STUDY: WATCHING NATURE SHOWS RELIEVES BOREDOM

Researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK have found that watching nature programs actually reduces feelings of boredom and sadness. The study examined 96 participants who researchers actively tried to bore before their experiments. The volunteers watched a video where a person described their work at an office supply company (* Dunder Mifflin?). After being sufficiently fatigued by this boring story, researchers showed the group scenes of an underwater coral reef. The results reveal the nature show minimized the feeling of sadness in each volunteer. With so many people working from home due to social distancing restrictions, study authors say “simply watching nature on TV can help to lift people’s mood and combat boredom.”
* More than porn?
* It must have been an old film about the coral reef. Have you seen the condition of coral reefs lately? Depressing.
* This explains why my heart races so fast when my aquarium screen saver comes on.
* This is another one of those “Oh my god, the research grant runs out tonight and I haven’t got any ideas” studies, isn’t it.
* What’s the difference between a nature film and a regular old cat video in a study like this?