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How can you tell if you're boring?

Are you a boring person? If you have several of these 11 characteristics, you just might be… You watch too much TV. ... You have nothing to add. ... You talk (way) too much. ... You talk (way) too little. ... You're negative all the time.

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Ever wondered if you’re boring? We hope so, because thinking you’re always wildly interesting is usually one of the biggest markers of arrogance. But if you’ve actually wondered what exactly it is that makes boring people boring–and if you’re part of that list–then luckily for you, someone has gone out and studied just that; psychologists from the University of Essex, University of Limerick, and the London School of Economics, to be precise. As part of this study, which was originally published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, these researchers took into account the responses of 500 people across five different studies. Business Insider magazine went a step further, and crowd-sourced answers on Quora, combining the two types of research and coming up with a handy checklist for whether you’re a snooze-fest or not. Here’s a few of the biggest tells that the people in your life find you terribly, terribly tedious…

1. You watch too much TV

Apparently, when the participants were asked what they considered the five most dull hobbies, sleeping, religion, watching TV, observing animals and mathematics came up top.

2. You have nothing to add

If your contribution to a conversation is simply piggy-backing on other people’s opinions and nodding ‘yes’, consider that a red flag for ‘boring disease’. "To me, a boring person is someone from whom I cannot learn anything new," Stan Hayward told Business Insider. "Thus, it takes time for me to decide someone is really a boring person, though some people give out cues pretty early in a relationship."

3. You talk (way) too much

If you can’t get enough of yourself and talk too much, you’re likely to be boring the other people you’re speaking to. Nobody enjoys a monologue unless they paid for theatre seats at a Shakespearan play.

4. You talk (way) too little

Listening is a skill, but it can cross over into conversational deadweight if you’re not careful. If you have nothing to add or contribute very little to the conversation, you might be a bit of a snooze.

5. You’re negative all the time

This isn’t to say that toxic positivity is the right counter. Dylan Woon, a Quora user, broke it down into three types of boring negativity:

Victim mentality: "I'm trapped! [Why] am I so unlucky? Why me? Why?"

Scarcity mentally: "People have snatched that opportunity away from me! Oh no!"

Blaming mentality: "It's all because of the government! Because of the President! Because you [are] the competitor! Because of him! It's all their fault!" If you’re always complaining about your life and problems and treating your friends and family like unpaid therapists; it makes you a drag to be around.

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6. You can’t read social cues

Most boring people have no idea whether somebody is actually enjoying speaking to them or not, because they aren’t great with social cues and body language.

7. You can’t make people laugh

Being funny? The absolute antithesis of being boring. If eliciting a laugh from the people you talk to or engage with is a rare feat for you, you might consider that a lot of what you’re saying might not be wildly interesting.

8. You’re a creature of habit

Have a standard order at the only restaurant you really like? Been listening to the same genre of music since you were in college? Only buy shirts from one brand because they make things the way you like them? Chances are, you’re kind of uninteresting. A desire to never stray from the known shows a distaste for adventure or experimentation, thereby making you–and your life–terribly routine.

9. You’re bad at telling stories

If you have a tendency to digress from the point you’re making, focus too much on details that really don’t matter to anyone except you, and simply take too long to tell a story that doesn’t need that much time–you might just be the human equivalent of ‘this meeting could have been an email’.

10. You’re fixated on your perspective

If you believe you’re right, in a way that leaves no room for another person’s take on things, it is a marker of low emotional intelligence; which translates to being a boring person to talk to.

11. And lastly, you’re often bored

If you’re bored, you’re not interesting to anyone. Boredom is a state of mind; if you’re willing to provide excitement and energy, expecting it is also hypocritical.

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