The Power of “Boring” and the Danger of Boredom

We are living in the age of relentless novelty. Where “new” has supplanted “good” in terms of what we are told to value. Where there is no greater sin than to be boring. Quiet. Still.

But just because something is “something” …that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any good.

We’re all witness to the daily gasoline fire of trends, fashion, and outfits roaring across our screens. More accessories. More flash. More ugly. More “luxury.” More cheap… yet more spending. Newer. Faster. Louder. MORE.

Shopping apps now designed to be overwhelming and addictive, complete with the dopamine triggering flashing lights, bells, and whistles of a casino. Newer. Faster. Louder. MORE.

Social media platforms (some originally designed for still photography) now saturated with hyper-short-form videos, hitting our eyes and brains with a cognitive pepper-spray of constant movement and change. Newer. Faster. Louder. MORE.

Q: “Here, have a boring wristwatch.”
007: “Does it DO anything?
Q: “It tells the time. Just kidding it’s also a bomb,
but hey at least it DOESN’T have a habit-forming app probably used by a foreign adversary
to surveil users leaving many susceptible to potential emotional and behavioral manipulation.”

But is any of it good? Useful? What about fulfilling?

Or is it just picking at scabs? Empty if not corrosive stimulation. Feeling anything, as long as we feel something.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

When it comes to getting dressed, there is real power in mastering what many would see as boring or uncreative. There is also danger in allowing yourself to get bored with simple well fitting staples, only to become obsessed with standing out as stylistically different and constantly cutting edge. There reaches a point where you risk regression through hyper active pursuit. Like the guy who decides he wants to get healthy, starts hitting the gym, and a few years later he’s lifting weights 3 times a day and injecting livestock growth hormones.

It’s an easy trap to fall into. We all get bored. And that’s okay. Being bored can even be good. The danger with boredom in the digital age is that there are now enormous powers looking to capitalize on boredom. To hijack that space, and to use it to manipulate, sell, and metastasize.

You gotta keep your guard up.

“You have to admit there’s a conflict of interest when you give advice about others’ [shopping/social media habits.]”
“Yes. But that doesn’t mean that I’m wrong.” – (paraphrasing) Danny Ocean, a famously boring dresser

Find your rhythm. If it works, it works. Repetition does not necessarily lead to failure. See the value in standing out quietly. Maintaining perspective. This is NOT to say that change isn’t often needed, demanded, and long overdue. (See, I dunno, codpieces.) But ask yourself… is it really boring? Or is it just boring in the eyes of an app or a brand or an influencer who is desperately trying to sell you something?

There is real power in purposeful stillness. In quiet. In “boring.”

If someone or something seems desperate to tell you differently, and their only argument is “you don’t want to be BORING, do you?” then perhaps it’s their own power they’re truly concerned about.

Because power is transferable.

And right now the conduit through which a lot of power is transferring is by way of the lie that boring is bad, stillness is weak, and novelty is always a positive.

Boring as hell. Still gets the job done.