世界那样大，生活那样丰富，可是你是不是仍然常常感到无聊呢?
It amazes me when people proclaim that they are bored. Actually, it amazes me that I am ever bored, or that any of us are. With so much to occupy us these days, boredom should be a relic of a bygone age – an age devoid of the internet, social media, multi|channel TV, 24|hour shopping, multiplex cinemas, game consoles, texting and whatever other myriad possibilities are available these days to entertain us.
当有人和我说他们非常无聊的时候，我感到非常惊讶。事实上，我也为我一个人亦或是任何一个人的无聊而诧异。大家有那样多事要做，无聊应该是过去年代的遗迹了。过去的那个年代没互联网，没社交媒体，没多国电视频道，没24小时购物，没游戏机，没短信息，等等大家这个年代拥有些其他各种各样的娱乐方法。
Yet despite the plethora of high|intensity entertainment constantly at our disposal, we are still bored. Up to half of us are “often bored” at home or at school, while more than two| thirds of us are chronically bored at work. We are bored by paperwork, by the commute and by dull meetings. TV is boring, as is facebook and other social media. We spend our weekends at dull parties, watching tedious films or listening to our spousesdrone on about their day. Our kids are bored – bored of school, of homework and even of school holidays.
然而即使可供挑选的娱乐方法这样丰富，大家仍会感觉无聊。在家或在校的人，有一半“常常感到无聊”，而工作的人有三分之二长期处于无聊中。大家为文书工作感到无聊，为天天的通勤感到无聊，为无趣的会议感到无聊。电视让人无聊，脸书和其他社交媒体同样也无聊。大家的周末在无聊的派对中、 乏味的电影中、伴侣的啐啐念中消磨。孩子们也非常无聊||厌烦学习、厌烦作业甚至厌烦放假。
There are a number of explanations for our ennui. This, in fact, is part of the problem – we are overstimulated. The more entertained we are the more entertainment we need in order to feel satisfied . The more we fill our world with fast|moving, high|intensity, ever|changing stimulation, the more we get used to that and the less tolerant we become of lower levels.
对于大家的无聊，存在着不少讲解。事实上，这是问题的一部分||大家对此高估了。大家愈开心，大家就愈需要更多的娱乐来满足自己。大家愈用更多的迅速移动的、高强度的、不断变化的刺激来填补大家的世界，大家就愈习惯这样，愈变得很难忍受低级的刺激。
Thus slower|paced activities, such as reading reports, sitting in meetings, attending lectures or studying for exams, bore us because we are accustomed to faster|paced amu百度竞价推广ents.
因此，那些相对慢步伐的活动，如阅读、开会、参加讲坛或是筹备考试，都会让大家感到烦躁，由于大家已经习惯了快步伐的娱乐方法。
Our attention spans are now thought to be less than that of a goldfish . We are hard|wired to seek novelty, which produces a hit of dopamine, that feel|good chemical, in our brains. As soon as a new stimulus is noticed, however, it is no longer new, and after a while it bores us. To get that same pleasurable dopamine hit we seek fresh sources of distraction.
据觉得，现在大家注意力的持续时间甚至比不过一只金鱼。大家一直寻求新鲜事物，这会产生一种多巴胺。然而，只须一种新的刺激被发现，它就不再是新的，过了一段时间，它将令大家感到厌倦。为了获得同样让人愉快的多巴胺，大家就会寻求新的注意力分散来源。
Our increasing reliance on screentime is also to blame. Although we seem to live in a varied and exciting world with a wealth of entertainment at our fingertips, this is actually the problem. Many of these amu百度竞价推广ents are obtained in remarkably similar ways – via our fingers. We spend much of our work life now tapping away at our keyboard. We then look for stimulation via the internet or our phone, which means more tapping. On average we spend six to seven hours in front of our phone, tablet, computer and TV screens every day.
对"屏幕时间"的依靠也应该为大家的无聊买单。虽然大家生活的世界不断变化，充满刺激，有着丰富的指尖娱乐方法，但这恰恰就是问题所在。不少娱乐的获得都是通过极其一样的方法||就是动动手指。大家工作生活的大多数时间都在键盘上流走。接着，借用网络或是手机，大家探寻刺激，这意味着大家更多的时间都花在敲击键盘上。平均天天，大家有6到7个小时都待在手机前、平板前、电脑前与电视屏幕前。
All this is simply becoming boring. Instead of performing varied activities that engage different neural systems to relieve our tedium, we fall back on the same screen|tapping schema for much of our day. The irony is that while our mobile devices should allow us to fill every moment, our means of obtaining that entertainment has become so repetitive and routine that it’s a source of boredom in itself.
所有这类让大家变得无聊。大家天天大多数时光都与键盘、屏幕为伍，不再参加其他各种各样的活动，这类活动占用不一样的中立系统来缓解大家的烦闷。讽刺的是，大家的手机是为了让大家每一刻都变得充实，然而大家获得娱乐的方法变得这样单一，而它本身也成为了无聊的根源。
Does any of this matter? Research suggests that chronic boredom is responsible for a profusion of negative outcomes such as overeating, gambling, truancy, antisocialbehaviour, drug use, accidents, risk taking and much more. We need less, not more, stimulation and novelty.
这类要紧吗?研究建议，长期的无聊感将会导致不少不好的后果，如反应过激、赌博、旷课、反社会行为、吸毒、意料之外、冒险等等。所以大家需要更少而非更多的刺激和新鲜事物。
It seems paradoxical, but feeling bored in the short term will make us less bored in the long term.
这好像有的自相矛盾，但短期的无聊会让大家长期没那样无聊。
（编辑：何莹莹）
