Boredom is a form of absorption that constant attention dispersal destroys

Evidence

But if the contemporary form of capitalism has extirpated boredom, it has not vanquished the boring. On the contrary — you could argue that the boring is ubiquitous. For the most part, we’ve given up any expectation of being surprised by culture — and that goes for “experimental” culture as much as popular culture. Whether it is music that sounds like it could have come out twenty, thirty, forty years ago, Hollywood blockbusters that recycle and reboot concepts, characters and tropes that were exhausted long ago, or the tired gestures of so much contemporary art, the boring is everywhere. It is just that no one is bored — because there is no longer any subject capable of being bored. For boredom is a state of absorption — a state of high absorption, in fact, which is why it is such an oppressive feeling. Boredom consumes our being; we feel we will never escape it. But it is just this capacity for absorption that is now under attack, as a result of the constant dispersal of attention, which is integral to capitalist cyberspace. If boredom is a form of empty absorption, then more positive forms of absorption effectively counter it. But it is these forms of absorption which capitalism cannot deliver. Instead of absorbing us, it distracts from the boring. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1764

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The redefinition of boredom as ‘empty absorption’ — destroyed rather than filled by capitalism’s attention dispersal — is a genuinely paradigm-shifting move with wide implications.
• XREF: Directly continues chapter 105 on fragmented attention being functional for capital and absorbed drift as precondition of the new. — connects to: Boredom enables genuinely new forms of activity — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 39; Permanent alertness exhausts itself by killing sustained attention — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 127; Distraction enables perception that focused attention forecloses — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 338 (+3 more)
• ADDENDUM: The absorption/distraction distinction extends the claims of chapter 54 about cyberspace normalising precariousness and Chapter 105’s argument about innovative culture needing absorbed drift.

Broader Connections

• Permanent alertness exhausts itself by killing sustained attention #corroborates (0.85) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 127
• Attention-economy distractions accumulate to erode autonomy and selfhood #corroborates (0.80) — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 403
• Distraction enables perception that focused attention forecloses #complicates (0.75) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 338
• Sale of attention depends on transitory attention while well-being needs sustained attention. #qualifies (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 439
• Boredom enables genuinely new forms of activity #expands (0.70) — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 39