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09 Elms Quiz 1 - ARG
09 Elms Quiz 1 - ARG
Zomorodi describes the connection between boredom, creativity, and innovation in her 2017 TED Talk titled "How
Boredom Can Lead to Your Most Brilliant Ideas." She has reached out to neuroscientists and cognitive
psychologists in her quest to find out what happens to our brains when we are bored. "It turns out that you ignite a
network in your brain called the "default mode" when you get bored," she says in her speech. Our brains are hard at
work, although our body goes on autopilot while performing routine things like folding laundry or walking into the
office. Boredom is a dreaded feeling and technology has been found to fix it. As a society, we use technology in
every aspect of our lives. We sleep with it near (sometimes using apps to track our schedule or help us fall asleep),
eat with it (recipes and ordering), use it for work, school, studying, and even as a substitute for social connection.
Technology has advanced so much that it is difficult to picture a life without it. That is, until we have a different
perspective.
Zomorodi was a journalist on the front line, traveling to war zones to cover stories and make the most of her career.
When her son was born (and the iPhone three weeks later), while taking her child on walks, she found herself
spending a lot of spare time thinking. She decided to make podcasts when she got an iPhone, but she could not think
of anything to talk about. She was not as bored as she was walking. She was stuck. In her Ted Talk, she discussed
how the sense of boredom has been essentially removed by technology. With the confidence of neuroscientists and
behavioral scholars, she explained that we have the chance to shut off and daydream when the brain is bored. This is
where our creativity is all derived from. But when we have access to technology, we fill out the breaks by checking
emails, looking at Snapchat, or scrolling through TikTok mindlessly in our day. As a result of her discoveries,
Zomorodi developed a program that gives people daily challenges, including turning off their phones for a day,
lowering their screen time, and deleting the apps that beckoned them to their phones. While talking about her
program, she explained why certain apps addictive are and how it is people’s jobs to get the user’s attention in any
way possible.
Was her project informative? List down all the information you learned from her TED talk.
Yes, Listening to Zomorodi was enlightening, she discussed how we might not even know what boredom is, because
of technology. We may just know what it is like to feel stuck, and that is why our time levels on the screen are so
high, because we do not know how to handle that. It is harder for us because in a world where technology was not
available, we did not grow up; it is like a part of us. That is why it is annoying that older generations blame
technology for all our problems. Although I agree that so many pathways can be blocked by technology, it is
necessary to remember everything that it has provided us with. My ability to listen to a professional journalist tell
me through a telephone to disconnect from technology as an 18-year-old quarantined in my home is even harder
when it seems like the universe is doing everything to prevent that. Life without a phone and just the world sounds
like a great time, of course, but when that is almost impossible, we must consider that the technology of doors has
opened for us. Life will give our brains a break without our phones, so as Manoush Zomorodi says, I think it would
be nice not to feel like I must pick up my phone well, I walk from one room to the next, but it might work to fully
unravel the framework of our lives in our present moment.