Why Boredom Might Be One of the Best Things for Your Brain

Is boredom good for creativity?
Boredom may support creativity by giving the mind space to wander and daydream. A 2014 study by Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman found that participants who completed boring activities performed better on certain creative-thinking tasks than participants in a control condition. The researchers suggested that daydreaming may help explain the connection between boredom and creative thinking.

“Mommy, I’m so bored.”

If you have kids, you have probably heard those words more times than you can count.

And the usual response is to fix it.

Give them a snack. Suggest an activity. Turn on a show. Hand over the tablet. Find a game.

Anything to make the boredom disappear.

But what if boredom isn't actually a problem?

What if that empty space between activities is doing something useful?

Research from psychologist Sandi Mann and researcher Rebekah Cadman suggests that boring activities may help increase creative thinking. Their 2014 study found that participants who completed boring tasks performed better on certain creative-thinking tasks afterward.

That doesn't mean boredom is always good or that every boring activity makes you more creative.

But it does give us a reason to rethink our instinct to fill every quiet moment.

Sometimes, boredom is where the interesting stuff starts.

 

What Happens When We Get Bored?

Think about the last time you were forced to wait with nothing to do.

No phone.

No podcast.

No scrolling.

No notifications.

At first, it feels uncomfortable.

Your brain starts looking for something - anything - to grab its attention.

Then something interesting can happen.

Your thoughts begin to wander.

You remember something you forgot earlier. You imagine a conversation. You come up with an idea. You notice something happening around you.

You start daydreaming.

And that wandering mind may have a connection to creativity.

Researchers have been studying this relationship for years. In a 2014 study published in the Creativity Research Journal, Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman examined whether boring activities could influence creative thinking.

Their research involved two studies with adults.

The participants were given deliberately boring tasks and then asked to complete creative-thinking exercises.

The results suggested that boring activities could increase creative performance, with some differences depending on the type of boring activity and creative task.

In other words, doing absolutely nothing interesting for a while may give your brain room to do something interesting on its own.

The Phone Book Experiment

The experiment sounds almost funny today.

Participants were asked to copy telephone numbers from a phone book for 15 minutes.

Yes.

A phone book.

Line after line.

Name. Number.

Name. Number.

Name. Number.

Afterward, they were asked to come up with different uses for a pair of cups.

The idea was simple: Could a boring experience influence creative thinking?

And according to the researchers, the participants who completed boring activities generated more creative ideas than those in the control condition.

In a second study, participants completed either a boring writing task, a boring reading task, or a control activity before the creative task.

The researchers found that boring activities were associated with increased creativity, while boring reading produced more creativity in some circumstances than boring writing.

The researchers also discussed daydreaming as a possible link between boredom and creativity.

That part is especially interesting.

Because when your brain isn't being constantly fed information, it has to generate some of its own.

Why Daydreaming Matters

A bored brain doesn't necessarily stop working.

It can start wandering.

A cup isn't just a cup anymore.

It could be a hat.

A tiny drum.

A flower pot.

Put two cups together with some string, and suddenly you've invented a very questionable telephone.

That kind of mental flexibility is part of what makes creative thinking possible.

When there is no new notification demanding your attention, your mind has more room to make connections between things.

One thought leads to another.

A memory leads to an idea.

A random observation becomes a solution to a problem you've been thinking about.

That's why daydreaming can be useful.

Not every daydream will produce a brilliant idea. Most won't.

But you need some empty mental space before your brain can wander into unexpected places.

What Happened to Being Bored?

Kids used to have plenty of opportunities to be bored.

A rainy afternoon.

A long car ride.

Waiting at a restaurant.

Standing in line.

Sitting in the backyard with absolutely nothing planned.

And eventually, something happened.

They made something up.

A blanket became a fort.

The living room became an obstacle course.

A cardboard box became a spaceship.

A stick became a sword, fishing pole, microphone, or whatever else the imagination required that day.

Someone had to be bored before someone could invent the game.

Today, it's much easier to eliminate that moment.

A screen is always nearby.

A video is one tap away.

A game can fill five minutes.

Social media can fill twenty.

A notification can interrupt the silence before we even notice the silence was there.

Technology isn't inherently bad.

The problem is that we can become so good at eliminating boredom that we rarely give our brains a chance to experience it.

