SEtalk: The Surprising Power of Being Bored

When was the last time you were truly bored?

你们上一次真正感到无聊是什么时候？

Not a little impatient. Properly, painfully bored.

不是有点不耐烦，而是真真正正、无聊到难受的那种。

Take your time. I'll wait.

慢慢想，我等着。

Most of you can't remember, can you?

你们大多数人都想不起来了，对吧？

Neither could I, and that worried me.

我也想不起来，这让我很担心。

These days, we never have to be bored.

如今，我们永远不必无聊。

Waiting for a bus? Check your phone.

等公交？看手机。

Queuing at the supermarket? Check your phone.

在超市排队？看手机。

Two seconds of silence in a lift? Phone.

电梯里安静了2秒？手机。

We've filled every empty moment of our lives.

我们把生活中每一个空闲的瞬间都填满了。

But here's the interesting part.

但有趣的地方来了。

In 2014, two British psychologists ran a strange experiment.

2014年，2位英国心理学家做了一个奇怪的实验。

First, they made people do something incredibly dull:

首先，他们让参与者做一件极其枯燥的事：

copying numbers out of a phone book for fifteen minutes.

花15分钟从电话簿里抄号码。

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

然后，他们让这些人想想塑料杯能有哪些用途。

And guess what?

你们猜怎么着？

The bored group came up with far more creative ideas!

无聊的那组人想出了更多有创意的点子！

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

原来，无聊并不是浪费时间。

It's the moment your mind starts to wander,

那是你的思绪开始漫游的时刻，

connecting ideas you never knew were connected.

把你从没想过有关联的想法串联起来。

Think about where your best ideas come from.

想想你们最好的点子都是从哪儿来的。

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

洗澡的时候。长时间散步的时候。夜里躺着睡不着的时候。

Hardly ever while you're scrolling through social media.

几乎从来不是在刷社交媒体的时候。

We've been trading our daydreams for notifications.

我们一直在用白日梦换取通知消息。

So last year, I tried something radical.

所以去年，我尝试了一件很激进的事。

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

每天，我都不带手机散步20分钟。

Ugh, the first week was honestly unbearable.

唉，说实话，第一周简直难以忍受。

But by the third week, ideas started pouring in.

但到了第3周，点子开始源源不断地冒出来。

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

其实，今天这场演讲就是在其中一次散步时萌生的！

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

所以，我不是要你们把手机扔掉。

I'm asking you to leave a few gaps.

我是希望你们留出一些空白。

Let yourself be bored once in a while.

偶尔让自己无聊一下吧。

You might be surprised by what turns up.

也许冒出来的东西会让你们大吃一惊。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。