The good, the bad, and the boring

Life has many times that are good. Life has many times that are bad. Life has many times that can be really boring. I think it’s important to enjoy good times. I think it’s inevitable that there will be bad times. I also think that in between all the different types of times one can imagine, all those time-bound spaces in between the exciting things, there are lots and lots of boring times.

The time you have is extremely valuable. Have you ever spent time thinking about what you do when you’re bored?

I ride the train to work every day of the week. Just past 6:00am each morning, I board the train headed towards Portland. In about 45 minutes, I arrive at the stop near my office. I work until just past 3:00pm each afternoon, and then I board the train again, this time headed back home. At about 4:00pm, I am home and my day is done and over with.

During my commute, I have about one and a half hours of time every day to pass however I choose. Some days, I will simply sit in the seat and ride the train until I debark. Some days, I will listen to music. Most of the time, I will read a book. Each week, I have just about seven and a half hours of time I can spend however I want. Am I bored? Not really. For one, riding public transportation brings with it a limitless variety of situations I could encounter.

The time you have is extremely valuable. Chances are, in 2026, you spend at least part of that time on your smart phone. To use your smart phone, you need some sort of cellular service. Perhaps you also have a subscription to a streaming service; or maybe you have two of them. One to a music streaming platform and one to a video streaming platform. Perhaps you have more than one video streaming service because there are shows you like on both platforms. More likely than not, you can also access both platforms on your smart phone.

I can still remember what it was like before actual ownership of things was considered almost counter-culture. It was a time that looks very similar to the idealized version of the opposite of the subscription proliferation problem that currently pervades basically all entertainment options available to people who are bored.

How much are people willing to pay to not be bored? How much are you willing to pay not to be bored? I presume you would not be surprised to know that companies pay lots and lots of money to figure this number out. If a company figures out what a customer is willing to pay for a product, they can work backwards from that data point to capture as much value as it can from the customer.

I think it’s a fascinating train of thought, and one that can be enlightening as well. If you really dig into what you’re willing to pay just to avoid being bored, it may turn out that learning how to be bored is the better option. Alternatively, you may find shifting your interests to something with a better cost-performance ratio could possibly solve your conundrum.

Until next time. Chop wood, carry water.