I'm Bored, Hyperbored

In Derek Owens’ “Boredom and Hyperboredom” He talks about how kids and students today have “misconception that self and world are separate” and that this creates a feeling of nothingness, an “apprehension of the void.” In his article Owens calls to educators, believing it to be their responsibility to aid their students into not getting trapped in the hyperboredom state of mind.

One things that really sticks out in the article is when Owens reminds the reader that, “When humans were more preoccupied with the daily need to survive, hyperboredom did not exist.” Even though Owens mainly argues that hyperboredom stems from the disconnect one has from their own environment, there is also this point that we don’t have to care about certain things anymore. We no longer have the need to hunt for food, nor skin the animal to make clothing and shelter. Even if one is having trouble surviving on one’s own dollar, there are different things you can still do in order to keep up survival. No, survival is not something we have on our day-to-day minds. Owens mentions that this is rooted in the lack of connection to the environment, where we are dependent for survival, and he is right. However, a reconnection to the environment might not be the answer to the hyperboredom issue.   Giving students a bigger connection to the land might enhance their appreciation for nature, and may momentarily distract from their “unconscious, unacknowledged sense that the bottom has fallen out of the world” but most likely will not cure them completely of hyperboredom.

In today’s society people have the privilege of thinking about the world in ways that they did not before. We can see the big picture most of the time; yet even reestablishing our connection to our specific environments does not necessarily reestablish our place in the world. A student from Athens might farm and be connected to his place in Ohio, completely dependent on the land and understanding what it does for them, but he still would question. “Who am I? And, what is my contribution to the world? Is all of this work worth it in the end?” Though this particular student may have more distraction from his abyss of thoughts as he tends the fields, these questions still appear in his mind. Hyperboredom still creeps in the minds of those who have a connection to their place. So with that in mind, is there any real cure for this new and rapidly growing “Hyperboerdom?”