Today, Explained - The Island of Explained: Escape from Boredom

Episode Date: August 15, 2020

After hearing from kids around the world who are grappling with serious boredom, Noam Hassenfeld and Byrd Pinkerton venture deep into the belly of a whale to learn how to have fun in quarantine. Go to vox.com/todayexplainedkids for some laugh out loud activities that will help you say goodbye to boredom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit connectsontario.ca. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Play an actual good song. Today! Explain! What? Today! Oh.

Explain! Okay. Today! I get it. Explain! Today! Today! Explain! Explain! Today! Okay. I get it. Today. Explain. Explain. Today.

Today I explain. Noam? What day is it? It's Saturday. What are we doing here? We're here for the kids, Sean. Oh, like today explained summer camp? Got it. Okay, well anything for the kids. Sean. Oh, like today explained summer camp? Got it. Okay, well,

anything for the kids. What's up on the island of Explained? Well, we've had a lot of kids telling us that they're grappling with all kinds of difficult emotions during the pandemic. So, producer Bird Pinkerton and I, we're going to go to the island, we're going to rent a canoe, and take it right off the island onto the Emotion Ocean. The Emotion Ocean? Yeah, the Emotion Ocean. It can be a fun place, a scary place, but you know, it's also a place where you can learn how to process difficult emotions. All right, well, DC doesn't have a lot of ocean, just two dirty rivers and a bunch of pools that are shut down for the Rona, so I'm stoked to listen in. It is so nice to go to my bedroom again. Holy smokes.

Yeah, and I think you're going to love it out here on the Emotion Ocean. It's where I go when I'm feeling something really deeply. Well, right now I'm feeling hungry. Good thing I brought boat snacks. Um, Bird, were you going to share that PB&J or you're just keeping it all to yourself? Wow, Noam, I was just about to offer you some. Are you feeling okay? Yeah, I'm sorry. That was really mean. I don't usually get that jealous. It's okay. It happens. Here, let's find something to take your mind off it. Oh, check out these weird green jellyfish.

Jealous fish, bird, not jellyfish. Oh, the jealous fish, bird, that explains it. They're always vibrating with jealousy. It must have affected us. But how come the jealous fish affected you more than me? Well, emotions are kind of unpredictable, you know? Some people experience emotions more intensely than other people, so

it's always a good idea to head out onto the emotion ocean with good friends. Oh. Good thing I'm here with you, then. Hey, do you hear that? Oh, no. Oh, no. Mostly I feel bored in quarantine. Oh, no. Quarantine is just a boring, vast thing of nothing.

Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no, oh, no. What, Noam? Well, when people feel bored, their feelings float out onto the emotion ocean. Okay, that doesn't seem like that big of a deal. It's not unless enough people get bored all at the same time, and then their bored thoughts all come together in the ocean and they form a bored whale. And a lot of people must be bored right now. So many kids are bored in quarantine and there's been a lot of bored whale sightings out here. I want to have something to do. Mostly I feel bored. Oh no, it's happening!

The thoughts are all smooshing together and they're creating a bored whale. Well, quick! Let's paddle away! Come on! We can't! It's too late! It's so hard to paddle all of a sudden. The water feels almost thick. Yeah, once the bored whale starts to form, it gets really tough to get away.

He moves really slowly, but he's got this, like, gravitational pull. Oh, God, he's surfacing! He's huge! And gray! And somehow has a guitar? My name is Bored. Huge and gray and somehow has a guitar? My name is Borg. Entertain me. If you do not, I'll put you in my belly. Oh, I'm bored.

That's a joke, right? He'd never actually swallow us, would he? Of course he would, bird. Why do you think they call it boredom? You're in bored's tum. What are we going to do? And why do I feel the urge to do nothing? It's okay.

He's only inching towards us right now. I prepped for this. Just go look under the seat over there, behind the safety vests. You should find a crate. Um, this one? Labeled music stuff? No, no, the other crate. Tums for boards tum. Uh, I think I found it. Is it the one with all these bottles? These labels are so weird. Go-karts? Pecan smashing? Roller coaster songs? Well, a lot of kids have been stuck at home during the pandemic, and honestly, they've come up with some pretty creative ways to keep boredom away. I bottled them up just in case of something like this, and all you gotta do now is uncork one. Okay, here goes nothing. Hey, Mr. Whale, listen to this.

Right now I'm finding worms for my tiger salamanders. It's going to be interesting to see if they'll eat them or not because worms aren't native to this area. It's been a while since I went digging for worms. Wait, wait, I see one, I see one, I see one. Did that work for you, Bored? I don't have thumbs, so I can't dig for worms. I'm still bored. But I'm all thumbs.

It's okay, it's okay. Try another bottle. Okay, um, this one says laundry. How can laundry be fun? I'm helping my mom take her laundry up to her room. That's really fun because it gives me a workout because it's sort of heavy. So I just delivered all the laundry. Yeah.

