你有時常感覺無聊嗎?你無聊的時候會做什么呢?刷微博?給別人的票圈點贊?有沒有想過這些無聊的時間也可以產生新創意?今天就來看看，——如何利用無聊的時光迸發出靈感

　　——How boredom¹ can lead to your most brilliant ideas

　　演講原文節選

 

　　And anyway, don’t only boring people get bored? But then I started to wonder: What actually happens to us when we get bored? Or, more importantly: What happens to us if we never get bored? And what could happen if we got rid of this human emotion entirely²? I started talking to neuroscientists and cognitive³ psychologists, and what they told me was fascinating. It turns out that when you get bored, you ignite a network in your brain called the "default mode." So our body, it goes on autopilot while we’re folding the laundry or we’re walking to work, but actually that is when our brain gets really busy.

 

　　不是只有無聊的人才會無聊嗎?但我接著開始想：當我們無聊時，會發生什么事?或更重要的：當我們從不無聊時，會發生什么事?如果我們完全擺脫這種人類情緒，又會發生什么事?我開始和神經科學家及認知心理學家談這個話題，他們給我的回復很棒。結果是，當你無聊時，你會點燃你腦中的一個網路，叫做「預設模式」。所以當我們在折洗好的衣服、或是走路去上班時，我們的身體會自動駕駛，但其實那時我們的大腦才真的很忙。

 

　　So before challenge week, we were averaging two hours a day on our phones and 60 pickups, you know, like, a quick check, did I get a new email? Here’s what Tina, a student at Bard⁴ College, discovered about herself?(Audio)Tina: So far, I’ve been spending between 150 and 200 minutes on my phone per day, and I’ve been picking up my phone 70 to 100 times per day. And it’s really concerning, because that’s so much time that I could have spent doing something more productive, more creative, more towards myself, because when I’m on my phone, I’m not doing anything important.

 

　　在挑戰周之前，我們平均是一天花2小時在手機上，拿起手機 60 次，比如拿起來看一下有沒有新郵件。以下是巴德學院學生蒂娜對她自己的發現。(語音)蒂娜：目前，我每天會花 150 到 200 分鐘在手機上，每天拿起手機 70 到 100 次。這很讓人擔憂，因為這么多時間我本來可以用來做比較有生產力、有創意、對我自己有助益的事，因為當我用手機時，我并沒有在做重要的事。

 

　　If you have never known life without connectivity, you may never have experienced boredom. And there could be consequences. Researchers at USC have found they’re studying, teenagers who are on social media while they’re talking to their friends or they’re doing homework and two years down the road, they are less creative and imaginative about their own personal futures⁵ and about solving societal problems, like violence in their neighborhoods. And we really need this next generation to be able to focus on some big problems: climate change, economic disparity, massive cultural differences.

 

　　如果你從來就不知道沒有連結的人生是怎樣的，你可能從來沒有體驗過無聊。那是可能會有后果的。南加大的研究者發現——他們的研究對象是會在和朋友說話或做功課時，同時用社交媒體的青少年，兩年時間過去后，他們對于自己的未來會比較沒創意和想像力，對于解決社會問題，如街坊暴力，也比較沒創意和想像力。我們真的需要下一個世代能夠專注在大問題上：氣候改變、經濟失衡、大量文化差異。

 

　　So the next time you go to check your phone, remember that if you don’t decide how you’re going to use the technology, the platforms will decide for you. And ask yourself: What am I really looking for? Because if it’s to check email, that’s fine -- do it and be done. But if it’s to distract yourself from doing the hard work that comes with deeper thinking, take a break, stare out the window and know that by doing nothing, you are actually being your most productive and creative self. It might feel weird⁶ and uncomfortable at first, but boredom truly can lead to brilliance⁷.

 

　　切記，如果你沒有決定你要如何用那科技，下次你再去看你的手機，平臺就會為你做決定。記得自問：我到底在找什么?因為如果是去看郵件，沒問題，去做，然后做完就好。但如果是讓自己從需要深刻思考的努力工作中分心，休息一下，看看窗外，要知道，什么都不做時，其實是最有生產力及創意的時候。一開始可能感覺很怪且不舒服，但無聊真的可以帶來出色。

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