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Ennui: How to Overcome Chronic Boredom
Symptoms of Ennui
Generally, ennui makes you feel almost always bored (in general or in specific parts of your life - your job or your hobbies); you feel this boredom on a deep, existential level, in a way that is hard to change.
You may also lack enthusiasm or excitement and show no interest in how the future will look like.
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Key Ideas
Ennui
Ennui is a form of chronic boredom and it usually involves tiredness, dissatisfaction, apathy and feeling that everything is uninteresting and unfulfilling.
Ennui and depression are separate phenomena
A person can suffer from ennui but not depression. Similarly, this also means that it’s possible for someone to suffer from depression but not ennui.
Depression is well defined from a clinical perspective, and is therefore a commonly used medical term, whereas ennui isn’t, and shouldn’t be viewed as such.
Ennui and boredom
- Boredom means being in a mental state that is short-tern and caused mainly by situational and environmental factors
- Ennui relates to a mental state that is chronic and caused mainly by personality-based factors (a person's disposition).
The two terms are often used interchangeably.
Dealing with Ennui
- Think about what you truly want to do, because this can help you understand why you experience ennui.
- Talk to someone to get a better perspective regarding why you experience ennui.
- Change your routine to break away the monotony that causes you to experience ennui.
- Make an effort to interact with people.
- Remove unnecessary things that can promote your ennui and make things that you have to do feel more exciting.
- Rest and recharge.
When Ennui gets dangerous
- Ennui is associated with various dangers: it can cause people to engage in dangerous, sensation-seeking behaviors, in an effort to alleviate their boredom.
- Ennui can lead to a bad, self-perpetuating downward cycle: it causes you to go lower and lower, by leading you to a place where it feeds itself.
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The argument from dictionary
The argument from a dictionary is a logical fallacy and happens when someone's argument is based, in a problematic way, on the definition of a particular term as it appears in a diction...
An example of the appeal to definition
"We should ignore the theory of evolution because the dictionary says that a theory is just an opinion that you have about something you can't prove."
The person using this fallacy is basing their statement on a specific definition of the word "theory" while ignoring alternative definitions that will better capture the meaning of the term as it's used in a scientific context.
Appeal to definition: when the process becomes fallacious
Not every use of a definition is necessarily fallacious. If the definition is properly justified and is selected in a properly justified way, it is generally not fallacious. However, it is fallacious when at least one of the following conditions are true:
- There is no valid reason for using the definition.
- The definition was cherry-picked out of a range of possible definitions.
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Virtue signaling
Virtue signaling means speaking or behaving in a way that’s meant to prove a person's good moral values.
If a person affirms on social media that they fully support...
The overall negative connotation of virtue signaling
Usually, ‘virtue signaling’ has a negative meaning (even if there are a few situations where it is likely to lead to meaningful positive outcomes).
This behavior is generally defined as being mainly driven by the desire to signal your good moral values, regardless of whether it leads to a meaningful outcome or not.
Engaging in virtue signaling
Individuals can engage in virtue signaling, as can groups, companies, or governments.
Someone might even engage in virtue signaling in private, by saying things that are meant to convince themselves of their own good character.
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Key Ideas
Boredom is unused potential
Boredom is a disconnection to everything we can offer the world and vice versa. It's not influenced by external simulation, it's actually an indicator of how you engage with the world.
Boredom is a social disease
Ages ago, when people were busy trying to survive, boredom wasn’t a choice. They spent all their time securing food or shelter.
We are now overstimulated — easy access to infinite entertainment options is feeding boredom rather than discouraging it.
Embracing busyness to escape boredom
People embrace busyness because they are having a hard time being alone and enjoying it.
Being busy is a tricky form of entertainment however — we don’t feel the boredom, but it isn’t fun either.
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