The Boregasm: Not as fabulous as it sounds; boredom is actually a state of stress

If you are reading this, odds are you are not bored. At this moment, your attention is actively engaged. I can’t say for how long but I know that once you lose interest, you will blame me: this article is dull, this writer is boring.

But in trying to understand this universal feeling, researchers are increasingly asking: What does your boredom say about you?

“Kids have a term for it, ‘Boregasm,’ where you’re hit with a 1,000 pounds of boredom at once,’’ says Albert Nerenberg, a Montreal-based filmmaker who just released a documentary about boredom.

“For many years, [I and a film crew] did these satires of politics where we’d go into real situations with fake actors. We wouldn’t be able to do our stuff until the end. We’d sit for 45 minutes of political speeches and I experienced the [symptoms] of boredom: one is wanting to poke your eyes out or chew your arm off. Boredom produces self-destructive feelings.”