Don't Ignore Boredom as a Cause - link to depression, Boring Institute - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 2001

It is estimated that, at any given time, there are 10,000,000 Americans suffering from depression. Of these, an estimated 10% will commit suicide. The Boring Institute, a media spoof (it was created to poke fun at celebrities, movies, television, and other media-related personalities and events that are fraught with boredom as the result of overexposure) as well as a clearinghouse for information about boredom, says that, of the signs most frequently listed as indicators of depression, boredom is almost always neglected. "The next time someone tells you they're bored to death," says Alan Caruba, the institute's founder, "take it seriously."

The American Psychological Association includes "finding little or no pleasure in life" and "experiencing a change in eating or sleeping patterns," along with "losing interest in hobbies or sleeping patterns," in its list of the signs of depression, "but the presence of an extended period of boredom is not mentioned," Caruba notes. "It should be."

Among teens and senior citizens, suicide is a major cause of death, "and these two groups are most likely to complain of being bored," he points out. Parents of teens and even pre-teens, along with the children of aged parents, rarely recognize boredom as a major indicator of emotional problems. "It is just too easy to dismiss boredom as something that will just go away on its own." Minor efforts to encourage a teenager or an aged parent to "get over it" are usually the only attempt made.

Since The Boring Institute was founded in 1984, Caruba indicates that he has received thousands of letters from teenagers and retirees complaining of this situation. "Both have in common a loss of the joy of life, a feeling [that it hasn't] any purpose. Both have difficulty focusing on even the most common ways to overcome boredom."

In addition to depression and suicide, he maintains that boredom is tied to social problems that include addictions, crime, divorce, the decision to drop out of school, loss of productivity on the job, low voter turnout for elections, and other conditions affecting individuals and society in general.