I'm bored

Well I'll give you something to do!

Welcome, aspiring polyglot! Boredom, much like day dreaming, is a powerful tool in enhancing your thinking. Of course, improved cognition means improved study sessions. Though you have likely heard it hundreds of times, it bears repeating: too much technology is a bad thing. We see it playing out with iPad kids. It is becoming increasingly obvious with the advent of AI. Choosing to drown out the noise and spend time away from technology can and will set you apart in the future. For your ability to think, if nothing else.

The art of boredom

A couple of weeks ago my phone broke. So for the past 14 days or so I haven’t had anything in my pocket or at my fingertips 24/7. I have to admit, I haven’t felt this creative or this relaxed in years. Sure, I’m going to get a new phone, but I think I am going to take a different approach this time. After decades of learning how to avoid boredom, it is going to take me more than a couple weeks to unlearn everything, but I’m glad this happened.

Most people have been trained intentionally or otherwise to avoid boredom. This means that there is a lot of unlearning that needs to happen in order to get back to a place where people are comfortable allowing themselves to be bored. Being comfortable being bored also means being comfortable with one’s own thoughts. That is, perhaps, the bigger battle.

If you aren’t quite ready to give up things like your phone, and I am not either, then start smaller and give yourself hours of airplane mode. Times when you restrict access to your phone every day. All electronics would benefit from this, but I am sure you have heard it a thousand times, but doing what you can to eliminate screen time before bed will help you have better, more restorative sleep as well. Which is necessary when learning a new language.

Aside from restricting technology, there is one other thing you can use to trigger boredom and it is completely free. Silence. Sitting in silence will inevitably bring about precisely what we are after: creativity. Sometimes it will take no more than 2 minutes and your mind will begin to race. If you allow it some time to continue on its path, you will find something that you can build on in the future. Day dreaming is a powerful tool for language acquisition.

Allowing yourself time to be creative

It is easy to drown in the noise of every day life. So much so that many people will struggle to tell you the things they really enjoy doing. For me, writing is a major outlet. Shocking, I know. But I have really been struggling to write for fun over the past few months. Over the past two weeks, however, I have been flooded with ideas and I have really enjoyed writing again.

The more time I spend without constantly filling the room with some form of stimulus, the easier everything seems to flow. Not only in my writing, but in my thought processes, too. This is all anecdotal, but I plan to implement some of these ideas with my students in the near future. Distractions are a large reason many people struggle with learning anyway, but separating yourself from all of the noise intentionally takes discipline. Unless, of course, your phone breaks and you are more or less forced into it!

Use this down time to think and strategize how you will approach your language acquisition. In fact, you might find that the lack of noise allows you to begin thinking through things in your target language. Often the knowledge you already have is sufficient, but you need to allow yourself, and your brain, the requisite time to recall. When you can’t just reach for a translation tool, your brain actually has to work to recall whatever it is you are trying to recall.

Drowning out the noise long term

Convenience is good. I don’t think anyone would argue otherwise. But, as with all things, too much convenience is a bad thing. With the world at your fingertips it is easier than ever to forget about the present. Monitoring the situation is important, but letting the situation become your life is not worth it. Of course, this doesn’t happen over night. Building habits to drown out the noise is crucial.

Airplane mode after dinner, no TV during the weekdays, reading before bed instead of scrolling, weekends with no phones, or even just one hour per day. All of these things will help you build habits to determine whether or not what you are spending your time on is worthwhile. You may also find that you are able to think more clearly the less noise you have around you throughout the day.

The best way to do this that most people can begin today is driving in silence. A couple months ago I drove to see my parents and it’s well over a ten hour drive. For the first half I filled the time with podcasts and music, but I grew tired of hearing different people say the same things over and over again, so I turned everything off 5 hours into the drive. It was an incredible experience.

I can’t promise you will solve world hunger or even your own hunger, but you might be surprised at how much more you have to think about given the time. You can and should use driving time to refine your thoughts and get your mind in a good place. Filling every waking hour with noise can absolutely destroy your ability to think and I don’t know if there is a better example of this than iPad kids.

Conclusion

If you are an adult who is constantly using screens, it isn’t much different than being a kid who is constantly using screens. We all know, somewhere deep down, that technology is a blessing and a curse. Like many things, it is a tool. There are ways to use it correctly, there are ways to use it incorrectly. More importantly, there are ways to overuse them that result not in damage to the tool, but damage to the wielder.

I would never recommend people do away with technology altogether. Even without a phone I find a way to spend 5+ hours in front of a screen every day. But being judicious with your screen time and setting aside some time to be completely without it is something almost anyone can manage, while few people actually will. This strategy, with enough time, will enhance and accelerate your second language acquisition; and, hopefully, your thought processes overall.

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