{"id":17337,"date":"2025-01-17T14:39:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T13:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/66-days-to-rediscover-boredom-the-way-id-been-thinking-about-time-was-wrong\/"},"modified":"2025-01-17T14:39:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T13:39:47","slug":"66-days-to-rediscover-boredom-the-way-id-been-thinking-about-time-was-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/66-days-to-rediscover-boredom-the-way-id-been-thinking-about-time-was-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"66 days to rediscover boredom: \u2018The way I\u2019d been thinking about time was wrong\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How long does it take to change a habit? It varies, but one paper suggests the average is 66 days. We asked writers to change one thing in their lives within that timeframe \u2026 and tell us if it works<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/series\/66-days-to-change\">Read more in the 66 days to change series<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/culture\/series\/summer-essentials\">More summer essentials<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Get our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl\">breaking news email<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/app.adjust.com\/w4u7jx3\">free app<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/australia-news\/series\/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl\">daily news podcast<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I knew that I wanted to make a change when I couldn\u2019t go longer than five minutes without needing some sort of stimulus. Music, podcasts, movies, reels, a combination of them or all at once (maybe) made up the soundtrack of my life. This inability to sit still, to pay attention without seeking distraction, is not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2022\/jan\/02\/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media\"> unique to me<\/a>, nor is the feeling that the infinite scroll leaves you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/article\/2024\/aug\/19\/scrolling-through-online-videos-increases-feelings-of-boredom-study-finds\">depleted and feeling <\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/article\/2024\/aug\/19\/scrolling-through-online-videos-increases-feelings-of-boredom-study-finds\">more <\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/article\/2024\/aug\/19\/scrolling-through-online-videos-increases-feelings-of-boredom-study-finds\">bored<\/a>. But I don\u2019t want to default to this state of being.<\/p>\n<p>I want to stop using screens, music and podcaststo fill in the gaps when I should have downtime. I want to be able to be bored. For me, boredom is a state where nothing seems to curb the appetite of wanting to do something. Taking a couple of months to consciously stop the mindless use of devices and instead use my downtime for time with myself, in local spaces, will instil a sense of quietness, I think, that will help me slow down and learn to exist without needing digital distractions. It\u2019s embarrassing to not be able to tolerate boredom. But not only that, it\u2019s scary not being able to decide where to direct one\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/lifeandstyle\/2025\/jan\/18\/66-days-to-rediscover-boredom-how-long-does-it-take-to-change-a-habit\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><br \/>\n<img src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/c2e9b4e8cc4c4a8bf60938de5e3411b778d9d3a8\/0_200_3000_1800\/master\/3000.jpg?width=140&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=6e610c9ab40d215734119078481ef9ec\" title=\"66 days to rediscover boredom: \u2018The way I\u2019d been thinking about time was wrong\u2019\" \/>How long does it take to change a habit? It varies, but one paper suggests the average is 66 days. We asked writers to change one thing in their lives within that timeframe \u2026 and tell us if it works<\/p>\n<p>Read more in the 66 days to change series<br \/>\nMore summer essentials<br \/>\nGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast<\/p>\n<p>I knew that I wanted to make a change when I couldn\u2019t go longer than five minutes without needing some sort of stimulus. Music, podcasts, movies, reels, a combination of them or all at once (maybe) made up the soundtrack of my life. This inability to sit still, to pay attention without seeking distraction, is not  unique to me, nor is the feeling that the infinite scroll leaves you depleted and feeling more bored. But I don\u2019t want to default to this state of being.<br \/>\nI want to stop using screens, music and podcaststo fill in the gaps when I should have downtime. I want to be able to be bored. For me, boredom is a state where nothing seems to curb the appetite of wanting to do something. Taking a couple of months to consciously stop the mindless use of devices and instead use my downtime for time with myself, in local spaces, will instil a sense of quietness, I think, that will help me slow down and learn to exist without needing digital distractions. It\u2019s embarrassing to not be able to tolerate boredom. But not only that, it\u2019s scary not being able to decide where to direct one\u2019s attention. Continue reading&#8230;Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How long does it take to change a habit? It varies, but one paper suggests the average is 66 days. We asked writers to change one thing in their lives within that timeframe \u2026 and tell us if it works Read more in the 66 days to change series More summer essentials Get our breaking &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/17\/66-days-to-rediscover-boredom-the-way-id-been-thinking-about-time-was-wrong\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">66 days to rediscover boredom: \u2018The way I\u2019d been thinking about time was wrong\u2019<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17337"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}