Could boredom be good for us? Smartphones offer us instant stimulation, but they may silence a deeper message

In 2014, a group of researchers from Harvard University and the University of Virginia tasked people with sitting alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes.

- Sophie McBain

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: something 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 quiet or solitude, or to distract us late at night when anxious thoughts creep in. This isn't always a bad thing, but it's worth reflecting on the fact that avoiding unwanted mind-wandering is easier than it's ever been, and that most people distract themselves in very similar, screen-based ways.