I’m fed up of hearing how we’re all bored (From Preston and Leyland Citizen)

I’m fed up of hearing how we’re all bored

10:28am Monday 2nd February 2009

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It’s a phrase commonly associated with children – usually the horrible, spoiled variety who demand sweets with menace at the tills in Morrisons: “I’m bored!” .

Only it’s not only youngsters who are often at a loose end. In Britain, adults are often bored too.

A national think tank has found that Brits are among the most bored people in Europe – coming fourth on the boredom scale in a cross-Continent survey.

Bizarrely, we’re also among the happiest nations – so ‘bored but happy’ is the general consensus.

I can’t remember the last time I was bored. I think it was in Mr Wilson’s maths class when, as an extremely bored teenager, I plucked all the fluff off my pencil case. That bout of boredom got me sent to the head, so I remember it well.

I’m too busy to be bored. Not that everything I do is exciting – in fact, none of my weekly activities can be classed as that. I spend my days either at work, taxi-ing my children from A to B, washing-up, ironing, or cooking. Tuning into Celebrity Family Fortunes on a Saturday night is probably the most stimulating thing in my life. Yet I’m not bored.

I’m intrigued to think there are so many bored people around. Aren’t most people living 21st century lives over-worked, over-tired and stressed out? My life is so hectic that I’d quite like to join the ranks of the bored. I’d love to have absolutely nothing to do, so much so that I end up twiddling my thumbs.

But I can’t see that happening. I’ve tried to bore myself to tears by doing absolutely nil all day until I break down and sob, but there’s always a pile of dirty laundry, unmade beds or whinging children to distract me.

It would be interesting to find out exactly how people become bored to tears, bored out of their minds or bored to death.

The idea that some people turn crazy or actually perish through boredom may seem a bit over the top, but there’s many a website on the subject. One contains ‘lots of stuff like games, funny pictures, videos and jokes’ to bring you back from the brink – things that would probably push me over.

The closest I come to any of these boredom-induced conditions is through speaking to other people. Some individuals really are very boring. I know one or two who – if I had to spend more than half an hour with – would leave me insane. Maybe I’m being unfair – they probably think I’m utterly tedious.

I blame gadgets. Some grown-ups can’t amuse themselves without gadgets. And once they've used them for a day or so, they’re bored and looking for the next Wii3.421 or PS1234.

And children are the same. I could talk for hours on the subject – only that really would be boring.

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