Learning to be bored is surprisingly difficult in an age of infinite scrolling, but it’s one of the most useful mental skills you can develop. Boredom isn’t just an empty feeling to tolerate. It’s a neurological state that activates the parts of your brain responsible for imagination, self-reflection, and creative problem-solving. The trick is creating the right conditions for it, then resisting the urge to escape.
Why Your Brain Fights Boredom
Boredom is the unfulfilled desire for satisfying activity. You don’t just have nothing to do. You want to be stimulated but can’t connect with your environment. Psychologist John Eastwood describes it as an “unengaged mind,” and that discomfort is precisely why most people reach for their phone within seconds of feeling it.
Every time you scroll through social media, your brain gets small hits of its reward chemical with each swipe. The content is unpredictable, so your brain treats it like a slot machine, releasing just enough reward to keep you going. Over time, this builds tolerance. The baseline amount of stimulation you need to feel “normal” creeps upward, making even brief moments of stillness feel unbearable. You’re not bad at being bored. You’ve just trained yourself out of it.
What Happens in Your Brain During Boredom
When you stop feeding your brain external stimulation, something interesting happens. A network of brain regions called the default mode network becomes active. This is the same network that powers daydreaming, mental time travel, and self-reflection. It’s where you process past experiences, imagine future scenarios, and make connections between seemingly unrelated ideas.
Brain imaging studies show that boredom looks different from simple rest. During a boring task, your brain’s executive control networks (the parts that keep you focused and on-task) essentially disengage, while the default mode network takes over. Your mind starts to wander, and that wandering is where the value lies. Research has consistently found that engaging in an undemanding task that permits daydreaming actually improves performance on creative tasks afterward. A specific type of mind-wandering characterized by pleasant thoughts, planning, vivid imagery, and curiosity is most strongly linked to creative output.
The Creativity Payoff
In a study at the University of Central Lancashire, participants who completed a boring task before a creativity exercise generated significantly more ideas than those who jumped straight into the creative task. The boredom group averaged about 10.6 responses compared to 7.3 in the control group. A follow-up experiment tested whether the type of boring task mattered. Participants who read phone numbers from a directory (a purely passive, boring activity) outperformed those who copied phone numbers by hand (a slightly more engaging boring task), who in turn outperformed the control group. The more passive the boredom, the bigger the creative boost.
This makes sense given what’s happening in the brain. Passive boredom frees up more mental bandwidth for the default mode network to do its thing. Your mind wanders further and more freely when it has less to latch onto. Meta-analyses of creativity research confirm the pattern: taking a break from a difficult problem, or switching to something completely undemanding, consistently helps people come up with better solutions when they return.
How to Actually Practice Being Bored
The first step is removing escape routes. Boredom can’t happen if your phone is within arm’s reach. Put it in another room, turn it off, or at minimum lock it in a drawer. The goal is to eliminate the reflexive grab that happens before you even register you’re doing it.
Then, do something monotonous or do nothing at all. Some effective options:
- Sit and stare out a window. No music, no podcast, no agenda. Just watch what’s happening outside.
- Walk without headphones. A familiar route works best. You’re not exploring, you’re letting your mind drift while your body moves.
- Do a repetitive household task slowly. Wash dishes by hand. Fold laundry. Sweep a floor. Pay attention to the physical sensations: water temperature, fabric textures, the rhythm of the broom.
- Sit in a waiting room without pulling out your phone. This used to be the default human experience. Try it again.
- Lie on the floor or in bed and look at the ceiling. Set a timer for 15 minutes if the open-endedness feels overwhelming.
The key distinction is that you’re choosing low-stimulation activities, not no activity. Your hands can be busy as long as your mind is free. Cooking a simple meal, gardening, or knitting all work because they occupy your body without demanding much from your attention.
Getting Through the Discomfort
The first few minutes will feel awful. That’s normal. Your brain is accustomed to constant input and will protest loudly when it doesn’t get it. You’ll feel restless, antsy, maybe irritable. You might suddenly remember something “urgent” you need to check online. You don’t.
Researchers who study boredom note that people who lack the patience to sit with this discomfort often turn to destructive fillers instead: impulsive snacking, compulsive phone-checking, or other avoidance behaviors. Chronic inability to tolerate boredom is linked to higher rates of overeating, gambling, and substance misuse. The goal isn’t to enjoy boredom (at least not at first) but to build your capacity to tolerate it without reaching for a quick fix.
Start small. Five minutes of unstimulated time is plenty for your first attempt. Build up gradually. Most people find that somewhere around the 10 to 15 minute mark, the discomfort softens and their mind begins to wander in genuinely interesting directions. You start thinking about an old friend, or a project you’ve been putting off, or an idea that seems to come from nowhere. That’s the default mode network doing its work.
Building It Into Your Routine
Intentional boredom works best as a regular practice, not a one-time experiment. Some practical ways to build it in:
- Phone-free mornings. Keep your phone off or in another room for the first 30 to 60 minutes after waking. Eat breakfast, get dressed, and let your mind set its own agenda before the world sets it for you.
- Commute without content. If you drive, try one commute per week without podcasts or music. If you take public transit, leave your headphones at home.
- Meals without screens. Eat slowly and pay attention to the flavors and textures. This doubles as a mindfulness practice, but the core benefit is the same: you’re giving your brain space to wander instead of consuming content.
- Scheduled nothing. Block 20 minutes on your calendar with no planned activity. Protect it the way you’d protect a meeting.
Over time, these pockets of low stimulation recalibrate your tolerance. Activities that felt painfully boring start to feel neutral, then pleasant. Your need for constant novelty decreases, and your ability to sit with your own thoughts improves.
Why This Matters for Kids Too
If you have children, the instinct to fill every moment of their day with activities and screens works against their development. Research published in EMBO Reports found that children who learn to cope with boredom develop better capacity for self-directed play, goal-setting, and finding fulfillment in everyday life. Kids who can flexibly shift between play styles and entertain themselves during unstructured time carry that skill into adulthood.
Teresa Belton, a researcher who has studied creativity and boredom, found that creative professionals consistently pointed to childhood boredom as a catalyst. It pushed them to try new things, invent games, and develop the inner resources that later fueled their work. The capacity to be bored without panicking, and to let that boredom lead somewhere, is something best learned early. But it’s never too late to start.