That sounds kind of fun. Right, Bored? I can't do laundry because I don't wear clothes. I'm still bored. No, I don't want to live in Bored's tum forever. Don't worry. We're going to figure it out.

Just bring that crate over here and maybe I can pick a good one. Okay. Uh... Ah! Bird, did you just break all the bottles? I'm sorry! I told you I was all thumbs!

I'm practicing my beatboxing. Boutiquette, boutiquette... Disco cart absolutely sexy, everyone rock! Since I'm on a farm, I'm going to find the sheep. So, hey, I think I see a sheep. We just race as fast as we can. We bump into each other. Make the other one mad.

So he bumps into us and see who wins. I've got the big hammer thing. And I'm now smashing the pecans into little bits. Let me go see if they want to be touched. Petted. Petted. Right now. Three, two, one.

We're American sisters, sisters, sisters. I'm petting one of them. Oh, it's so fluffy. Going on a ride oh there's the baby one on a roller coaster coaster coaster they're really fluffy we're explorers american sisters oh yeah they're really fluffy so we're going for a swim right now it's the first time we actually went there this whole summer. So I started off making funny videos which would have characters named Bob, Tim, Jeff and Kenny.

And they had different voices which I did myself. Hello, it's your boy Bob. Bob, I'm in the toilet, get lost. Scrappy, Scrappy, Scrappy,by, scrub. Wash your hands, wash your hands. I'm about to bat and there's a social distancing sign on the fence. I just adopted two new kittens two weeks ago. Their names are Blueberry Smoothie and Covey. Why are you still holding the microphone to my mouth?

And there's a swing and I'm about to go on it. Three, two, one. Bored. You must be happy now. So many activities. Go-karts and swinging and baking and beatboxing. Let me try, I guess. Boots and cats and lizards? I could never do that. I'm bored. I don't think it worked, Bird. Bird.

Oh God, he's coming right at us. Feed me. Brace for impact. He's swallowing us. He's swallowing us. He's swallowing us. I hope we're still alive after the break. I'm bored. He's bored.

I'm bored. He's bored. I'm born. He's born. I'm born. He's born. Support for Today Explained comes from Aura. Aura believes that sharing pictures is a great way to keep up with family, Thank you. phone to the frame. When you give an AuraFrame as a gift, you can personalize it, you can preload it with a thoughtful message, maybe your favorite photos. Our colleague Andrew tried an AuraFrame for himself. So setup was super simple. In my case, we were celebrating my grandmother's birthday

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Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Explain. Okay, bird. This should help us see in here.

Ah! We're inside of a whale! But it doesn't actually really look like the inside of a whale. It's just a huge gray hallway with gray doors that looks like it stretches out forever. Yeah, that's because we're actually just inside of an emotion. All these bored thoughts take the shape of a whale, but boredom is really just a feeling. Man, this is so not fun.

No, Bird, you have to fight the urge to be bored. We have to get out of here. I don't know. I think I'll just be bored forever. Wait, who's that walking down the hallway? Hey, folks. I'm Erin. In your world, I'm a psychologist. I study boredom at the University of Florida, but I come to the Island of Explained to study boredom more closely. Whenever the bored whale swallows someone, I stop by and see what it does to them.

Huh. That's pretty cool. I don't know. I mean, no offense, Erin, you seem great, but it sounds boring. Why would you want to study this? It's literally the most boring thing in the world. Oh, no, that's where you're wrong. Being bored is fascinating. Did you know boredom is actually really good and healthy for you? What? Boredom is good for you? How is that possible? Well, boredom, just like sadness and fear and these other bad emotions that we don't really like, they're really useful.

They're tools. And they teach us that something's wrong. So sadness tells us that we've lost something we really care about. And fear tells us that there's something really dangerous going on. Boredom tells us that what we're doing right now, it's not meaningful. So if we didn't feel bored, you just lie around

all day and never want to do anything at all. But I don't know, I'm bored and I don't feel inspired to do very much. I just feel gray. Yeah, boredom doesn't feel great. We don't always feel like getting up and doing a lot of stuff when we're bored. Sometimes we kind of withdraw and don't do anything, and that's common. Boredom happens when, you know, there's something out there that you want to do, something that could be meaningful, but nothing fits the bill, and you're sort of struggling to find something that is meaningful in the moment. Huh. If nothing feels right, how are we going to leave Bored's Tum? Well, there are some good ways to get out,

and there are some bad ways. Come this way. I want to show you this hallway. Uh, I don't really want to leave my boat behind. It's a rental. Oh, it'll be okay. Trust me.

Okay. Come on, Bird. Fine. Whoa. Double rainbow. Hey, Charlie, wake up. Does this rule a lot? Buddy bit me.

And boom, those are done. Up on Gundam Star. So each door here leads to a tube. This one is the U-Tube. Wow, this is kind of cool. I love you. I love you. I love you. Next video.

