People have been interested in intentionally inducing boredom for literally hundreds of thousands of years (under the name "meditation"), so I think it is safe to say it is not a fad by now.
Meditation is more about learning to focus attention on boring things and discovering that the effort itself is rewarding. It's a lame materialistic description, but it's much closer to the truth. Doing gym stuff is a good analogy: moving weights around and to their original position looks silly to an outsider, but that's because the outsiders try to judge with their minds what can only be understood thru direct experience.
I can understand going to the gym with my mind. People want to look good and be fit
Counterpoint: That's a very superficial conception of meditation.
For how long have you practiced meditation?
Meditation was originally used by monks to literally kill the ego/mind. It has nothing to with boredom and can become downright dangerous if practiced in excess - just look up dangers of meditation.