In Praise of Boredom

Ask yourself: when was the last time you sat in a queue, on a train, or in a waiting room with absolutely nothing to occupy your mind—no phone, no book, no conversation? For many of us, the honest answer is "I can't remember." Smartphones have made it easy to fill even the smallest gap of unoccupied time, and most of us leap at the chance. Yet a growing body of research suggests that this constant flight from boredom may be doing us more harm than good.

Psychologists describe boredom as a restless craving: the mind wants something absorbing to do and cannot find it, so it protests. Far from being a modern nuisance invented by dull classrooms, the feeling appears to be universal, and some scientists argue it serves a genuine purpose. Much as physical pain warns the body that something needs attention, boredom may nudge the mind towards a more rewarding use of its time.

What makes recent findings striking is that boredom, instead of being something to avoid at all costs, can act as a spark for creativity. In one often-cited study, volunteers first copied numbers from a phone directory, a dull and repetitive chore, before being asked to think of unusual uses for an everyday object. Those who had sat through the dull copying task beforehand came up with noticeably fresher, more inventive answers than people who went straight to the creative task. The explanation offered is that an understimulated mind starts to drift, and in that drifting state, ideas that would never normally meet are free to combine.

None of this means boredom is pleasant while it lasts; given the choice, almost nobody would pick it over a gripping film or good company. But the sheer ease with which we can now banish every idle moment may be quietly costing us something. Children who never face an empty afternoon may never learn to invent games of their own; adults who never let their minds go blank may lose the mental space where some of their best thoughts would otherwise take shape.

So the next time a queue drags on and there is nothing to look at, it might be worth resisting the urge to reach for a phone. That faintly irritating itch of boredom could simply be your brain clearing space for its next good idea.