Image courtesy of Pixabay
Admittedly, there are a hundred million germy reasons why we shouldn't be using something in a toilet that is designed to go near our face. Despite this though, various surveys report that up to 75% of people admit to regularly replying to text, checking social media or even using their phone to talk to people whilst on the toilet! Now, I don’t fall into this statistic and am pretty shocked by this figure so I thought I would add just one more reason not to for those who do. That is; your brain.
We live in a world which is constantly on the go. I watched a TED talk recently by Manoush Zomorodi, a tech podcaster and boredom specialist (what a title), who reports that people in today's society succumb to their bored urges very quickly indeed. According to Zomorodi, people check their emails on average 74 times a day and switch tasks on their devices 566 times a day (from a conversation with Professor Gloria Mark). Often just because they are bored. Now, I don’t know what population make up this statistic but I think that it is likely further enabled by the socially acceptable electronic device within reach to us almost all of our waking days. Our phones are so much more than just a phone and offer so many forms of boredom-quashing entertainment. Our brain is adapting to this and goes along feeding a never-ending evolutionary-driven thirst for stimulation. But at what cost? Zomorodi goes on to say that when we look at brains in times of boredom, they are not doing nothing. Quite the opposite. Our brains are busy consolidating memories, developing creative ideas and solving problems through the formation of new neural connections. Similar processes occur during sleep hence it's necessity in mental wellbeing. Having downtime (being bored) actually maximises our creativity, productiveness and cognitive potentials.
Zomorodi’s talk made me think. How can we create more downtime from our devices? Are there any alone times in your lives where you allow yourself to just be bored? For many, boredom is emotionally uncomfortable so they keep a tight and busy schedule so as to avoid it. Loneliness, anxiety or unresolved grief quite often emerge in times of boredom. In my personal case, I reflected on my alone time. I have two young girls so don't get much of this I'll admit when I'm not writing or have tasks I've set myself to complete. But i don’t feel uncomfortable with boredom per se. At first I started to think outside of the work environment but even when I'm running I am listening to Spotify. I considered re-taking up swimming recently and as I did, began Googling waterproof MP3 players to avoid the tedium of the black line I remember too well… and this was about the time I thought of the humble toilet.
I began reflecting on Yuval Noah Harari's writing and the many tales from history of revolutionaries of humanity and knowledge who had realised their greatest ideas whilst sitting on the pot. The toilet has been a place of quiet solace, barren of interpersonal contact for the majority of human civilisation... Until now apparently for an astonishingly large percentage of people.
Readers, I encourage you to cherish your time of boredom whilst sitting on the toilet. A space where you may routinely forget any expectations society has of you, or perhaps you may ponder these. Regardless of where your mind goes, let it go there. Seize this time of boredom instead of your phone. If not for e Coli, then for your brains.
