The Island of Explained: Escape from Boredom

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Host: Today! Explain! What? Today! Oh. Explain! Okay. Today! I get it. Explain! Today! Today! Explain! Explain! Today! Today Explained. Noam? What day is it?

Noam Hassenfeld: It's Saturday.

Host: What are we doing here? We're here for the kids, Sean.

Noam Hassenfeld: Oh, like Today Explained summer camp? Got it. Okay, well, anything for the kids.

Host: What's up on the island of Explained?

Noam Hassenfeld: Well, we've had a lot of kids telling us that they're grappling with all kinds of difficult emotions during the pandemic. So producer Bird Pinkerton and I, we're going to go to the island. We're going to rent a canoe and take it right off the island onto the Emotion Ocean.

Bird Pinkerton: Yeah, the Emotion Ocean. It can be a fun place, a scary place, but, you know, it's also a place where you can learn how to process difficult emotions.

Host: All right, well, D.C. doesn't have a lot of ocean, just two dirty rivers and a bunch of pools that are shut down for the Rona, so I'm stoked to listen in.

Noam Hassenfeld: It is so nice to go to my bedroom again.

Bird Pinkerton: Yeah, and I think you're going to love it out here on the Emotion Ocean. It's where I go when I'm feeling something really deeply.

Noam Hassenfeld: Well, right now I'm feeling hungry.

Bird Pinkerton: Good thing I brought boat snacks.

Noam Hassenfeld: Um, Bird, were you going to share that PB&J, or you're just keeping it all to yourself?

Bird Pinkerton: Wow, Noam, I was just about to offer you some. Are you feeling okay?

Noam Hassenfeld: Yeah, I'm sorry. That was really mean. I don't usually get that jealous.

Bird Pinkerton: It's okay, it happens. Here, let's find something to take your mind off it.

Noam Hassenfeld: Oh, check out these weird green jellyfish.

Bird Pinkerton: Jealous fish, Bird, not jellyfish.

Noam Hassenfeld: Oh, the jealous fish, Bird, that explains it. They're always vibrating with jealousy. It must have affected us.

Bird Pinkerton: But how come the jealous fish affected you more than me?

Noam Hassenfeld: Well, emotions are kind of unpredictable, you know? Some people experience emotions more intensely than other people, so it's always a good idea to head out onto the emotion ocean with good friends.

Bird Pinkerton: Oh, good thing I'm here with you then.

Noam Hassenfeld: I'm bored.

Bird Pinkerton: No one can get me. I'm bored.

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Bird Pinkerton: Okay, Bird. This should help us see in here. We're inside of a whale!

Noam Hassenfeld: It doesn't actually really look like the inside of a whale. It's just a huge gray hallway with gray doors that looks like it stretches out forever.

Bird Pinkerton: Yeah, that's because we're actually just inside of an emotion. All these bored thoughts take the shape of a whale, but boredom is really just a feeling.

Noam Hassenfeld: Man, this is so not fun.

Bird Pinkerton: No, Bird! You have to fight the urge to be bored. We have to get out of here.

Noam Hassenfeld: I don't know. I think I'll just be bored forever.

Bird Pinkerton: Wait, who's that walking down the hallway?

Erin: Hey, folks, I'm Erin. In your world, I'm a psychologist. I study boredom at the University of Florida, but I come to the island of Explained to study boredom more closely. Whenever the bored whale swallows someone, I stop by and see what it does to them.

Noam Hassenfeld: Huh. That's pretty cool.

Erin: I don't know. I mean, no offense, Erin, you seem great, but like, it sounds boring. Why would you want to study this?

Noam Hassenfeld: It's literally the most boring thing in the world.

Erin: Oh no, that's where you're wrong. Being bored is fascinating. Did you know boredom is actually really good and healthy for you?

Noam Hassenfeld: What? Boredom is good for you? How is that possible?

Erin: Well, boredom, just like sadness and fear and these other bad emotions that we don't really like, they're really useful. They're tools and they teach us that something's wrong. So sadness tells us that we've lost something we really care about. And fear tells us that there's something really dangerous going on. Boredom tells us that what we're doing right now, it's not meaningful.

Noam Hassenfeld: So if we didn't feel bored, you just lie around all day and never want to do anything at all.

Erin: But I don't know, I'm bored and I don't feel inspired to do very much. I just feel gray.

Bird Pinkerton: Yeah, boredom doesn't feel great. We don't always feel like getting up and doing a lot of stuff when we're bored. Sometimes we kind of withdraw and don't do anything and that's common.

Noam Hassenfeld: And boredom happens when, you know, there's something out there that you want to do, something that could be meaningful, but nothing fits the bill. And you're sort of struggling to find something that is meaningful in the moment.

Erin: Huh. If nothing feels right, how are we going to leave Bored's town?

Bird Pinkerton: Well, there are some good ways to get out and there are some bad ways. Come this way. I want to show you this hallway.

Noam Hassenfeld: I don't really want to leave my boat behind. It's a rental.

Erin: Oh, it'll be okay. Trust me.

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Erin: Okay, come on, bird. Fine. Whoa. Double rainbow.

Noam Hassenfeld: Hey, Charlie, wake up. This is who a lot of bit me. And boom, those are dirty. I love fun, come, them stars.

Erin: So each door here leads to a tube. This one is the YouTube.

