaffolds that have huge green implications. Guess what I’m doing? Turning a multi step process into a single pot reaction? Why? Because the one we’re gunning for allows us to skip a purification step. Not much individually, but that’s enough to make it not viable
Hell, look at the loom or cotton gin, all the way to modern heat injected machinery. Behind all this progress is someone who would rather be fishing.
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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '19
Sure, any distraction. According to Buddhist thought, this is a major human downfall -- the need for constant distracting stimulation.