Let them be bored
Apparently, some scientific studies have stated that boredom breeds creativity.
Actually without even clicking on the link, you can probably spend some time thinking about it and come to the same conclusion. There is some logic to that statement.
In the world we live in where people (especially children) yearn to be constantly bombarded with stimuli, such as the TV, computer games, tablets, books, the Internet, there is hardly any room for pure thought. I'm not saying that people have forgotten to think, because we're constantly thinking about what our next hit should be, constantly seeking out that next dose to fill our attention craving minds.
But it is only in the absence of all this "noise" that our minds can be left empty, and open - if only for a bit. Nigel saw be typing this and declared, "An idle mind is the devil's playground". Although true, that highlights the problem of the young these days - that the only way to keep their minds occupied is by external forces.
What happened to the notion of the "thought experiment"? Imagine hundreds of years ago when scientists would dream up ideas in their minds, think of scenarios and conduct experiments merely by conjuring up intellectual circumstances and propositions? Many of those "invisible" innovations continue to power these very technologies that, ironically, seem to be dumbing down our modern generations.
So let your kids, and yourselves, be bored once in a while. Let your mind flutter into wild thoughts of nothingness and "everythingness". Come up with your own thought experiments and fantasise a world in which you are the creator, put in charge of coming up with ideas for an interesting future.
(I wrote this in my mind while sitting on a bus, refusing to take my phone out.)
Actually without even clicking on the link, you can probably spend some time thinking about it and come to the same conclusion. There is some logic to that statement.
In the world we live in where people (especially children) yearn to be constantly bombarded with stimuli, such as the TV, computer games, tablets, books, the Internet, there is hardly any room for pure thought. I'm not saying that people have forgotten to think, because we're constantly thinking about what our next hit should be, constantly seeking out that next dose to fill our attention craving minds.
But it is only in the absence of all this "noise" that our minds can be left empty, and open - if only for a bit. Nigel saw be typing this and declared, "An idle mind is the devil's playground". Although true, that highlights the problem of the young these days - that the only way to keep their minds occupied is by external forces.
What happened to the notion of the "thought experiment"? Imagine hundreds of years ago when scientists would dream up ideas in their minds, think of scenarios and conduct experiments merely by conjuring up intellectual circumstances and propositions? Many of those "invisible" innovations continue to power these very technologies that, ironically, seem to be dumbing down our modern generations.
So let your kids, and yourselves, be bored once in a while. Let your mind flutter into wild thoughts of nothingness and "everythingness". Come up with your own thought experiments and fantasise a world in which you are the creator, put in charge of coming up with ideas for an interesting future.
(I wrote this in my mind while sitting on a bus, refusing to take my phone out.)