Given the biochemical nature of most moods, it could conceivably be possible to develop a substance that, when ingested, makes people feel bored out of their skulls. What's more, I think it would be popular.

Yes, our experience of boredom is unpleasant. But the same can be said of many sensations produced by drugs: dizziness, hallucinations, impaired motor ability, etc. If these things happen to you spontaneously (say, as the result of illness), you don't enjoy them.

Much of the appeal of drugs is that they allow you to take control over your mental state. Power is preferred to powerlessness, even when it's only power to make things worse. (Indeed, Freud postulated that this is the source of masochism. A person who sees pain as inevitable will seek it out in order to have some degree of control over the matter.) Boredomol would appeal to this aspect of human nature very well, because boredom is a very powerful influence on us (just look at how big the entertainment industry is!)
-- baf, Jan 22 2001

Fizzies™ http://www.fizzies.com/fizstory.htm
Root beer is pretty good. [reensure, Jan 22 2001]

Bored? Sit on a Fizzy™!

I thought this type of angst was reserved for those who experiment with "smart" pills.
-- reensure, Jan 22 2001


PeterSealy:

Well, yes and no. It's a weird thing with Ritalin. It calms little kids but it acts as a sort of "speed" with adults, especially if you take too much. For adults, it's prescribed as an antidressant; for kids, the idea is to make the little monsters come down off the ceiling.

I've never taken it (by prescription, anyway), but I have a friend who did--for depression. What I'd like to propose is a Ritalin Dart for little kids who are WAY out of control in public, like on planes and in restaurants.
-- rachele, Jan 22 2001


Off topic, but my mom and her siblings used to plunk fizzies into the toilet bowl.
-- centauri, Jan 22 2001


Peter Sealy:

For more info, recall that Koolaid can be used to die hair.
-- reensure, Jan 23 2001


I think that cats could taste the old sweetener used in fizzies. They could've figured that cats might bathe if they liked the taste of the bath.
-- reensure, Jan 23 2001


Ritalin definitely does not make you bored, in kids or adults. ADD kids don't act the way they do because they have so much energy, but because they literaly cannot concentrate. When you give a kid ritalin, it doesn't act like a sedative, it allows them to focus their attention on one thing. It is actually a stimulant in both children and adults, and it works in a very similiar way to cocaine. Stimulants at reasonable doses don't make you "hyperactive", they allow you to concentrate without distraction.
-- xthexjackalx, Jul 20 2001


If I wanted to be bored I could just lock myself in a box or even watch chanel 5(UK - don't know what 5 would be anywhere else but here it has a lot of rubish on it)... something to cure boredom would be good though... wait - halfbakery...
-- RobertKidney, Jul 20 2001


This might actually get really sedentary people off their behinds and help them be more productive...

You might turn a couch-potato into a thrill-seeking, sky-surfing daredevil.
-- cowtamer, Nov 23 2006



random, halfbakery