The Lost Art of Being Bored
Growing up, if anyone asked how I was, my answer was always the same. “I’m bored.” Boredom was my default setting. Until I found Warcraft II and online gaming, there wasn’t much to do but think or stare at the ceiling. If I did that long enough, my brain crawled out of its cage and came up with some real crazy shit.
I was an only child. Didn’t have any kids my age nearby. So I went out into the woods and climbed trees. I sat on a limb near the top till my legs went numb. Built forts. Imagined all the things we could do if my friends lived closer.
Nowadays, the second things go silent, people panic like they’re being waterboarded. They reach for their phones, desperate to drown in noise before a single thought surfaces. Doomscrolling is not curiosity. It’s digital self-hypnosis. A slow drip feeding the illusion of activity to the brain while nothing actually happens.
Boredom used to be uncomfortable. That was the point. It forced your mind to do its job. To wander. To dig. To make something out of nothing. To spit out a thought that makes you say what the fuck later. Now we get algorithm-approved distractions instead of ideas.
We’ve traded imagination for sedation.
We can’t create while we’re constantly consuming. Inspiration needs space. Silence. Negative air pressure inside our skulls. A little void so something new can expand to fill it.
A bored mind is a dangerous mind. It questions. It pokes holes. It rebels. It invents. Boredom is the fuel of imagination. Always has been.
Maybe that’s why modern life keeps us entertained every second. It’s hard to build anything meaningful when your attention span is measured in swipes.
I’m not saying toss your phone in a lake and get lost in the woods with me. I’m no monk. I doomscroll too. Sometimes at two in the morning, staring into a bottomless pit of random videos with strangers arguing in the comments. But I also know what it costs. Every hour of scrolling is another brick in the wall between me and my thoughts.
Boredom isn’t our enemy. It’s the doorway. And those doorways are getting harder to find. Sit with it long enough, and something sharp will crawl out of your noggin. Something only you could have made. The trick is not to fight it. Let it come to you.
