This article appears in "Life Week" "Life Round Table" section 2019 of the 16, the original title of "A Brief History of boring"
Man / Tony Xiaorong
Ancient people worked hard all day to survive, no time boring, modern people watch TV all day, play phone, rarely get bored. Doctor of History at Yale University Jeffrey Auerbach says, humans are from the 18th century began to feel bored, he said in his book "Imperialism boring": "Although some scholars boring origins date back to ancient Greece and Rome, but most of the evidence suggests that boredom is a modern construction, before the mid-18th century, the word is not boring, there is no such concept. prior to this, if people get bored, they do not know it, there is no such She expressed. "because the work is the main content of the former industrial society, everyday life, leisure yet independent. Industrial Revolution let time become always fleeting, can not be wasted. Leisure is a need meaningful activities to fill, no new active people will get bored.
After the advent of bored quickly spread. American scholar Michael Faber said: "Around 1700, a wave of severe depression spread throughout England, in other European countries also found a similar epidemic of the early eighteenth century by English borrowed the word from the French weary to refer to a form on behalf of unease. "
In 1802, French writer Chateaubriand describes deserting disturbed that era: "Imagine a rich, colorful, wonderful; but the reality is pathetic, boring, disappointing us full of a full heart, living in a void. world; and we do not enjoy anything been deprived of everything, "1849, Flaubert said while on a boat along the Nile countercurrent:" temples of Egypt made me feel very boring "his.". Madame Bovary "for bored doing the most outstanding drawing, said Madame Bovary" every smile is hidden behind a bored yawn. "
Was sent overseas British Empire colonists should be very happy, can escape the monotony of domestic life, enjoy a variety of novelty. But Auerbach says, the colonists soon felt bored. In 1934, Orwell in "Burmese Days" in the description of John Flory in Myanmar bored, lonely life, where the air is hot, lazy servant, every day in addition to drinking in European club doing nothing.
Colonists discovered the excitement of new things dwindling, because people do have travel guide: route has been marked good, the scenery has been drawn down, exotic animals and plants have been named and classified as good. Soldiers stationed overseas more time for drilling wells, roads, main job is to attend the official ceremony, the drafting of the report, sorting statistics. Whether it is in a remote forest area in India, Australia, South Africa or Canada, travelers and colonial settlers found their lives, boredom more than excited, much like newspapers, novels, travelogues and imperialist propaganda said as full of heroic adventure.
In the golden age of sailing, the boat has become increasingly common, but it takes a long time, do not need to replenish supplies because of the way and stay, but it was not as comfortable as steamboat. From Britain to India to spend three to six months time, a storm will make every rickety boat, narrow, dirty There are mice in the cabin, as well as two barrels of water, used to wash a thing, for a clean, but the journey is still the most difficult to endure boredom. Along the way sight of land, originally amateur naturalists can be found, but in the mid-18th century, most can easily recognize animals have been recorded before, such as albatrosses.
In the 18th century, one can only send and receive telegrams, to 1939, with television, boredom is estimated to be greatly eased.
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