Boredom: Managing the Delicate Balance Between Exploration and Exploitation

Abstract

Boredom is functional. Simplistically, it operates as a signal to do something other than what you are doing now. But it is more nuanced than that. Animals must strike a balance between two competing drives: to explore one’s environs for resources and to exploit those resources once found. Boredom may provide the signal to switch between exploitation and exploration, minimizing opportunity costs. Evidence from behavioral and genetic studies suggests a particular profile of the high boredom prone individual, characterized by poor self-control and a tendency to ruminate on potential options for action. Cast in these terms, those who succumb to boredom more frequently suffer from a failure to launch into activities (in some sense a failure to explore) and a failure to sustain focus once engaged (a failure to exploit). This leads to a vicious cycle: The boredom prone individual can’t choose something to engage with, and their current circumstance lacks meaning and seems boring making it difficult to focus, prompting them to do something else. This then comes full cycle to confront them with the difficulty of choosing something worth engaging with.