The Connection Between Boredom and Screen Time

One of the biggest differences between boredom today and boredom in the past is how quickly we can escape it.

Waiting for the doctor?

Phone.

Waiting for the kettle?

Phone.

Two minutes early for school pickup?

Phone.

Standing in line?

Phone.

It's easy to understand why.

Phones are designed to give us something to do whenever we have a spare moment.

But that also means we may be removing many of the small periods when our minds would otherwise wander.

That doesn't mean you need to throw away every screen in the house.

It simply means that not every empty moment needs to be filled.

Sometimes the healthiest response to “I'm bored” is:

“Good.”

 

The Benefits of Boredom for Kids

Boredom can give children something that a perfectly planned schedule cannot: the opportunity to decide what to do next.

When there is no activity waiting for them, children have to create one.

That can encourage them to:

• Use their imagination

• Create their own games

• Explore their surroundings

• Practice problem-solving

• Make things

• Tell stories

• Experiment

• Spend time thinking

• Learn to tolerate quiet moments

Most importantly, they learn that they don't always need someone else—or a screen—to entertain them.

That is a useful skill long after childhood.

How Parents Can Let Kids Be Bored

You don't have to create a “boredom program.”

In fact, that would probably defeat the point.

Instead, try making a little more room for unstructured time.

Don't immediately solve “I'm bored.”

When your child says, “I'm bored,” resist the urge to produce five activities.

Try responding with:

“That's okay.”

“You'll think of something.”

Or even:

“Being bored is allowed.”

Give them time to move past the initial discomfort.

Keep simple things available

You don't need expensive toys or elaborate activities.

Try leaving accessible materials around:

• Paper and pencils

• Books

• Building blocks

• Cardboard boxes

• Art supplies

• Simple craft materials

• Balls

• Blankets for forts

The goal isn't to tell them exactly what to make.

It's to give their imagination something to work with.

Create phone-free moments

Start small.

Maybe the next time you're waiting somewhere, leave the phone in your pocket.

Try it for five minutes.

You might notice how uncomfortable the first minute feels.

Then you may start noticing what's around you.

And your brain might start doing something else.

That's the point.

Adults Need Boredom Too

Kids aren't the only ones who need empty space.

Adults are just as good at filling it.

We reach for our phones while waiting for coffee.

We check email in an elevator.

We scroll while dinner is cooking.

We open an app when a meeting starts five minutes late.

We've become very uncomfortable with doing nothing.

But doing nothing doesn't necessarily mean wasting time.

A quiet walk can give you room to think.

A phone-free commute can give your mind space to wander.

Standing in line without scrolling can become five unexpected minutes of mental breathing room.

You might even discover that you have thoughts that aren't coming from an app.

Try the Two-Minute Boredom Experiment

Here's an easy experiment.

The next time you're waiting in line, leave your phone in your pocket.

Don't check messages.

Don't scroll.

Don't open a game.

Just wait.

The first minute might feel surprisingly long.

That's okay.

Notice what happens next.

Look around.

Let your thoughts wander.

Think about something you've been working on.

Notice what catches your attention.

You don't need to force yourself to have a creative breakthrough.

Just give your brain a little room.

As the research suggests, boredom and the mental wandering that can accompany it may create conditions that support creative thinking.

The next time your child announces, “Mommy, I'm so bored,” you don't necessarily need to rescue them.

Let the boredom sit there for a while.

Because boredom isn't always an empty space.

Sometimes it's the space where imagination starts.

A blanket becomes a fort.

A cardboard box becomes a spaceship.

Two plastic cups become a telephone.

And a quiet five minutes becomes an idea.

We don't need to eliminate every boring moment.

Maybe we need to leave a few of them alone.

And yes, there is one more possible benefit.

If your child is bored enough, they might even eat the green beans.

We're not saying the research proves that.

But we're not ruling it out either.

 

Your phone doesn't have to fill every quiet moment.

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Keyphone is a modular minimalist phone built with a distraction-free operating system, essential tools, privacy features, and no app store or social media. It is designed to live in your pocket rather than constantly in your hand.

For families, professionals, and anyone looking to create more space away from screens, Keyphone offers a way to stay connected while cutting down on digital noise.

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