Boredom is a skill. In this current era of overconsumption, constant exposure to the entire world and its endless options through a black box in your pocket, and short videos you scroll away from if they don’t get to the point fast enough, boredom has turned into a skill we are collectively losing.
Amaia wrote about boredom in machines. She describes boredom as a deeply human trait, the waiting on something, or perhaps on nothing. She asked: can machines get bored? I think it’s incredibly fitting to talk about boredom in combination with machines in this current age. Machines are good at doing absolutely nothing; they’re in a constant state of waiting and it doesn’t seem to make their skin itch or their fingers twitch. Could we learn something from them about our own humanity, for once?
She thought of a creature that is created to wait, Lento. A creature in a constant cycle of waiting and giving up, one that does nothing else except breathe. Perhaps one we could recognize ourselves in.

Perhaps it would be interesting to take a look not at boredom itself, but at the act of getting bored, losing interest or focus. Which is less about the fidgeting we experience, the torture of having “nothing to do,” and more about simply not being interested in doing something, listening and the willpower and discipline one would need to overcome that boredom.