We fear boredom — that we might be bored or, even worse, bore others.

One example: For a 2014 University of Virginia psychology study, participants gave themselves electrical shocks to avoid sitting alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes.

In a similarly themed Quora thread, users discussed what makes people boring.

Here are the highlights, so that you can identify the bores in your life and avoid becoming a bore yourself.

Drake Baer contributed to an earlier version of this article.