SEtalk: The Surprising Power of Being Bored

When was the last time you were truly bored?

你們上一次真正覺得無聊是什麼時候？

Not a little impatient. Properly, painfully bored.

不是有點不耐煩，而是真真正正、無聊到受不了的那種。

Take your time. I'll wait.

慢慢想，我等你們。

Most of you can't remember, can you?

你們大部分人都想不起來了，對吧？

Neither could I, and that worried me.

我也想不起來，這讓我很擔心。

These days, we never have to be bored.

現在，我們再也不必無聊了。

Waiting for a bus? Check your phone.

等公車？滑手機。

Queuing at the supermarket? Check your phone.

在超市排隊？滑手機。

Two seconds of silence in a lift? Phone.

電梯裡安靜了2秒？手機。

We've filled every empty moment of our lives.

我們把生活中每一個空檔都填滿了。

But here's the interesting part.

但有趣的地方來了。

In 2014, two British psychologists ran a strange experiment.

2014年，2位英國心理學家做了一個奇特的實驗。

First, they made people do something incredibly dull:

首先，他們讓受試者做一件超級無聊的事：

copying numbers out of a phone book for fifteen minutes.

花15分鐘從電話簿裡抄號碼。

Then they asked them to think of uses for a plastic cup.

接著，他們請這些人想想塑膠杯可以拿來做什麼。

And guess what?

你們猜結果怎樣？

The bored group came up with far more creative ideas!

無聊的那組想出了更有創意的點子！

Boredom, it turns out, isn't a waste of time.

原來，無聊並不是浪費時間。

It's the moment your mind starts to wander,

那是你的思緒開始神遊的時刻，

connecting ideas you never knew were connected.

把你從沒想過有關聯的點子串在一起。

Think about where your best ideas come from.

想想你們最棒的點子都是從哪裡冒出來的。

In the shower. On a long walk. Lying awake at night.

洗澡的時候。散步散很久的時候。半夜躺著睡不著的時候。

Hardly ever while you're scrolling through social media.

幾乎從來不是在滑社群媒體的時候。

We've been trading our daydreams for notifications.

我們一直在拿白日夢去換通知訊息。

So last year, I tried something radical.

所以去年，我試了一件很極端的事。

Every day, I took a twenty-minute walk without my phone.

每天，我都不帶手機去散步20分鐘。

Ugh, the first week was honestly unbearable.

唉，老實說，第一週簡直讓人受不了。

But by the third week, ideas started pouring in.

但到了第3週，點子開始源源不絕地冒出來。

In fact, this very talk began on one of those walks!

其實，今天這場演講就是在某次散步時萌生的！

So I'm not asking you to throw your phone away.

所以，我不是要你們把手機丟掉。

I'm asking you to leave a few gaps.

我是希望你們留一點空白。

Let yourself be bored once in a while.

偶爾讓自己無聊一下吧。

You might be surprised by what turns up.

說不定冒出來的東西會讓你們大吃一驚。

Thank you.

謝謝大家。