On Boredom

There is evidence to suggest that chronic boredom is becoming more common, and that this uptick has coincided with the rise of smartphones. In a paper published last year, researchers noted that the proportion of students in China and the US who described themselves as bored steadily increased in the years after 2010, during the first decade of smartphone dominance. Why might digital media have this effect? Research has shown that the main reason we pick up our phones or check our socials is to relieve boredom, but that the behaviour actually exacerbates it. One study, for instance, found that people who were bored at work were more likely to use their smartphones – and subsequently feel even more bored. Sophie McBain, The Guardian

further reading: Bored and Brilliant by Manoush Zomorodi (Pan Macmillan), Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (Penguin), The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman (Vintage)