Hello Design Sketchers!

How do you occupy your time these days?

When I ask my friends how things going with
the confinement due to Covid-19, they tell me:

“Home is boring. Help!” 

And Yes, I agree. It is!

But I believe there are 2 kinds of boredom:

• The “Passive Boredom” when you watch movies and scroll social media all day.
• The “Creative Boredom” when imagination activates anytime, anywhere!

Are you addicted to screens?

Are you addicted to screens?

First of all, I invite you to count the number of screens you have at home:

• Television
• Tablets
• Phones…

What we mainly spend hour time on is watching screens:

• Netflix
• Youtube
• Instagram, Tik Tok, Snap Chat…

And I realize we are so much surrounded by screens.
Till there is one following all the time in our pocket.
I wonder if one day, we’ll call our phone itself: Alexa. 

Nowadays screen entertainment is fantastic. 

But how come we have been so much occupied watching movies, at the end of the day, we still describe our days as boring? 

Why don’t we have any feeling of Plenitude or Satisfaction?

What are you losing from the Opportunity Cost?

Are you missing out something important?

I believe it is because we have been Netflix binging and scrolling feeds for meters while we forget what we saw a minute earlier.

We do meaningless action.
Television and Social media are like “Sugar”. They give an instant boost of satisfaction. But has no long term benefits.

Day by day, week by week, we are passive spectator. 

And what is missing to feel plenitude before falling asleep is: Creation.

We all have 24 hours a day. If we allocate so much time in screens, we may miss out on opportunities to do positive things. That’s what we call “The Opportunity cost”.

Activate the “Creative boredom”

Creative boredom to discover your passion

In the ’90s,
we didn’t rely on so many screens to entertain ourselves. 

In France, television had 6 channels only,
and we didn’t have programs “à la carte” like Netflix.

It happened we get bored too. But it is ok. 

At that time, child imagination travel randomly.
We would sing, play toys making stories, play marbles, tapping stuff to make music, whistle, or even cooking at home. And of course, drawing. 🙂

We didn’t found refuge on screens to compensate.
As well we say it is good to keep counting without using calculator, so you keep your brain alert. It is the same for imagination.

There is no minimum age to start

At these time I call Creative boredom, you may find out a new Passion of yours.
There is no age to start.

Kids are fearless to try new things. Adults do fear.
So remember. No one is judging you.

No one will ever say anything about trying something new. Give yourself a chance to better discover new passion. How about inviting your family to participate at these playful activities!

Plant and Nurture your Creative Seed

You never know how tall your seed will grow. Nurture your passion.

This creative boredom was for myself the seed of being a designer years later.
I didn’t knew it yet, but I would enroll a Design school once becoming adult.

Before going to sleep, try to fulfill your day of something you will remember years later or feel proud to tell your kids, grandkids… 

Make your boredom become a source of creativity. 

Build something for yourself.
Learn a new skill. 

No matter what activity you choose during this isolation time, fall asleep with the feeling that today, you are a little better version of yesterday by trying something new. 

Think positive!
Isolation is your best time to discover and nurture your creativity!

Practice drawing like meditation. Give yourself a whole afternoon for drawing.
(Remember to put your phone in airplane mode, or better, drop it in an other room. Your brain will forget about it. And you will feel a sensation of peace. 

It’s fun!

Take care.
Cheers,
Chou-Tac

PS: A positive message from Aaron

PPS: A trick is to draw what you see on screen watching a movie or a cartoon. 

Here is the link from when I was bored on a long flight, and decided to start drawing the movie: The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Drawing The Grand Budapest Hotel – watching the movie in a long flight

Drawing The Grand Budapest Hotel – watching the movie in a long flight