Is there a term for this?
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tom_g (
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March 11th, 2013
My limited vocabulary often causes me to spend an absurd amount of time describing in detail rather than referring to a phenomenon by a word or words. For example, nearly everyone is aware that humans have a certain quality about them that is exhibited in the following ways…
We desire products and feel that they will improve our lives in some way. But when we buy them, we find that we’re in the same place we were prior to the purchase, and we continue the cycle over and over.
It’s the same thing that is sometimes described as “boredom” and that leads people to decide that what they need is to re-do their kitchen or buy a new house or car.
It might also cause them to seek experiences. Sometimes it’s an infidelity or a series of short-lived relationships.
It’s more than boredom (another topic that I’ll probably post a question on). It’s a dissatisfied feeling that people express (dukkha?) as boredom or emptiness that seems to motivate much of our behavior.
Is there a term for this? I was recently discussing this with a friend and realized that what we were exhausting ourselves trying to find a term that would best encapsulate this. This happens to me often because my vocabulary is weak.
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13 Answers
Keeping Up with the Jonses’
ennui
angst
@marinelife: “ennui”
Wow. This was one of the terms I couldn’t think of. Damn. Thanks!
I agree with “ennui”, I would also add “languor” as a possibility, though that’s probably more unmotivated boredom than boredom that leads to seeking fulfillment.
I definitely have this “feeling” (syndrome, sickness, trait????) that you describe. I’m not sure there is one word for it, nor does there have to be. At the emotional level, I’ve described it as a deep well; and I’ll do many of the things you mention above to raise the water level in that well. But it always subsides at some point. It’s a yearning to have things (material goods and relationships) where the reality is generally less satisfactory than the imagined end result.
I now see you’re happy with “ennui;” but might “condition” is more than ennui.
@thorninmud – That’s great. Thanks. This is exactly what I was describing…
“The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the supposed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.”
@tom_g, I can’t come up with a better word than already suggested—“ennui” is perfect, I think—but I’m joining the thread to congratulate you for having the embition to improve your volcabulary. Most of us can always use that, and I think Fluther is a great place to to do that.
This is far from any feeling that I would use the word ennui to describe. Ennui is characterized by a lassitude that probably does not inspire a shopping spree or a desire to renovate (or anything else, for that matter).
@thorninmud‘s term is appropriate. I wonder also if you might find a good one in that video The Story of Stuff, which is all about this exact thing.
Acedia: Spiritual or mental sloth
Welschmertz: World-weariness
It might also be a result of subliminal advertising and consumerism.
I once was exposed to the thought that in the West, we have a lot of choices in products and services, and this in itself causes a certain level of anxiety that others in the world do not commonly feel.
For an easy example, if you have $10 and some time, you can walk into a grocery store and check out “bread”. You have all kinds of choices: dark, light, whole grain or not, all types of loaf: from naan and pita to French and Italian loaves, flax seed alternatives, English muffins, scones, raisin bread… you name it. A lot of choices. Now multiply “bread” times all of the other types of products and choices available in a normal grocery store. Now multiply “grocery store” times all of the other choices you have in “places to spend money” and multiply that $10 times all of the other cash in your pocket or checking account and available for your use.
If you don’t have the $10, the choice in breads, the grocery store or any other outlet to spend your money, then you don’t have any of those choices, and you’re then not faced with “the anxiety of freedom”.
It’s an “anxiety” that I’ve learned to appreciate and to deal with.
^^ Great answer. I have heard this referred to as the ‘Paradox of Choice’. Related to this is the concept of first-world problems, I believe.
I love this question. Great answers, too!
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