Summer holidays again…bringing with it all those fond memories of  long ago. During which I’d whine, “I’m bored,” and then spend hours trying to alleviate the problem, after being told there’s “no such thing”.

In fact, if you look at Google’s own stats, the bigger problem these days isn’t children being bored, but adults. A staggering 246000 people a month worldwide apparently type  ” I am bored,” into the Google search box. A further 40,500 are more specific,”I am bored at work” suggesting that adults can get just as bored as kids, if not more so.

What helps?

People’s natural instinct when bored, these days is then to seek out funny clips on YouTube, do a bit of social networking, or something similar. And as I’m a big fan of all things internet, please don’t take what I’m about to say as a slight on those sites or that approach.

The thing is though, everyone can get bored, whatever their situation, or whether they normally enjoy their work, or their life situation. And just solving the problem via YouTube or similar, may not really solve it, but simply mask it, and put off the solution for another day.

So, if surfing and social networking isn’t the complete answer, what is?

In two words: direct experience.

What is “direct experience”?

The kind of direct experience I’m talking about is something where you personally go and do something which engages all your senses in an experience that you can only have by being in that place or doing that thing.

 To take an example from my own life: yesterday, more-or-less on the spur of the moment, my Long Suffering Spouse and I took a 250 mile round trip to go seal watching. A great day…and one that we could only experience first-hand, or directly, by actually going there , getting on a boat, looking at (and smelly the fairly fishy whiff of) the seals. The seals were still cute beyond words, and the experience, though not lengthy, or expensive, was fantastic.

Others who are less wildlife-obsessed than me, or more sporty, might choose hiking, windsurfing or canoing. Foodie types might prefer wine-tasting, and if you feel you’re more arty, there’s sketching, photography, or going to a live play or performance. And any of us can ring up a friend or family member for a chat.

But what each of these activities has in common is the element of direct experience.

Why direct experience is important

Direct experience could be even more important than its simple role as a means of banishing boredom. Consider the fact that within the past three generations, rates of depression have soared. Of course, there are many factors behind this statistic, including the inevitability that more educated, self-aware people are likely also to be more aware of that which they lack, and therefore, more inclined to get miserable about it.

But over a similar time period, our access to indirect experience (paperbacks,television, radio, cinema, and now the internet) has soared, whilst our opportunities for direct experience have decreased. Employees in cubicles, and especially, teleworkers, are spending almost 100% of their working life experiencing, if at all, through other people’s accounts, YouTube clips, and daydreams. They then watch TV, and/or, read, and go to sleep , before beginning the cycle again.

Compare this even with our recent ancestors, who might have worked on the land, and/or in shocking conditions, but for whom direct experience, including that of chatting to others, would never even have been an issue.

The fundamental point

Let’s be clear. My fundamental point here is pro interaction, not anti-technology. I love technology. But it’s because I love it so much, that I want everyone to be able to reap its benefits whilst having the happiest life possible.

If we can use all the fantastic benefits of technology: its speed, its capacity to connect us, the wealth of knowledge it can bring us, and harness that to the very best that the  physical world of direct experience can offer, then we’ll all be pretty blessed and lucky, rather than bored or depressed.