Maybe it's a language thing, but I wonder if for the most of human history, people simply weren't bored in the same sense as they are today. Wikipedia's article on boredom seems to suggest the concept only gained traction in the 17th century, while the term 'boring' took off in sync with 19th century industrialization!

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boredom

2: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bored%2Cboredo...