Synopses & Reviews
Though we have hundreds of entertainment options today--video games, the Internet, CD and MP3 players, home entertainment centers, sporting events, megamalls, movie theaters, and even robotic toys--Western culture is battling an insidious disease. It's an epidemic of boredom. Intrigued by this deadness of soul, Richard Winter uses the latest historical, physiological and psychological research to probe the nature, causes and effects of boredom. He explores why some people are more likely to get bored than others the indifference and the loss of meaning among youth the attraction of extreme sports how advertising promotes apathy the link between boredom and addictions to violence and pornography Not satisfied with mere description and analysis, Winter also offers practical ways to counteract boredom by learning to live with passion and wonder. So don't just turn on the TV, surf all the available channels and complain there's nothing on. Instead, read this book
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-156) and index.
Table of Contents
Three yawns for boredom! -- Basics of boredom : understimulation, repetition and disconnection -- Two types of boredom : the long and the short of it -- Entertained to excess : leisure, overstimulation and the entertainment industry -- Advertised to apathy : the stimulation and disappointment of desire -- Why some people are more likely to get bored : perception, personality and proneness -- Negated to numbness : anxiety, disappointment and emotional shutdown -- A trip back in time : medieval boredom, melancholy and grief -- From sin to self-fulfillment : religion, the right to happiness and lack of inner resources -- Haunted by hopelessness : postmodernism, indifference and the loss of meaning -- The bitter fruits of boredom : sexual addiction, aggression and risk taking -- Counteracting boredom : six easy steps to an exciting, never-bored-again life! -- Not so easy, not so fast : some foundational themes of life -- Why get up in the morning? : boredom and the battle.