Why we should be excited for boredom

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Embrace the boredom. So says a new study out of Harvard that suggests our constant overstimulation is leaving us at odds with the amount of happiness we have in our lives.

It seems somewhat counterintuitive, as the absolute dream of my 10-year-old self was to have my own TV I could carry anywhere.

Backyard tent sleepovers would be spent under torchlight, dreaming of the possibility of a video call to lands far away or the chance to catch an episode of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe from the comfort of my somewhat worn sleeping bag.

I remember the first videocapable smartphone I owned, and the feeling of how much it would change the world; the ability to sit on a domestic flight and watch three-minute videos filmed on a camera not much better than a potato, on screen from the privacy of my seat.

Watching in awe as streaming television services rolled out, bringing to our palms our favourite shows, ready to entertain us at any moment of boredom. Doctors’ waiting rooms would never be the same again.

But somewhere along the line, the magic of portable entertainment became more invasive.

Times that years before would have been easy waiting periods, like a halftime break in a kids’ sports match or a stop in the car while the kids ran into the dairy to grab milk, became a chance to nab five minutes of social media — to scroll past a couple of cat videos, or a random Instagram reel about welding a shopping cart together on the bottom of the ocean while an octopus watches on bemused.

Downtime in the home that might otherwise be used to tick a few chores off the list could just as easily become an opportunity to watch just one more episode of your latest greatest show, 40 minutes disappearing seemingly as fast as you can say “the dishes have been there since lunchtime”.

And so, what do the bright minds at Harvard think we can do to try to get ourselves out of this entertainment conundrum?

Not take our phones to the loo. Take some time to relieve yourself like the days of yore. Just you, the walls, the bog roll and the back of the air freshener bottle with the description of its smell and an ingredient list.

This week, I’m trying bathroom boredom as a stepping stone to a happier life. Now pass the shampoo bottle — I’ve got some reading to do.