The Secret Benefits of Boredom
Learn why it might actually be your mind’s subconscious tool for creativity and motivation
“The Gods Were Bored; Therefore They Created Human Beings” — Existential Philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard
It is staggering to consider, as I write this article, that over a third of the global population is currently under or has been under some sort of lockdown due to the pandemic.
For many, this has meant being stuck indoors with limited opportunity to enjoy the taken-for-granted freedoms of regular life. Within this situation, the threat of contracting Covid-19 is not the only thing to be wary of. Boredom has also been something to fear alongside the disease.
A glance at digital behaviour here in the UK, for instance, shows a massive spike in Google searches during the lockdown, using the search term “I’m bored.” With significant peaks in early April and then again in mid-May, this tells us something interesting:
- People were motivated to find new ways of alleviating feeling bored at home.
- They found solutions.
- These were temporary.
Reading, using social media, signing up for online courses, listening to music, learning new skills, attending virtual experiences and hang-outs, playing online games, or watching streaming content have all become some of the go-to activities. In a way then, this has been a period of forced training in techniques for dealing with extreme boredom — with both good and bad habits emerging.
So, what exactly is this unplanned mass cultural experiment revealing?
Some researchers at University College London also thought this was an interesting question. They set up Covid-19 Social Study back in March to understand the on-going psychological and social impact of the pandemic in the UK. Although its main focus is on mental health, recently the researchers also looked at whether the lockdown experience of spending more time at home was actually triggering people to be more creative.
Their initial findings indicate that people have indeed become more engaged in creative activities over the lockdown period. Inferring that this is not only down to having more time, but also as a coping strategy to help reduce stress and anxiety.
“Boredom can be, paradoxically, a motivating force; a catalyst for action.”
Given the right circumstances then, being bored might actually be a positive force — one that draws us into states of deeper thoughtfulness and creativity. Wouldn’t it be useful if we could channel boredom into something productive and meaningful more often?
If you’re not bored already, let’s read on…
To be bored tends to have negative connotations within culture — in Western, capitalist societies at least, where the cult of productivity permeates. “Bored to death”, “dying of boredom”, “bored the crap out of me”, “bored out of our minds”, “only boring people get bored”… are all common expressions found in the English language. It indicates a mental state that renders a person to feel trapped, restless, frustrated. In other words, it’s an emotional state to be avoided.
Out of this the lucrative attention economy has emerged, where consumer technology has often been cleverly designed to squeeze boredom out of our lives. There are simply endless ways a smart device can provide short-term stimulus. However, this fast-food approach to stimulation might result in us missing out on some healthy psychological benefits to boredom.
Steve Jobs (with some irony) embellished the emotional state, saying that “boredom allows one to indulge in curiosity.” F. Scott Fitzgerald thought boredom could be a tool for developing creativity. And the legend goes, back when he was a university professor, J.R.R. Tolkien created the incredible world of Middle-Earth after growing bored of grading his student’s papers.
“Boredom is a rather interesting subject when you think about it.”
So what exactly is going on with boredom? What’s the underlying science behind this common emotion we experience?
Interestingly, after anger, boredom is the next most common suppressed emotion. Yet it has traditionally received far less attention from the scientific community and only recently has a growing number of research studies began to shed new light on the topic.
A leading expert in Boredom Studies (Yes, it’s really a thing), Professor John Eastwood, defines boredom as “the aversive experience of wanting, but being unable, to engage in a satisfying activity”. For Eastwood, “when we’re bored, our minds are telling us that whatever we are doing isn’t working — we’re failing to satisfy our basic psychological need to be engaged and effective.”
And it is not just humans who experience a version of it, animals do too. So this suggests there must be some kind of survival advantage to being bored.
As a result, it is inherently linked with our evolutionary past, specifically related to our attention. For example, so we don’t get bogged down in a fruitless task or pursuit for too long (a potentially fatal behaviour back when we were all hunter-gatherers) boredom forces our brains to seek out change and variety by constantly assessing and evaluating situations. It ultimately keeps us curious and pushes us to explore doing new things.
So, contrary to the common assumption, boredom is not the result of having nothing to do. It’s rather having nothing to do that one likes compared to nothing to do per se.
Consequently, it is this space in between, this pocket of tension, that can make it such an uncomfortable mental state to be in. Yet, interestingly, when considering innovation and ideas, tension can often be a powerful lever to unlock creative thinking.
Building on this, another key figure in the science of boredom is Sandi Mann, a Senior Psychology Lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire and author of The Science of Boredom.
Her research specifically explores the connection between boredom and creativity and has shown that when people are induced into an emotional state of boredom before performing a creative task, they are subsequently better creative problem-solvers.
Mann thinks this is because boredom can be a spark for creativity as a restless mind hungers for more rewarding stimulation, commenting “if you can’t find that externally, you will find it internally, because our minds are always active.” It’s in this search for stimulation that the brain deploys a common by-product of boredom, daydreaming.
For Mann, daydreaming is key for creativity: “The act of daydreaming can provide individuals with the opportunity to re-examine a problem or situation that is preoccupying their mind as many times as they wish, in varied ways and each time incorporating new information and possible solutions.” This allows the brain to subconsciously process, analyse, connect and filter information; creating a space where truly novel solutions and ideas can bubble up into our conscious thoughts.
Commenting specifically on Covid-19 in the Huffpost UK recently, she said that “this period of lockdown could turn out to be the most creative period in the history of humankind.” The UCL data seems to show some support to this claim, so it will be interesting to track the links further as more research is carried out by institutions.
Heed a warning, however. Boredom is a nuanced emotion; so although the uncomfortable feelings associated are universal, research by the educational psychologist Thomas Goetz has identified five different types that we can experience — some being more positive and favourable for creative endeavours.
“Reactant” and “apathetic” are destructive types of boredom (yes, let’s try to avoid these ones). The former involves strong feelings of restlessness and aggression, and the latter is a more helpless and depressive state.
“Indifferent”, “calibrating” and “searching” on the other hand are more constructive types of boredom. When experiencing indifferent boredom, we feel relaxed, calm and content with doing nothing. For calibrating boredom, we tend to feel inactive but are open to daydreaming and new experiences if they come along. And for searching boredom, you may feel negative and restless, but you are motivated to proactively seek out new things to do.
Interestingly, judging by the Google search term data we looked at earlier, since lockdown began, with all the usual patterns of normal life disrupted, there seems to be a large number of people in the UK who may be experiencing this “searching” type of boredom. The danger with this type however, is it can turn into a form of destructive boredom if there is a prolonged search without finding a satisfying thing to do.
There you have it. Far from being a passive, disengaged state, boredom can actually be an important starting point for self-reflection and new creative journeys; think of it as life’s natural motivator as well as creative tool, when channeled in the right way. It won’t always lead to an epiphany, but sometimes it might.
So when we all emerge from lockdown and life speeds up again, don’t simply swipe, scroll or watch boredom away as soon as it threatens. Instead, start to embrace the odd moment in daily life to slow down and be “actively idle.” This will free up our imaginations for more adventure and exploration — opening up the possibility of finding all kinds of interesting paths and creative places.
