Nothingismoretiresomethanbeingstuckinaboringclass．Everysecondtakesagestotickby．ArecentsurveyofAmericankidsrevealedthat91percentexperienceboredom．Infact，adolescenceisconsideredapeakperiodfortheproblem．One
Nothingismoretiresome thanbeingstuckinaboringclass．Everysecondtakesages totickby．ArecentsurveyofAmericankidsrevealedthat91percentexperienceboredom．Infact，adolescenceisconsideredapeakperiodfortheproblem．Onestudyshowedthatroughlyoneinthreeteenagerswasboredatschool．
PeterStromberg，professorattheUniversityofTulsasays，"Ourbrainsadaptreallyquicklytocertainlevelsofstimulation（刺激）．Wegetusedtothemediaprovidinglevelsofhighlyemotionalstimulation，andwhenwe'renotgettingthemwefeelbored．Asoursocietydevelopsvarious waysofkeepingusentertained，wemaydiscoverthatratherthan gettingridof boredom，we'remultiplying it．"Luckily，newresearchis implying awaythatwecan battle thetrend．
ProfessorJohnD．EastwoodoftheUniversityofYorkdevelopedanewtheoryofboredom，whichlinksittothebrain'sattentionsystem-thepartofthebrainthatweusetofocus．Anythingtheattentionsysteminyourbrainlocksontowillbeautomaticallysuckedupintoyourconsciousawareness-itmightbeabirdoutsidethewindow，thepleasantsmelloflunch，orevensomeonesleepinginthebackoftheclass．
Theproblemisthatyourattentionsystemdoesn'tlikebeingtoldwhattodo．Itwantstofocusonstuffthatyoufindfunandinteresting．Forthepartsofschoolthatyouenjoy，thisisn'taproblem．Butforthoseclassesthatdon'tinterestyou，orpresenttoomuchortoolittlechallenge，thestoryisverydifferent．Inthosesituations，you'regoingtohavetospendalotofeffortconstantlyredirectingyourattentionsystem tofocusonthingsitwouldratherignore．Andtheeffortisgoingtowearyouout．Eastwooddescribesitas"wanting，butbeingunable，tobeinvolved inasatisfyingactivity．"It'slikeablockinthesystem．Andit'stheawarenessofthatblockcombined withasensethattheenvironmentistoblamethatleadstofeelingsofboredom．
Whenwe'reboredweblametheworldaroundus，butEastwood'stheorychallengesthisassumption：Boredomdoesn'texistoutthere；itexistsinsideyourbrain．Whatthatmeansis-hardasitmaybetohear-boringlessonsaren'tonlythefaultofyourteacherorthesubject，they'reyourfaulttoo．
67．AccordingtoPeterStromberg，___．