Boredom Revisited: A Critical Revision of Wendell O’brien’s Original Formulation of Boredom

Boredom has largely been neglected within the analytic tradition. In his 2014 article entitled “Boredom,” Wendell O’Brien offered a conceptualization of this phenomenon, but he later revised this approach in a work published in 2022. The present study proposes several modifications to O’Brien’s original account and offers reasons why his 2022 revision should be rejected. By means of a thought experiment, it is argued that boredom may arise not only from objects or situations in which we lack interest, but also from elements that initially evoke curiosity or capture attention. In this context, O’Brien’s earlier formulation is revisited and partially revised with the aim of rendering it more comprehensive and holistic.