People Through smartphones we unlearn the wait

Whether in the supermarket at the cash desk, at the bus stop or in the waiting room - in everyday life there are often situations in which we have to wait. Quickly then the mobile is drawn. Experts now warn that we are unlearning the wait. Thanks to a smartphone, every second that is not filled with any task, entertainment or other program is spent checking e-mails, sending messages or surfing the internet so as not to get bored. But calculating this boredom is according to experts important to let his mind run wild and to develop creative ideas.

Die pure waiting?
Just staring into the wall or looking up at the sky, patience and wait. While people used to spend a lot of time just waiting, such as on the bus, in the supermarket queue or at the authorities, today every free minute is filled with distraction by the smartphone. Writing news, playing many games, social media, surfing the Internet and much more is supposed to make life easier for us and provide the right entertainment thanks to numerous apps. Do not get bored, that's the motto.

According to experts, the wait is met and bored but an important task. Only in such moments we let our thoughts revel and are creative. If we ban this, there is a threat of a loss of culture, as Stefan Gosepath, Professor at the Freie Universität Berlin, emphasizes. "If we unlearned the wait, that would be a cultural loss," the philosopher told the news agency "dpa". To wait and to endure requires self-discipline. Apparently, a property that many people no longer enjoy today. Because already five minutes at the supermarket checkout, make some nervous. The mobile phone is quickly taken out of the bag in order to "quickly check the mails", it says. However, many people are not even aware that this behavior has very little to do with gathering important information, and is rather a diversionary tactic to escape the situation. If there is no reception or the hands are full, many will become restless and impatient after just a few minutes.

Waiting promotes creative thinking
The pure wait, as it was still a part of everyday life a few years ago, also has its advantages. "The wait - as unpleasant as it could be - had something positive", explains the communication scientist Peter Vorderer from the University of Mannheim to the news agency. "That was this moment of contemplation. A moment of break. The world was affected. You could think. That disappears is certainly a problem. It will be something that will change us forever. "Not least, it will change our thinking. Researchers have found that children whose daily schedule is programmed with many items can not be creative. To develop your own ideas, you need boredom.

"There may be a chance in the experience of waiting," explains Gosepath. "You need the phases of idleness, including boredom, for example, during a ride in the subway, to let his mind run wild. What you have almost only with the psychotherapist. "When the thoughts wander, some good idea, which one would not have come otherwise. Even problems often resolve themselves in this way. "Of course that is not guaranteed, but if you do not create opportunities for such thoughts, they will not come," says Gosepath. "You have to give them space."

Waiting sharpens the eye for detail
In addition to thinking, seeing could also be adversely affected if we stop waiting. It is not so much about visual acuity as it is about the ability to look closely and sharpen the eye for detail. Anyone who has been waiting for the bus every morning at the same bus stop has noticed the slightest changes: whether the people had new curtains, the hedge was cut or the man who also stood at the station every morning wore a new hat - hardly anything escaped attention. In addition, short conversations were common, such as when the bus comes and which bus line is the right one: "Finally, here he comes!" Or "No, that's the 42, that's the 22!". Such talks are now rarely heard. No one bothers watching the road to see when and which bus arrives. Just look up from the smartphone and get on the bus. More does not happen.

Is there a backlash?
At the art fair Art Cologne some gallerists expressed the fear that the adolescent generation could no longer be accustomed to always looking at the same picture and therefore unlearning the collection of pictures.

Will we really completely unlearn the wait? Vorderer does not believe in it. Rather, he hopes for a comeback of waiting. "I am convinced that we will bring back these moments of waiting. The increase in communication in situations in which one has not previously communicated - or has only communicated with its direct counterpart - is so dramatic that there must inevitably be a backlash. "(Ag)