Next video. I'm about to count to 100,000. There's so much to watch. I'm definitely not bored now. Hey guys. Hey guys. Hold on. Oh no.

We're exploding through the blow hole. This is fun. Whoa, whoa. Wait for it. We're exploding through the blowhole! This is fun! Whoa! Wait for it! Oh no, we're falling back in! And we're right back here where we started in Bored's Tum. You see, there's lots of doors that you could open. Instagram, YouTube, video games.

But then you fall back down and pretty soon we're bored again, just where we started. Does that mean we're stuck here forever? How can we actually get out? Well, there's no foolproof way to do it and scientists like me are still doing a lot of research on how to stop feeling bored. So for instance, some people say that you can stop feeling bored by finding something meaningful to do people say that you can stop feeling bored by finding something meaningful to do. Others say you really need to find the right challenge. One of my favorite ways is to be creative, to use creativity to escape from boredom. So we just make something new now? Yeah. So you can try to think of something that's fun and engaging. If you can think of

something you really care about, you can try to think of how you could do that here in the moment. Noam, you like to make music, right? Yeah, I wonder if I could make some type of song. Could you try it now? Maybe you can get out. I mean, Noam, we do have that crate of music-making stuff. Oh yeah, the crate! It's got everything I need. I could make a song right now.

I can't wait to hear it. What do you use for inspiration? Hmm. Well, some of those boredom thoughts we heard on the ocean, those were kind of musical. I wish we could hear them again. Well, this whole whale is made up of bored thoughts. I wonder if I just poke at the wall over here. Oh, I'm bored. I don at the wall over here. Wait, do that again. I need to record it. Molly's up for more poking. Got it. And honestly, this kid's a natural.

I wonder if I could make his boredom the melody for my song. Add a little bit of delay. Add in a beat. Hey, the hallway's dissolving. Yeah, that's how you know you're really out of bored's tum. You just find something that really, really interests you and engages you creatively, and boredom just kind of fades away. Though, I love boredom, so I'll be here studying it. Okay, well, I guess I hope I don't see you soon. Thank you so much for your help, Erin.

It was really nice to meet you. You too. You know, now that I got these creative juices flowing, Bird, I think I don't really want to stop. I might just make this song bigger. Okay, let's get all these other bored thots that are floating around. That way they won't become another whale. I don't know, maybe you can weave those into your song too.

We can make this song so weird and fun. I like weird and fun. And ridiculous. And ridiculous. And honestly, we never would have made it if we hadn't been so bored. It's pretty much still just the most annoying thing I've ever been through. The most interesting thing that I've done over the summer

is nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Not, not, not nothing. No, I'm bored.

I really hated all my learning. It was just so boring. It was not fun. Outside we do nothing. Inside we do nothing. So quarantine is just a boring, vast thing of nothing. Outside we do nothing. Inside we do nothing.

So quarantine is just a boring Mostly I feel bored. Mostly I feel bored in quarantine. Mostly I feel bored. Something to do. Today's episode was brought to you by Today Explained Summer Camp counselors Noam Hassenfeld and Bird Pinkerton. Jillian Weinberger edited the episode. Afim Shapiro engineered with the help of his son Harvey. Vox's editorial director of podcasts, Liz Kelly Nelson, helped a bunch too. Ford the Whale was played by Jeff Geld.

He's a very talented audio engineer here at Vox who also writes straight bangers. Dr. Aaron Westgate took a break from researching boredom at the University of Florida to hang out in Bord's Tum, and we had help from Morgan Givens, Amanda Northrup, Rachel Giannini, Salim, Hugh Penny, Lauren Katz, Jamila Various, and Rachel Israel. Special thanks to all the kids who gave us a glimpse into their lives in quarantine. Alejandro, Amal, Amelia, August, Benjamin, Casey, Emily, Little Ezra, Kai, Kiana, Clementina, Liav, Lucia, Nico, Phoenix, Ryla, and Vera. The song you're hearing right now is called I'm Bored, and it's up on Spotify, Apple Music, and all those types of places. Just search for Today Explained.

You can spend more time on the island of Explained with a set of activities we've put together for you to do with your grown-ups and to do with your kids. And if you're ready to say goodbye to boredom, head over to vox.com slash todayexplainedkids for some laugh-out-loud activities that you can do with your squad or on your own. Again, that site is vox.com slash todayexplainedkids. The rest of the Today Explained team includes Bridget McCarthy, Halima Shah, Muj Zaydi, and Amina Alsadi. I'm Sean Romsperm. We had extra help this week from Paul Malinzy and Taylor Makin. Cecilia Lay checks the facts. The mysterious

Breakmaster Cylinder does music. And Today Explained is a of nothing. Vast thing of nothing. Vast thing of nothing. This episode is brought to you by Canoe Age Therapy. Take a canoe out on the emotion ocean. Avoid the frustration crustacean. Discover purpose with the porpoises. And find out why we call orcas chiller whales. Boat rentals start at just $15.99.

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