Why You Should Be Bored (Sometimes)
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We humans hate being bored.
We’d rather be electrically shocked than sit in a room, alone, with nothing but our thoughts.
Thanks to technology, we don’t have to spend a single second in boredom if we don’t have to. There’s always a distracting device within arm’s reach, ready to entertain us at any moment.
On the toilet. Waiting in line for coffee. In the backseat of your Uber hoping your driver doesn’t make small talk with you. But the things reducing our boredom are also reducing our attention spans.
My Unexpected Experiment
Last summer I had a day where I partied a little bit too hard. I wasn’t feeling so great the next day. It was one of those “lay around and talk to your cat” days. To distract me, I did something I had never done before:
I opened up TikTok on my phone.
When I finally pulled myself out of the nonstop stream of videos, I realized a few hours had passed. I closed the app, put my phone away, and tried to do some work since I was feeling better. But I struggled to focus on anything for more than a few seconds. All my brain wanted to do was open TikTok to watch more videos.
I could literally feel the negative impact my TikTok binge had on my attention span, my focus, and my motivation. These effects stem from how apps like TikTok affects the brain’s reward center. Thankfully, I contained my TikTok addiction to that single day, and my brain quickly recovered from it.
Being Bored… on Purpose?
Things like TikTok allow us to instantly relieve our boredom any time we want to.
But here’s the thing: Though boredom is uncomfortable, it’s beneficial to your brain. Moments of boredom give your brain a break. They also give your brain space to give you new ideas, thoughts, and solutions to problems.
When you aren’t focusing on something, your brain’s default mode network is more active. This network is random, chaotic, and creative. That’s why great ideas suddenly strike you while you’re taking a shower, going for a quiet walk, or trying to fall asleep. Here’s a great article expanding on this concept.
Boredom can be uncomfortable. That’s natural. There’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t like being bored. None of us do. But as with many beneficial things, while they might not feel good, they’re good for you – and they get easier with time.
Give your brain some quiet time each day, and I guarantee it’ll give you some million dollar ideas. Just make sure you keep a pen and paper handy so you don’t forget them…
Have a boring moment today.
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