Many of these "boring" hobbies are characterised by their being predominantly solitary activities (or those where other people’s input is not required), or, as one respondent put it “collecting things that have no use – there is no point to them – and having long periods of waiting in between adding something to the collection”.

It is highly likely that enthusiasts of any of these hobbies are likely to object to either they or their hobbies being described as boring (as Peter Willis and Robert Cole did) simply because if it grabs their interest and engages them, it cannot be boring to them. So, maybe it is time to stand up for trainspotters, stamp collectors and yes, people who photograph letter-boxes and reclaim the "boring" label. After all, what is boring to one person, might be fascinating to the next; indeed, this is the theory behind the annual Boring Conference which is held in the UK as a celebration of “the mundane, the ordinary, the obvious and the overlooked”; subjects which, according to the Boring Conference website, are "often considered trivial and pointless, but when examined more closely reveal themselves to be deeply fascinating". Previous topics discussed at the conference, which has been running for four years now, include sneezing, toast, IBM tills, the sounds made by vending machines, the Shipping Forecast, barcodes, yellow lines, and the features of the Yamaha PSR-175 Portatune keyboard. Boring topics? The events are a sell-out each year, with over 500 people happy to pay £20 each to attend. Perhaps there is more to these 'boring' topics after all.

The point about "boring" hobbies, and perhaps even people labelled as "boring", is that they do focus on the mundane rather than the grandiose. Perhaps in our fast-paced world where nothing seems to sustain our attention for long unless it is "exciting", there is something charming about taking the time to appreciate the beauty and joy of simple, everyday life. (As my other research has shown, taking time out for a mundane task can even make you more creative.)

In fact, as a mental health practitioner, one piece of advice I always give to depressed clients is to look for the pleasure in simple, ordinary things. Perhaps if more of us stopped to appreciate the small stuff, fewer of us would feel depressed or stressed in the first place.

--

Sandi Mann is a psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire. Her latest book, The Upside of Downtime: Why Boredom is Good, published by Robinson, is out now.