Look at us. Constantly bombarded by notifications, messages, and our urge to check social media every few minutes. We wake up, and the first thing we do is check our phones: who texted us, who posted on Instagram, what’s new with the influencers. We keep scrolling when we wake up and also when we go to bed. We want to be distracted and avoid the discomfort of being alone with our own thoughts. Think about people from a few generations ago, think about the most important people. Do you think they had as many letters as we text on a daily basis?
We are just not ready to be bored. And I think boredom is a blessing. It makes you sit with your own thoughts. Because you have dismissed your own thoughts for years, you are operating based on other people’s thoughts or content. We have nothing original to offer to the world.
The Realization
One weekend, I had nothing to do. All of my friends were busy, and there were no shows or movies that piqued my interest. For the first time in years, I found myself extremely bored. I checked my phone every few seconds and felt a sense of unease. I wanted to escape from this boredom. I tried connecting my gaming console and playing some old video games, binged on YouTube, and scrolled through everything left on the newsfeed. But the emptiness was real. My brain was signaling me to do something meaningful. It craved something productive that all these distractions couldn’t provide.
So frustrated and with all the time in the world, I decided to embrace this emptiness, this boredom. I kept my phone away from me, turned off the TV, and sat on the couch. Stillness. I had no thoughts at the beginning. I was just thinking about how long I could keep myself away from these distractions. It was excruciating. I wanted so badly to reach for my phone and continue with the same old distractions. But I kept myself there, and slowly my mind started to wander. Gradually, the thoughts began to appear. The ideas that had been buried under layers of distractions began to surface.
I remembered that I had bought a book, which had been on my shelf for months, untouched. I picked it up and started reading. At first, I couldn’t focus. It was hard for me to understand the lines. The initial pages were really tough for me. I had to read with focus quite a few times. Slowly, I started to get engrossed in the story. This act of reading felt rewarding. It was at least better than wasting time scrolling through my phone.
Over the next few weeks, I continued to experiment with embracing boredom. I tried sitting alone and meditating, journaling, and even started to learn guitar—something I had wanted to do for a long time but never found the time for. I felt my creativity flourishing and experienced a new sense of peace and fulfillment.
Why Boredom is Beneficial
We can clearly see that boredom is super rare in recent times. We are constantly surrounded by or surround ourselves with stimuli that keep us occupied. Boredom is not the enemy. It can really be a powerful tool for your personal growth and creativity.
- Boredom as a Signal: Are you bored? Why do you think you need to immediately distract yourself or do something that will alleviate your boredom? Actually, your brain sends a signal when you’re bored. It expresses, “Hey, this isn’t engaging! It’s time to change!” Why can’t we utilize this boredom to reflect rather than reaching for our phones or engaging in pointless activity? Don’t you think there are better things to do than that? You wanted to learn a new skill, get back in touch with someone you haven’t spoken to, take on a new project, or work out. When you realize you are bored, pay attention to it and focus your energies on something that is rewarding for you.
- Enhancing Creativity: When you feel bored, your mind starts to wander. You’ll have thoughts. Let there be thoughts. It’s good for you. It’s important for creativity. What we do is we never let our thoughts wander; we go for immediate distractions. But when you let your thoughts wander freely, you form new opinions. Maybe you’re thinking about a tough task for your job and come up with ideas that can solve it. Or maybe you are thinking about your partner and realize that you are not really giving them much time, then come up with creative ways to make them happy. Boredom makes you daydream. Your ideas and thoughts are valuable. Use those thoughts.
- Improving Mental Health: Constant stimulation can lead to stress and burnout. When you intentionally leave all the distractions and just sit alone, your mind will enjoy the much-needed break. It will improve your overall mental well-being. Boredom will give you the space to reflect and process your thoughts and emotions.
- Building Self-Discipline: Boredom will teach you patience and self-discipline. If you can resist the urge to seek instant gratification through digital distractions, you will build mental resilience. This can be particularly beneficial in a world where we are often conditioned to seek quick fixes.
The Cost of Distraction
A study at the University of California found that it takes over 23 minutes to regain focus after being distracted. Think about that. Think about how many distractions we have on social media. The phone is continuously with us, Instagram notifications, and Messenger beeps every few minutes. We’re constantly checking WhatsApp messages. The problem here is that we cannot get one task done because our mind has this type of “itching powder,” making us continuously scroll from one thing to another without achieving anything substantial.
The Solution: Embrace Boredom
- Learn to Bore Yourself: Learning to embrace boredom is key. Allow yourself to sit in silence, do nothing, and resist the urge to reach for your phone at the first sign of discomfort. This practice helps detoxify your brain from the constant dopamine triggers of our digital world.
- Detox from Digital Overload: You can designate specific times during your day to unplug from phones or laptops. Maybe you can start with the first hour after you wake up or the last hour before you go to bed. Whatever is convenient for you. Use that time to do analog activities like reading a physical book, stretching, meditating, or journaling. These moments of disconnection will help you to refresh your mind and clear the brain fog.
- Reclaim Your Focus: Focus is being stolen from you, and you don’t even realize it. An industry is designed just to capture your attention. Social media platforms and mobile apps are engineered to keep you hooked and distracted. You are the product. Recognize this and take steps to reclaim your focus. Identify the triggers, set boundaries for your screen time, and focus on activities that require sustained attention.
If you want to remember these quick tips from this article, just remember:
- Disconnect from social media
- Engage in creative activities: hobbies that require focus and creativity like writing, painting, or learning something new, maybe an instrument
- Read books
- Spend time in nature: Go for walks in the park, or just take a book to read and embrace nature
- Journal your thoughts: every idea, good thought, write it down
We lose out on the beauty of quiet in our never-ending search for distraction. Accept your idleness, delve into your thoughts, and uncover the ideas that come with your thoughts. You’ll be amazed at how many opportunities might come to you from your thoughts alone.