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The big idea: should we embrace boredom? | Psychology | The Guardian

theguardian.com · 1,078 words · saved by 1 readers

I n 2014, a group of researchers from Harvard University and the University of Virginia asked people to sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes. The only available diversion was a button that delivered a painful electric shock. Almost half of the participants pressed it. One man pressed the button 190 times – even though he, like everyone else in the study, had earlier indicated that he found the shock unpleasant enough that he would pay to avoid being shocked again. The study’s authors concluded that “people prefer doing to thinking”, even if the only thing available to do is painful – perhaps because, if left to their own devices, our minds tend to wander in unwanted directions. Since the mass adoption of smartphones, most people have been walking around with the psychological equivalent of a shock button in their pocket: a device that can neutralise boredom in an instant, even if it’s not all that good for us. We often reach for our phones for something to do during moments of

Illustration: Eliia Barbieri/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Illustration: Eliia Barbieri/The Guardian The big idea Psychology This article is more than 1 year old The big idea: should we embrace boredom? This article is more than 1 year old Smartphones offer instant stimulation, but do they silence a deeper message? Sophie McBain Sun 15 Jun 2025 10.00 EDT Last modified on Sun 22 Jun 2025 11.06 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google I n 2014, a group of researchers from Harvard University and the University of Virginia asked people to sit alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes. The on

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