Boredom: Is It Good For You?
4/30/202633 min
We keep hearing that we need to be BORED more, with people online swearing that boredom can work magic — restoring your mind, and even supercharging your creativity. So, is boredom secretly good for us? We talk to cognitive neuroscientist Prof. James Danckert and organizational psychologist Prof. Guihyun Park to find out. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsBoredom In this episode, we cover: (00:00) They say we need more boredom (02:06) This is your brain on boredom (12:30) Does boredom push us into creativity? (22:08) Should you try to be more bored? (23:53) When you give your brain time to rest This episode was produced by Michelle Dang, with help from Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. Wendy Zukerman is our executive producer. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wylie, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsWendy Zukerman· Host0:00
Hi, I'm Wendy Zukerman, and this is Science Versus. [upbeat music] Today on the show, we're pitting facts against feeling bored. [upbeat music] Across the internet, people are embracing being bored. Raw dogging boredom for one hour.
Michelle Dang0:20
Raw dogging one hour straight. [laughs] No phone, no TV, no music, no moving, no sleeping for an hour straight.
Wendy Zukerman· Host0:27
That's right, they're raw dogging boredom. There's all these videos of people recording themselves sitting on the floor of their bedroom doing basically nothing, in some cases, for hours. And why are they doing this? Raw dogging boredom.
Michelle Dang0:44
The problem is we've created a way of living where you do not need to be bored at all. And the second you feel bored, you grab your phone.
Speaker 20:51
Like, people like to say, "Oh, I just, I just can't be bored. I'm the type of person who always has to be doing something." Right? That's justifying the addiction.
Wendy Zukerman· Host0:59
Influencers are telling us that we need to push back against this addiction and embrace boredom like a lost art. They say that being bored is actually good for us, and it could inspire us to be more imaginative and creative.
Speaker 3· Soundbite1:14
We kind of treat boredom as if it's something to fix. But what if I tell you that boredom is actually the starting point of creativity?
Speaker 41:22
Einstein and Newton got their biggest ideas when they were bored and doing nothing.
Wendy Zukerman· Host1:26
So would we