Now, I haven't been on an airplane since before 9/11, but I vividly remember what it's like to be insanely bored during a flight before the days of mobile devices. Laptops and Palm Pilots still existed, but I was poor and a teenager, so I didn't have either, and I definitely would have done anything for a portable computer in that situation. But now, we have tiny computers in our pockets, and we as a society have seemingly taken that privilege for granted, to the point where people actively brag about how they "raw dog" flights.

First off, what the fuck is with the phrasing? When I first heard about this, I thought they were talking about something completely different. It just means... not doing anything during a flight (which sometimes includes eating and drinking). That's like saying, "Man, I'm gonna bareback the shit out of this breaded steak sandwich."

As for the actual concept itself, I don't get it. What's the appeal? "This was just a meme two years ago, this is old news." Yeah, but this is still a thing that people actively do and brag about. Someone told me it's about not being distracted, to which I asked, why is being distracted such a bad thing?

Now, when I say "distracted", of course I mean distracted in the moment, not distracted in general. Essentially multi-tasking; doing something else that's distracting you from the fact that you're compelled to sit still inside of a metal box in the sky. After all, being on a plane gives you ample time to do other things, especially if you have some stuff on the backburner that you could accomplish on your digital device; it's not like you have any other plans, you're on a plane.

Even if you're not getting work done or whatever, what is so wrong with just watching a movie or some reruns during a flight? Again: the fuck else are you gonna do with your time? Is sitting still and staring forward really an improvement? Why intentionally remove one of the very few modern conveniences you have in-flight that makes the otherwise-dead time useful?

"People don't know how to be bored anymore." Good. Boredom sucks. We don't need to be, so why should we be? You could say it has to do with the modern trend of people being glued to their phones and how that negatively impacts developing minds. But at that point, you're arguing less about boredom, and more about what people choose to fill those gaps with, which is another conversation entirely.

As is the discussion of this in relation to childhood development, in which case my answer will always be STOP GIVING YOUR CHILDREN TABLETS AND SMART PHONES. You wanna give them something? Give them a laptop and tell them if they wanna use it, they'll have to figure out how it works.

There's no virtuousness in boredom. If someone chooses to spend a few hours reading a book, writing some code, watching a documentary, or even playing a game instead of just staring ahead, that's perfectly okay; I fail to see how boredom would have been the positive alternative in that scenario.

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I could be wrong, but I think this whole thing against wanting to fill in idle time is inane. If the whole point is to fight the urge to doomscroll or mindlessly wander on TikTok, then it really should be what you're doing on your device, instead of just using the device itself. Start a project. Write a story. Replay Mortal Kombat for the billionth time. Actually do something. At some point in time, it stops being about the device itself, and starts being more about you.

[ ~/boredom-blows ]