As if being without form and void wasn’t bad enough, now tohu va bohu readers must deal with ennui.
ennui (pronounced: on-wee)
definition noun: a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement
synonyms
boredom, lethargy, malaise, tedium, Weltshmerz
antonyms
energy, enthusiasm, excitement, liveliness
related ennuyer verb: to afflict with boredom; to bore
example usage Robin Abcarian and John Horn published an article in today’s L.A. Times titled, “Fun Isn’t Fun Enough for Teens.” The piece is about how teenagers are multi-tasking their entertainment due to boredom. Here is a short excerpt:
A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, the first in a series of annual entertainment surveys, finds that a large majority of the 12- to 24-year-olds surveyed are bored with their entertainment choices some or most of the time, and a substantial minority think that even in a kajillion-channel universe, they don’t have nearly enough options. “I feel bored like all the time, ‘cause there is like nothing to do,” said Shannon Carlson, 13, of Warren, Ohio, a respondent who has an array of gadgets, equipment and entertainment options at her disposal but can’t ward off ennui.
I’m not sure how long the entire article will remain up and available at the Times so you might want to skim it soon. All I know is, if I ever told my mom that I was bored, within 30 seconds she had a arm’s length list of chores to alleviate my ennui.
The Conversation {7 responses}
That article was very interesting. I’ve thought about this before, a little, and in a way, it’s good to know that I’m not imagining these things when I look at my generation. I’m kind of amazed at how many people can im multiple contacts. I don’t really like to do that, personally. If I’m going to have a conversation, I’d like to really have one instead of having fourteen other people interrupting it.
I thought his analogy of a candy store was interesting. I thought that even if all the candy is free, you’re just going to get sick if you try all of it. And it sounds like my generation is getting pretty sick of its sugar high.
I like the idea behind one of Switchfoot’s songs: “If we’re adding to the noise, turn off this song!” Ironic that it came to mind, being an entertainment source. Hmmm…
Maybe we’ll learn that all is vanity under the sun. Maybe we’ll start looking to Christ. I have a feeling John Calvin had a lot more “flow,” as the article put it, than we do in our distracted, too-busy society. I’m sure that Mr. Glass is much more disciplined than I am (not to say that I’m very disciplined!), but the idea that he’s so far “behind” Calvin, as he put it, got me thinking about where I am. As a side-thought, I bet the man who wrote down all of Calvin’s sermons word for word was rarely bored.
This is kind of a long comment, I know, but I had a lot of thoughts bumping around about this.
Yeah, I don’t think you’re supposed to out-write the blog post with one comment! :-) I guess I’m behind now.
I agree that the ‘noise’ around us (that we surround ourselves with) is probably out of control. Reminds me of the article I shared during “The Vanity of Music” sermon on A Kingdom of Noise.
And I also agree that Calvin had more flow, though I’m also sure he would have enjoyed using an iPod.
I am practically never bored! There is so much to do in life. So much to learn and acomplish(even though it’s all vanity, right?). And hey, the thing about getting chores if you said you were bored, the same is for me. I love your “word” blog posts.
I’m fairly sure that it’s not just this generation of kids. It’s the end of summer business in general. Sure, it’s great for the first few weeks, but finding enough new fun stuff to fill up an entire summer is impossible and tiresome no matter what’s on TV/DVD/360/DSLite. The “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do - no I don’t want to get a job, I’m on vacation!” Summertime Blues has been around for quite awhile. Heck, even a couple years ago I could only be unemployed for about a week before I would get totally Weltshmerz (great word!).
Toil is good.
Very interesting. One cistern isn’t enough, it doesn’t bring the satisfaction, so you have to add cisterns. Pretty soon, you are jumping around from cistern to cistern, thinking that by changing holes in the ground that it will feel better, but end result is the same - dirt and no happiness.
PS - I think I saw those remotes at World’s For Sale.
Heheh, Solomon got totally Weltshmerz‘d.
Read with great interest the above postings on boredom and and entertainment ennui. I’m a psychophysiologist whose central theoretical and research interest is the experience of boredom/interest/entertainment.
Anyone curious about my approach to boredom/interest/entertainment is invited to take a peek at my web site on the topic.
Would be happy to receive questions and try to provide answers about boredom/interest (from my perspective).
Augustin de la Pena
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