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Annotated Bibliography

Bored Teenagers, Stupids Decisions

Kirra Gibson

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

October 10, 2017


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Annotated Bibliography

Iso-Ahola, S., & Crowley, E. D. Adolescent Substance Abuse and Leisure Boredom. Journal

of Leisure Research, vol. 23, no. 1, 1 January 1991, pp. 260-271.

https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1308689793?

accountid=14605. Accessed October 2017. Web.

This research journal specifically followed the case findings on adolescent boredoms

link to drug and alcohol addiction. The study supports the clause that the still developing

adolescent brain is more susceptible to making poor decisions than the adult one. Due to

the brain not being fully developed, teenagers are at an increased risk to become addicted

to dangerous behaviors. The studies done on the teenage brain show that leisure activity

is not enough to stimulate the cerebral cortex.

Leisure boredom is defined as, The perception that leisure experiences do not satisfy the

need for optimal arousal. This explains why teenagers engage in high risk behaviors.

The brain believes that drugs, alcohol, sex, and other dangerous activities are the only

way to full fill the brains reward system. While involvement in leisurely activities is

optimal for adolescent growth, it can become dangerous when drugs are involved. Even if

the particular teenager has never taken recreational drugs, peers are highly influential in a

teens decision making process.

This particular online journal was helpful in the development of the negative side effects

of boredom, especially in teenagers. The information is credible because of the thorough

research that went into creating this online article. The article did an excellent job of

including facts and statistics. The article thoroughly explained the case study that was
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performed on substance abusers. The information in this article will be extremely

beneficial in providing statistics to numerically support my research.

OBrien, Wendell. Boredom. Analysis, Volume 74, Issue 2, 1 April 2014, Pages 236244.

https://academic.oup.com/analysis/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/analys/anu041. Accessed

11 October 2017. Web.

This is a scholarly peer reviewed periodical journal on boredom. The information is

presented crisply, making the information easy to read and absorb. The authors purpose

is to get the discussion rolling when it comes to boredom, since there is hardly any

research done on the topic.

First, the author provides a straightforward, bare boned definition on boredom. The

author explains, however, after the clear cut summary of boredom, that boredom is more

complicated than a simple definition. Next, the author discloses the ways in which

boredom can vary per person, per situation. Every person experiences boredom a little

differently from the next person. However, a general diagnosis of boredom can be

described as weariness, restlessness, and lack of interest. The author explores the two

conflicting demons of boredom as well; weariness and restlessness. This is explains why

experiencing boredom is so painful.

The author did an excellent job grouping the different branches of information. Since the

information was grouped into different categories of discussion, it prompts the reader to

further investigate the claims the author makes. The articles purpose was not a teaching

article, but rather one that provided information to interest the reader into further

researching the topic.


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Pickhardt, Carl E. Bored to Death: Risks from Boredom in Adolescence Psychology Today,

21 October 2013. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-

adolescence/201310/boreddeath-risks-boredom-in-adolescence. Accessed 12 October

2017. Web.

The article starts off with looking at the pros and cons of teenage boredom. The article

describes what boredom is and how it impacts teenagers. The article goes over why

teenage boredom is imperative and natural, since teenagers are bound to grow up, they

are bound to lose interest in pre-adolescent activities. It is boredom that creates new

opportunities for growth, but it is also boredom that creates problems.

The author encourages people to not look at teenage boredom as superficial. People claim

to be bored all the time, it is an overused term. People need to become more aware of the

effects boredom has on teenagers. Boredom leads to teenagers participating in activities

that are socially unacceptable. The article discusses one instance where a teenage boy

blatantly said he killed somebody because he needed release from the boredom he was

experiencing.

After the author is through explaining all the negative effects of boredom explains the

positive effects. For example, a symbol of reaching early adulthood is getting a first job.

Usually, a busy individual will put off having a job for as long as possible. But when

bored a teenager will feel more compelled to find a job. Other positive outcomes of

boredom include finding new hobbies, getting involved in sports, or finding a cause they

really believe in and getting involved.

The article was written by Carl E Pickhardt. Carl has earned Ph.D. from the University of

Texas. His focus is on child and adolescent development, so his understanding of


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adolescents is backed up by years of research. Since Pickhardt specializes in adolescent

therapy, he understands the teenage brain well. Therapists in general have the ability to

look at a situation from all perspectives.

Rogers, Katie. After 15 Big Mall Fights, Police See a Culprit: Teenage Boredom New York

Times, 27 December 2016. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/us/mall-fights-

brawls.html. Accessed 12 October 2017. Web.

The New York Times published an article on riots that have been breaking out in malls.

Malls are essentially breeding grounds for teenage dramatics. There are countless news

stories on people getting into massive brawls at shopping centers. The worst days for

these fights to break out is during Black Friday weekend or during the week of

Christmas. In this particular string of events it was Christmas Eve, a night when people

are stressed out over buying last minute gifts.

The officers that were on the crime scene explicitly suggested that boredom was the

reason behind the shootings. They claimed that over winter break teenagers have too

much time on their hands, so they pick fights with others. Arguing is one way to relieve

the unbearable feeling of boredom. People would rather engage in an argument with

somebody than just sit in silence. So police hypothesized that teenagers come to the mall

looking for action. Picking a fight is better than staying at home with their parents

treading through the motions of mundane small talk.

This article is an example of unamused teenagers that engaged in stupid decisions that

made the news. Not a surprise, since there are always adolescent kids getting in trouble

with the law. What made this article support the clause of boredom causing teenagers to

act out however, was the explicit statement that boredom was the cause behind these
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incidents of teenage rebellion. This is important in the thesis that boredom causes

teenagers to act out.

Toohey. Peter. Boredom: A Lively History. Yale University Press, 2011. Print.

The author of the book put a lot of thought into the development of the book. The author

was concerned with the attention span of the reader. An effective way to keep a readers

attention is through changing up the way that information is received. By including text

and images the author was able to do this really efficiently. Often reading long, strenuous

books causes the reader boredom. It just naturally happens, even if the topic is one of

interest, repetitive scanning of the page causes the mind to wander. The book had a mix

of text and visuals. The book includes famous artwork that depicts people unamused and

uninterested.

The author not only defines and explains boredom, but provides the reader with the

opportunity to explore boredom further. The author does not give all the information

there is on boredom, allowing for the reader to continue to further research boredom

based on the case studies provided. The author provides an index of all the terms, books,

people, etc that he mentions in his book. Overall this is a great book to get the mind

rolling, thinking about what boredom really means, and the ways in which people think

about boredom.

Peter Toohey is a professor at the University of Calgary, his long term interest in

boredom led him to write this book. Tooheys novel takes a creative approach to

evaluating boredom.

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