To most people, the biggest problem of the twenty-first century is boredom. You have probably caught yourself at least once (in the past hour) scrolling through your social media news feed, looking for fresh updates and things to look at. But there was nothing interesting, was it?
Is boredom the eighth sin?
Well, the problem of today is that we have so much information at our hands than we would have fifteen or twenty years ago, that we do not know what to do with it.
“But there are so many things happening,” you may be crying out loud, “how can I be this bored?”
It was easy for people in the past – you get a book and you read it from cover to cover, maybe even a couple of times before you get a new one – you are stuck with it and you can’t change that. Theater was your TV, and you had only one “channel” and one “show” to watch once a week.
Fast forward to the twentieth century: when TV, radio and records appeared (not to mention cassettes and CDs in the 1980s and ‘90s), you would watch or listen to a limited content because you knew there was no alternative to it.
Now, let’s jump to the fast-developing world of today, with the Internet and social media practically bombing all of our senses, we seem to forget about our interests – if we ever manage to develop them – and end up doing that one and the same thing described in the introduction of this article. Boredom. The eighth sin.
However, fear not – because the solution is nigh! We did a research (based on personal experience: it took us endless hours of boredom to conduct it. Ah, the pain!), and asked Google to find interesting websites that can answer all our pleas – if need be.
So keep reading and you will find our recommendation of 15 great websites you can visit during those long hours every day.
Working on the principle of the so called “discovery engine”, StumbleUpon is a website that finds and recommends random internet content (including web pages, photos and videos) to the user. It was founded back in 2002 and its discovery method includes scanning your interests expressed through social networks and adjusts search according to them, so you practically get what you like without having to dig through 15 Google pages to find it. Another criteria it uses is trending – that is, it takes page popularity into account and presents you only the freshest content.
This online magazine showcases creative and interesting visual oddities from the world’s most creative and weirdest artwork and offbeat individuals. It groups most popular and trending artwork into different categories, such as photography, illustration, animals, art, DIY, architecture, style, body art, food art, digital art, good news, funny, social issues and many, many more. It also has an Add Post field, which means that you can contribute with your talent and become a part of this great Panda family.
If you are a comics fan, this website is the right place for you. Literally, it’s going to become your Bible, something to swear upon. This humorous website ridicules easily-relatable issues we face with on a daily basis via wacky drawings made by its creator, Matthew Inman, aka “The Oatmeal”. The Oatmeal is rich in content, it consists of comics, quizzes and a blog, which are all underpinned by hilarious humor and Inman’s vast talent.
BuzzFeed is the source of web buzzing. If you plan to go viral, add a post to BF and see how it grows in popularity. It comprises of different types of ridiculous posts, ranging from long-form journalism, breaking news, life, quizzes and videos, and even to pointless GIFs and images.
If you loved reading that Did Your Know section in your favorite childhood magazine or book, the Did You Know Blog will be your next favorite corner on the web. The blog is organized into pages which consist of three images with a did you know kind of fact. What is best about it is that not only you spend hours reading it, but you learn a lot with every new image. A win-win situation!
Another treat for webcomics lovers: the Cyanide and Happiness comic book blog. The website is organized in such a way that it publishes a new Cyanide and Happiness comic every day, together with the Shorts section. If brisk humor, sarcasm and black humor are your thing – head straight to this website.
FAIL blog is a part of the I Can Haz Cheezburger network, and has been on the Internet for a long time – holding the highest ranking position due to great content only. As the name suggests, this content is mainly about people failing at being people, in disastrous situations followed by hilarious captions and comments.
This humorous website ridicules the phenomenon of a new type of language, called Engrish. This term is a slang term an originates from a corrupted version of the English language spoken by native speakers of different Asian languages, such as Japanese or Chinese, which substitute the phonemes R and L for one another (their language systems don’t make difference between the two). The website shows images of mistranslated Asian languages, such as Japanese or Chinese, into English – which often sound ridiculous in the Anglo-Saxon world. All images are accompanied by a funny caption, often pointing to or commenting what went wrong in the process.
Often referred to as “the front page of the Internet,” Reddit is a community board consisting of different sections and categories. All of its content is user-based, which means that its users create videos, links, articles, photos and other type of content they think is worth sharing. Oftentimes, the position of your link will depend on the voting system, which pushes the most popular ones to the top. Beware that you will find a lot of completely opposite things standing one next to another.
Cracked is another website which presents humorous stories, images and videos to the web. According to their slogan, they are “America’s only humor site since 1958.” Cracked is famous for its columnists and contributing writers’ witty articles. The topics range from history, movies, TV, the Internet and IT. If you prefer the written word more than visual approach, then Cracked is the right place for you.
Created by a blogger, Allie Brosh, this image + text blog expresses its blogger’s hilarious yet eccentric drawings made exclusively in Paint. If you are a fan of ridiculous situations which do not lack color and rainbows, this blog will be your next biggest Internet crush.
If gifs are your thing, then you had better set this page as your home page. Giffy is the Internet’s main gif search engine. Literally, if there is a gif on the web, it’s gonna end up on Giffy one way or another. All gifs have a funny comment attached, so enjoy clicking the moving pictures.
OMG facts is a website which is similar to the Did You Know blog in one thing – it shows interesting facts you can learn from. What keeps this website going are relevant facts, supported by firm evidence. Topics range from science, history, to politics, sex and many other. There is also the possibility of giving your own contribution to the website, by submitting only well-researched ideas in posts.
The problem with smart phones today is that, even though they are ‘smart’, they can actually be so stupid sometimes that you want to throw them onto the ground from the top of the building. Their auto correction option can drive you insane, making regular conversations turn into total disasters in almost a matter of seconds. This compendium of the funniest and most awkward situations shows images of communication breakdown which happens when the software starts working its magic.
Back in the day when smart phones were not even a part of the wildest dreams, people took photos often preceded by careful preparation. This great website gathers amusing photos from the wackiest family photo albums all lover the world. If you trust people’s votes, we recommend you visit the Hall of Fame section.
We have presented here a list of websites that can help you make through the day, at least with a smile on your face. The list can, of course, be infinite, so if you stumble upon something new and refreshing, do not hesitate to share it with us in the comments section below.
