Some theorists believe that the idea of boredom arose when the upper class started profiting off of the labor of the working class and developed a surplus of free time. But if you look back through history, free time was in abundance in the Middle Ages and earlier. The peasants of the Middle Ages had far more free time than we do today.
Perhaps the experience of boredom arose with the appearance of mass-produced distractions: broadsheets, tabloids and newspapers, radio, television, and — finally — the internet. The dharma asserts that the moment we start chasing something, we create its opposite. “Left” only has meaning if there's a “right.” When we chase happiness, we create the idea of sadness. When we chase distractions, we become acutely aware of the times they aren't present — we become easily bored.
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