Noam Hassenfeld: Wow, this is kind of cool. I love you. I love you. Next video. Next video.

Erin: I'm about to count to 100,000. There's so much to watch. I'm definitely not bored now.

Bird Pinkerton: Hey, guys. Hey, guys. Hold on. Oh, no. We're exploding through the blowhole. This is fun. Whoa. Whoa. Wait for it. Oh, no. We're falling back in. And we're right back here where we started in Bored's tum.

Noam Hassenfeld: You see, there's lots of doors that you could open, Instagram, YouTube, video games, but then you fall back down and pretty soon we're bored again just where we started.

Erin: Does that mean we're stuck here forever? How can we actually get out?

Noam Hassenfeld: Well, there's no foolproof way to do it and scientists like me are still doing a lot of research on how to stop feeling bored. So, for instance, some people say that you can stop feeling bored by finding something meaningful to do. Others say you really need to find the right challenge. One of my favorite ways is to be creative, to use creativity to escape from boredom.

Bird Pinkerton: So we just make something new now?

Noam Hassenfeld: Yeah. So you can try to think of something that's fun and engaging. If you can think of something you really care about, you can try to think of how you could do that here in the moment.

Erin: Noam, you like to make music, right?

Noam Hassenfeld: Yeah.

Erin: I wonder if I could make some type of song. Could you try it now? Maybe you can get out.

Noam Hassenfeld: I mean Noam we do have that crate of music stuff

Bird Pinkerton: Oh yeah the crate It got everything I need I could make a song right now

Noam Hassenfeld: I can wait to hear it What do you use for inspiration

Erin: Hmm. Well, some of those boredom thoughts we heard on the ocean, those were kind of musical. I wish we could hear them again.

Noam Hassenfeld: Well, this whole whale is made up of bored thoughts. I wonder if I just poke at the wall over here.

Bird Pinkerton: Oh, I'm bored. I don't know what to do.

Noam Hassenfeld: Wait, do that again. I need to record it.

Bird Pinkerton: Molly's up for more poking. Got it. And honestly, this kid's a natural.

Erin: I wonder if I could make his boredom the melody for my song. Add a little bit of delay. Add in a beat.

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Noam Hassenfeld: I'm bored. I don't want to do something to do. I'm bored. I don't want to do. I'm bored. I don't want to do something to do.

Bird Pinkerton: Hey, the hallway's dissolving.

Noam Hassenfeld: Yeah, that's how you know you're really out of boredom. You just find something that really, really interests you and engages you creatively, and boredom just kind of fades away.

Erin: Though, I love boredom, so I'll be here studying it.

Noam Hassenfeld: Okay, well, I guess I hope I don't see you soon. Thank you so much for your help, Erin. It was really nice to meet you.

Erin: You too. You know, now that I got these creative juices flowing, Bird, I think I don't really want to stop. I might just make this song bigger.

Bird Pinkerton: Okay, let's get all these other bored thoughts that are floating around. That way they won't become another whale.

Noam Hassenfeld: I don't know, maybe you can weave those into your song too. We can make this song so weird and fun. I like weird and fun. And ridiculous. And ridiculous. And honestly, we never would have made it if we hadn't been so bored.

Bird Pinkerton: The most interesting thing that I've done over the summer is... Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Not, not, not, nothing.

Noam Hassenfeld: I really hated all my learning. It was just so boring. But I'm, it was not fun. Outside we do nothing. Inside we do nothing. So quarantine is just a boring, vast thing of nothing. Outside we do nothing. Inside we do nothing. So quarantine is just a boring, vast thing of nothing. Vast thing of nothing. Today's episode was brought to you by Today Explained Summer Camp counselors Noam Hassenfeld and Bird Pinkerton. Jillian Weinberger edited the episode. Avim Shapiro, engineered with the help of his son Harvey. Vox's editorial director of podcasts, Liz Kelly Nelson, helped a bunch too. Ford the Whale was played by Jeff Geld. He's a very talented audio engineer here at Vox who also writes straight bangers. Dr. Aaron Westgate took a break from researching boredom at the University of Florida to hang out in Bord's Tum. And we had help from Morgan Givens, Amanda Northrup, Rachel Janini, Salim Hugh Penny, Lauren Katz, Jamila Various, and Rachel Israel. Special thanks to all the kids who gave us a glimpse into their lives in quarantine. Alejandro, Amal, Amelia, August, Benjamin, Casey, Emily, Little Ezra, Kai, Kiana, Clementina, Liav, Lucia, Nico, Phoenix, Ryla, and Vera. The song you're hearing right now is called I'm Bored, and it's up on Spotify, Apple Music, and all those types of places. Just search for Today Explained. You can spend more time on the island of Explained with a set of activities we put together for you to do with your grownups and to do with your kids. And if you're ready to say goodbye to boredom, head over to Vox.com slash Today Explained Kids for some laugh out loud activities that you can do with your squad or on your own. Again, that site is Vox.com slash Today Explained Kids. The rest of the Today Explained team includes Bridget McCarthy, Halima Shah, Muj Zadi, and Amina Al-Sadi. I'm Sean Romsperm. We had extra help this week from Paul Malinsey and Taylor Macon. Cecilia Lay checks the facts, the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder does music, and today explained as a part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Outside we do nothing, inside we do nothing, so quarantine is just a boring, vast thing of nothing. Vast thing of nothing. Vast thing of nothing.

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