Alan Caruba created The Boring Institute in 1984, but put it on hiatus following 9/11. Primarily a media spoof, the Institute was famous for its annual list of “The Most Boring Celebrities of the Year.”
Caruba felt that the mood of the nation was such that its annual spoofs of celebrities, movies, and televisions were inappropriate at the time.
The Institute is back as a blog and Caruba anticipates sharing the fun of those earlier years that included many radio and television interviews as well as profiles in The New York Times and other leading publications.
One of its events was an annual “Anti-Boredom Month” each July, created to focus attention on the role boredom plays in people’s lives.
In 1984, Caruba had no plans to become the nation’s expert on boredom, but the success of the spoof generated a great deal of mail asking for advice on how to overcome and avoid boredom. His research led him to take a longer, more serious look at this common problem.
“Now, when people say they’re bored to death,” says Caruba, “I tell them they are a lot closer to the truth than they suspect.” Serious boredom is an early warning signal of depression says Caruba, who notes that ten million or more Americans suffer from depression.
“About ten percent of them will commit suicide and those that do come most frequently from the age groups of teenagers and senior citizens.” Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in America.
So, for Caruba, real boredom is no laughing matter. “I began to find links between boredom and crime, since most crime is committed by young people. Then there’s the link between boredom and the decision to drop out of school. Put them together,” says Caruba, “and you will discover that an estimated eighty percent of everyone in jail today is a school dropout. As often as not, the trouble began because they were bored.”
Boredom plays a role in the widespread addictions to drugs and alcohol says Caruba. “What worse way can you think of to avoid being bored than to get high on something that makes you dependent and can put you in jail for using or misusing it?”
Bored people make bad decisions because they’re bored. “When they finally get themselves clean, they always say the same thing, ‘What was I thinking of?’ and the answer is they were not thinking. They were bored!”
Marriages get in trouble over two issues, money and sex. “It’s the boredom in the bedroom,” says Caruba “that gets one marriage partner or both looking for satisfaction elsewhere.” Couples need to work at keeping their passion for one another for mutual satisfaction and there are a variety of factors that often interfere with this. When sex becomes boring to one partner, however, the marriage is in serious need of salvaging. “There are many things a couple can do to reinvigorate their sex lives, but they both need to want it.”
To help people who want answers on how to overcome and avoid boredom, The Boring Institute offers a guide, “Beating Boredom”, available exclusively on its blog site.
“The top three things people must do,” says Caruba, “is get the reading habit, pursue hobbies, and be a joiner. Reading, says Caruba, “feeds the mind in a way nothing else does.” Just watching television is “a good way to fall asleep if you have insomnia, but it does little to overcome boredom. Most films fail to satisfy these days in just the same way.” Books, however, involve the reader at their deepest level.
A veteran book reviewer, Caruba reports on the latest in fiction and non-fiction books on his blog http://.bookviewsbyalancaruba.blogspot.com.
Reading is one of his favorite pastimes.
Hobbies are essential to happiness says Caruba. “I don’t care if you collect toy soldiers or climb mountains, just so long as you do it with passion.” The power of sports such as golf, tennis, bowling, hiking, fishing or hunting all speak to the need people have for something outside the demands of school or a job. One can also be a passionate observer, taking in a baseball, football, basketball or hockey game, enjoying the pleasure of being among others who share your enthusiasm.
Being a joiner means getting out of one’s apartment or home to be involved with people who share your interests. Caruba is a big advocate of volunteering one’s time to help others. “There are few forms of personal satisfaction that come close to knowing you’ve made a different in someone else’s life by helping them in some way. Being involved with civic, business, professional, spiritual, arts and other organizations pays big personal dividends.”
The Boring Institute is headquartered in South Orange, N.J.
