Is boredom good like hunger is good? I.e. an error signal moving us to correct it, respectively by seeking novelty or obtaining food. What might be bad in this frame is seeking substitutes that only provide fake satisfaction of the error (e.g. doomscrolling and junk food).
Yes, that seems right. In the Explore / Exploit tradeoff, boredom ensures we don’t neglect exploration. Whereas engaging media like feeds or video games, and other superstimuli, satisfy boredom in such a way that we stay in exploitation mode.
A thing that illustrates this well, I think, is watching small kids interact with smartphones. The haptic feedback, swipe interfaces, videos etc. are incredibly engaging. So left to their own devices, kids can spend a long time on them without getting bored.
Ah, I really like this way of framing it. I never thought about it that way, but I think it’s accurate and I like how it naturally leads to the insight of fake satisfaction of the error.
Counterpoint: Boredom is good, and our modern amenities optimize it away at our peril.
Is boredom good like hunger is good? I.e. an error signal moving us to correct it, respectively by seeking novelty or obtaining food. What might be bad in this frame is seeking substitutes that only provide fake satisfaction of the error (e.g. doomscrolling and junk food).
Yes, that seems right. In the Explore / Exploit tradeoff, boredom ensures we don’t neglect exploration. Whereas engaging media like feeds or video games, and other superstimuli, satisfy boredom in such a way that we stay in exploitation mode.
A thing that illustrates this well, I think, is watching small kids interact with smartphones. The haptic feedback, swipe interfaces, videos etc. are incredibly engaging. So left to their own devices, kids can spend a long time on them without getting bored.
Ah, I really like this way of framing it. I never thought about it that way, but I think it’s accurate and I like how it naturally leads to the insight of fake satisfaction of the error.
Hmm yeah that is true. I feel like there’s a way for both things to be true though, and I’m having trouble thinking about why.