Shadowing Practice: You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why. - Learn English Speaking with YouTube
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You need to be bored.
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You need to be bored.
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You will have less meaning and you will be more depressed if you never are bored.
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I mean, it couldn't be clearer.
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Let me give you the good side of boredom in general.
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Boredom is a tendency for us to not be occupied otherwise cognitively,
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which switches over our thinking system to use a part of our brain that's called the default mode network.
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That sounds fancy.
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It's really not.
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The default mode network is a bunch of structures in your brain
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that switch on when you don't have anything else to think about.
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So you forgot your phone,
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you're sitting in a light, for example.
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That's when your default mode network goes on.
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We don't like it.
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My colleague in the psychology department here at Harvard,
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Dan Gilbert, he did experiments where people had to sit in a room for 15 minutes with instructions to do absolutely nothing.
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And there was nothing in the room to do,
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except there was a button in front of them that they could push,
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and if they did, they gave themselves a painful electric shock.
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Sit there bored or get a shock.
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A big majority of the participants gave themselves shocks instead of thinking about nothing.
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We don't like boredom.
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Boredom's terrible.
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Why is boredom so bad?
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Well, because the default mode network makes us think about things that might be kind of uncomfortable.
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When you think about nothing,
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well, your mind wanders and thinks about,
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for example, big questions of meaning in your life.
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What does my life mean?
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You go to kind of uncomfortable existential questions when you're bored.
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That turns out to be incredibly important, incredibly good.
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One of the reasons that we have such an explosion of depression
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and anxiety in our society today is because people actually don't know the meaning of their lives,
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much less so in previous generations.
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Tons of data show this.
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And furthermore, we're not even looking.
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Why not?
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I'll tell you why not.
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We figured out a way to eliminate boredom.
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We've been able almost completely to shut off the default mode network in our brains.
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How?
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The answer is that thing in your pocket with the screen,
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which you take out even when you're standing on the street corner waiting for the light to change.
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It's like, I might have to wait here for 15 seconds.
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What are you doing?
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You're actually trying to not be bored
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because the default mode network is mildly uncomfortable
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because it sends you to the types of questions that you can't get your mind around,
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you can't get your arms around around.
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Well, that's a big problem.
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That's a doom loop of meaning.
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If every time you're slightly bored,
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you pull out your phone,
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it's going to get harder and harder for you to find meaning.
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And that's the recipe for depression and anxiety and a sense of hollowness,
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which, by the way, are all through the roof.
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I get it.
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You don't want to be bored.
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You need to be bored.
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Be bored more.
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Tomorrow, when you go to the gym in the morning after you wake up,
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don't take your phone.
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Can you handle it?
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Not listening to a podcast while you're working out?
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Just being in your head?
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I promise you, you'll have your most interesting ideas while you're working out without devices.
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It's probably been a long time since you've done that.
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Commute with nothing, not even the radio.
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Can you do that?
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Start getting better at periods that are 15 minutes and longer of boredom and watch your life change.
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Number one, you'll be less bored with ordinary things in your life.
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If you get better at the skill of boredom,
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you'll be less bored with your job.
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You'll be less bored with your relationships.
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You'll be less bored with the things that are going on around you.
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But more importantly, you'll start digging into the biggest questions in your life.
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Purpose, meaning, coherence, significance, and who knows?
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You might just get happier.
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People ask me all the time,
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is the doctor taking his own prescriptions?
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And the answer is yes.
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Yes, I am.
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I'm prone to the same pathologies as anybody else because I have the same brain chemistry as everybody else.
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So what do I do to fight that?
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And the answer is, well,
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I do a number of things.
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I have a no device policy after seven in the afternoon.
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I don't sleep with my phone.
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We don't have devices when we have meals in my family because we're there for each other.
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We're not there for people who aren't there.
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Three, I have regular social media and screen cleanses where I don't use my device for longer periods of time.
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First, it's like children screaming in my head.
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Well, because that's how dopamine is saying,
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get the phone, get the phone.
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That's addiction.
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But it calms down, and I feel better,
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and I feel blessed by the end.
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And I pick the phone up by the end because I have to check my emails,
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and I have to be a normal,
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functioning, connected person in the world.
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But it does remind me that my life doesn't have to revolve around these devices.
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These protocols are really, really helpful and I recommend them to anybody and everybody.
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Don't sleep with your phone,
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no phones during meals, regular social media fasts, you'll get better.
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People worry that if they do these things, they're gonna miss something.
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There are ways that you can remedy that.
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One of the things that you can do is you can have your phone on,
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you're just not looking at it,
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and there's only one or two numbers that can reach you in case of emergencies.
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Phones can do that, by the way.
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If you don't know how to do that, ask your kid.
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But don't use emergencies as an excuse.
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Here's something that's not an emergency.
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What's going on on Twitter?
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That's not an emergency.
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Answer, nothing.
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It doesn't matter.
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The news can wait.
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Seriously, your grandparents didn't know what was going on every single second in Washington, DC.
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You're killing yourself with this stuff.
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Are you kidding me?
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It's bad for you.
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So let me say it straight to my kids.
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Put down your phones.
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You need more meaning in your life.
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And so do I.
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Thank you.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will practice your English listening and speaking skills by engaging with a thought-provoking video titled "You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why." This content encourages you to explore the concept of boredom and its implications on mental health while improving your ability to express complex ideas in English. By shadowing the speaker, you will not only enhance your pronunciation but also your understanding of philosophical discussions that relate to self-awareness and personal growth. This is an excellent opportunity to learn English with YouTube while diving into meaningful dialogue.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Boredom - A state of being uninterested or unoccupied.
- Default mode network - A part of the brain activated during unconstrained thought.
- Existential questions - Deep inquiries about the meaning and purpose of life.
- Meaning - The significance or purpose behind actions and existence.
- Depression - A mental health condition characterized by persistent sadness and loss of interest.
- Anxiety - A feeling of unease or worry about future events.
- Commuting - The act of traveling to and from work or school.
- Cognitive switch - The transition in brain activity from one task to another.
Practice Tips
To make the most of your learning experience from this video, try these shadowing tips:
- Speak Along: Play the video and repeat phrases immediately after you hear them. This technique, known as shadow speak, will help you improve English pronunciation and get comfortable with the natural flow of conversation.
- Pause and Replay: If you find certain sections challenging, pause the video and repeat them multiple times. This will allow you to focus on specific sounds or phrases you may struggle with.
- Highlight Key Ideas: As you listen, jot down thoughts or questions about the content. This not only improves retention but also opens up further discussions in English.
- Adjust Your Speed: Use the speed control feature on the video platform to slow down the playback. This can help you catch subtleties in pronunciation and intonation.
- Practice Regularly: Consistency is key in shadowing. Make it a habit to practice listening and speaking for at least 15 minutes a day, incorporating lessons from this shadowing site.
By integrating these strategies into your learning routine, you'll not only become more fluent in English but also gain valuable insights into handling complex topics with ease.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.
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