Why Nobody Can Just Be Bored Anymore

I was sitting in a waiting room the other day and noticed something strange. Nobody was just doing nothing. Not one person.

There were six people in the room. One was scrolling Facebook. One was watching videos. One was typing furiously into their phone like they were negotiating a peace treaty. Another was listening to something through earbuds. Even the teenager who looked permanently exhausted was still staring at a screen. Nobody was just sitting there.

And it got me thinking. When did boredom become illegal?

When I was a kid, boredom was a normal part of life. You'd sit in the back seat of a car of mum and dad’s old Ford, staring out the window for three hours wondering if sheep ever got bored of looking at other sheep.

You'd lie on the lounge and stare at the ceiling.

You'd wander around the house annoying your mother until she eventually told you to go outside and find something to do. Outside… It is only a concept these days. Probably why they build new subdivisions with no yard and fake grass. You couldn’t even have a pet!

Now the second we experience three seconds of silence; we reach for our phones like they're emergency medical equipment. Waiting in line? Phone. At the supermarket? Phone. Sitting on the toilet? Definitely phone.

Some people can't even watch television anymore without simultaneously scrolling through another screen (Squeeze, I hope you are reading this…) Apparently one source of entertainment is no longer enough. We now require entertainment while we're being entertained.

We've become scared of our own thoughts. The moment our brains aren't occupied, we start looking for stimulation. News. Social media. Videos. Games. Shopping. Anything.

Everything is available instantly. Which sounds wonderful until you realise our brains never get a break. Boredom used to be where creativity lived. Some of the best ideas I've ever had arrived while I was doing absolutely nothing.

Just sitting there. Thinking. But now, we've filled every tiny gap in our day with noise.

Podcasts while driving. Music while walking. Videos while eating. Social media while watching television. Messages while pretending to work.

At some point we stopped leaving room for our brains to wander. And wandering is important. That's where reflection happens. That's where ideas happen. That’s where best sellers are written.