Bored kya?

When you8217;re having trouble coping with life, the worst thing to have to deal with is boredom. Okay, that8217;s a slight exaggeration ...

When you8217;re having trouble coping with life, the worst thing to have to deal with is boredom. Okay, that8217;s a slight exaggeration 8212; there are worse things, like being hit by lightning or stubbing your toe. But boredom is a huge issue.

Regardless of whether you think it8217;s just an affliction of the spoilt and upwardly mobile, or an invention of GenNext X or Y or whatever alphabet we8217;re on, the fact is that boredom kills. Not just in a metaphorical 8216;8216;it destroys you from within8217;8217; way. It physically kills too.

Well, maybe not as much as guns or bombs or exploding gas cylinders, but, for example, look at the hordes of teenagers who get into drugs because of boredom. Boredom and peer pressure. If there8217;s anything worse than being bored out of your skull, it8217;s being in a group of bored people who will try anything.

And while we all know drugs are bad and overdose kills, that message doesn8217;t seem to be getting across. For every sincere do-gooder exhorting impressionable young minds to say no to drugs, there are a bunch of actors or rock stars who seem more impressive and talented for it.

And with celebrities in your face 24/7 nowadays, it8217;s hard not to be aware of who8217;s doing what. Even if you don8217;t particularly care that Kate Moss was stoned through most of the 8217;90s or that Donatella Versace was hooked on coke for nearly 20 years. If you see that the world8217;s beautiful people have glamorous lives and a drug problem on the side, well then maybe you feel that8217;s something you could deal with too. They8217;re your brand ambassadors for a life of dissipation, yes, but also a life of fun. Who would say no to that?

So what8217;s 8216;8216;cool8217;8217; these days? What8217;s always been cool 8212; drugs and alcohol, in any number of potentially lethal combinations. And with the nearly soft-porn music videos and oh-so-suggestive lyrics, it8217;s no wonder that sex is also up there as a boredom buster.

Not that censorship is the answer. There is no hard and fast answer. And if there was, I8217;d bottle it and sell it for a million bucks, because there are enough people out there wrecking their systems, just looking for a vent, or a handle on life.

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The Pope8217;s got his spiritual wasteland theory and maybe the world should get closer to god, but half the problem is there just aren8217;t enough legal stimulants out there. What are all these Nobel Prize winners doing in their spare time anyway?