On your commute,
turn o the music
and let your mind
wander.AS THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS
UNFOLD AND HOMES
EVERYWHERE RESOUND
TO THE SOUND OF, “MUM,
I’M BORED!” PSYCHOLOGIST
SANDI MANN REVEALS
WHY IT’S SOMETIMES GOOD
TO BE BOREDNEED TO
KNOW...WHAT IS BOREDOM?
It’s a search for neural stimulation.
When that search is not satis ed, we call
it boredom.DO WE GET BORED MORE EASILY
THAN PREVIOUS GENERATIONS?
I think so. With smartphones, we have
the whole world at our ngertips. We’re
always swiping and scrolling and
searching for novelty. It gives us a hit of
the ‘feel-good’ chemical, dopamine,
which is addictive, so we’re always le
wanting more. e more stimulation we
have, the more we need. is means we
get bored more easily.I EAT WHEN I’M BORED. SHOULD
I HIDE THE CHOCOLATE?
Yes. Our research has shown that eating
chocolate is one of the most common
things we do when we’re bored. We gave
bored people a choice of snacks, and
found that they rarely chose the healthy
option. It’s because you get more of a
dopamine hit from fatty foods. It could
be worse though. Some people have
committed murder out of boredom.CAN YOU BE BORED TO DEATH?
ere’s some substance to this. Research
shows that people with boring jobs,
like civil servants, have a lower life
expectancy. We suspect it’s becausewhen you’re bored, you’re more likely to eat unhealthy foods,
drink alcohol and take part in risky behaviours like speeding or
unsafe sex. ese sorts of things lead to an earlier death.HOW CAN WE STOP BEING BORED?
e paradox is that we need to introduce more boredom into our
lives in order to become less bored. I’m passionate about having
a digital detox. Swim. Go for a walk without music. If you’re on a
train, look out of the window. When I commute to work, I don’t
have the radio on. I let my mind wander. When get in my head is
o en brimming with ideas.SHOULD WE EMBRACE BOREDOM?
Ye s. I ’ m a s t r o n g b e l i e v e r i n b e i n g p r o p e r l y b o r e d e v e r y d a y. We
did a study where we got people really bored by asking them to
copy numbers from a telephone directory. en we gave them
tests of creative potential, like thinking up new uses for plastic
cups. e bored group were more creative than controls who
didn’t do the boring task, so boredom can make us more creative.WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO KEEP KIDS ENTERTAINED?
Parents are under so much pressure to be perfect. If we’re not
educating and stimulating our children, then we feel we’re failing.
I want to take that guilt away and say it’s okay to let your children
make their own entertainment.
Avoid giving them too much choice. We did some research
for an airline company, who wanted to nd ways to keep kids
entertained on long ights. We found that when you give kids a
whole bag of toys, they pick up each thing, play with it for a few
seconds, then put it down. But if you give them one thing at a
time, they spend much longer with it. Also, when we gave them
something ‘boring’ like a notepad and pen, and nothing else, they
were amazing! ey wrote and drew stories and kept themselves
busy for ages. Sometimes the best toys can be simple.Hide the chocolate
and crisps if you’re
going to be working
on a boring project.If your kids moan
that they’re bored,
tell them to
entertain
themselves.D R S A N D I
MANN
Sandi is a
psychologist from the
University of Central
Lancashire. She is the
author of The Science
Of Boredom: The
Upside (And
Downside) Of
Downtime (£9.99,
Robinson).
Interviewed by
Dr Helen Pilcher. ILLUSTRATION: BURAK BECEREN1
2
3
A SCIENTIST’S
GUIDE TO LIFEBORED
GAMES