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Feeling bored sucks. You may need it more than you realise.

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Summary

This article explores the concept of boredom, discussing the benefits it can have on creativity, goal-setting, and digital wellbeing. It suggests that allowing yourself to be bored can lead to more creative solutions to problems, better preparation for the future, and an increased understanding of oneself. The article provides suggestions for how to practice boredom, such as tuning into one's breathing and resisting the urge to reach for one's phone. It also promotes the book Tech Bliss, which discusses the science behind digital wellbeing and provides techniques for creating healthy tech habits.

Q&As

What is boredom and why is it important?
Boredom is a mechanism that pushes us into action, into doing something better or more worthwhile than what we're currently applying our neurons to. It can help us plan and invent, and can also help us to be better prepared and to achieve more.

What are the benefits of boredom?
The benefits of boredom include mind-wandering, which can help us to find more creative answers to questions we're already pondering, autobiographical planning, and the ability to better prepare for whatever is coming our way.

How can we apply the science of boredom to tech?
We can resist our phones and choose to stay bored instead of using them to distract us. This can help us to come up with new ideas for our creative hobbies, find solutions to problems, and be better prepared to tackle our goals.

What practical steps can we take to embrace boredom?
We can let ourselves be bored whenever we feel the opportunity arising. We can look around us, tune into our breathing, and explore the uncharted territories of our mind instead of jumping on our phone or opening a new tab.

What is Tech Bliss and how can it help us create healthy tech habits?
Tech Bliss is a science-based workbook and cohort course to help you reclaim your time, attention, and wellbeing from your tech devices. It includes 30 practical experiments for digital wellbeing, over 200 journaling prompts, and a lot of care to help you create healthy tech habits.

AI Comments

👍 This article is very informative and provides a lot of interesting insights into the world of boredom and how it can be beneficial. It also provides practical experiments to help readers reclaim their time, attention, and wellbeing from tech devices.

👎 This article is a bit long-winded and could have been condensed to make it more reader friendly.

AI Discussion

Me: It talks about the benefits of boredom and how it can help us become more creative and better prepared to reach our goals. It also discusses how our phone usage can often prevent us from experiencing boredom and how this can have a negative impact on our lives.

Friend: That's really interesting. It's amazing how something like boredom can have such a positive effect on our lives.

Me: Yeah, it's definitely something to think about. We should be mindful of how much time we're spending on our phones and make sure to give ourselves some time for boredom, to be creative and to plan for our goals.

Action items

Take time each day to practice being bored. Set aside a few minutes to sit in silence and observe your thoughts and feelings.
Make a list of activities that you can do when you feel bored. This could include reading, journaling, going for a walk, or engaging in a creative activity.
Experiment with different types of boredom. Try to be bored in a passive task such as reading, and then in an active task such as writing. Reflect on the differences in your experience and how it affects your creativity.

Technical terms

Digital Wellness: The practice of using technology in a healthy and balanced way.
Creativity: The ability to think of new ideas or solutions to problems.
Habits: A behavior or action that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously.
Flow Theory: A psychological concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that describes the mental state of being completely absorbed in an activity.
Autobiographical Planning: The process of reflecting on one's life and planning for the future.
Mind-Wandering: The act of letting one's thoughts drift away from the present moment.
Passive Task: A task that requires little or no physical activity.
Active Task: A task that requires physical activity.
Tech Bliss: A science-based workbook and cohort course to help people reclaim their time, attention, and wellbeing from their tech devices.