Boredom Series — Episode 6 | 10

Archimedes in his bath. Newton under his apple tree.

These founding narratives of scientific discovery share a common thread that is never taught: these great minds were doing absolutely nothing.

This is not a romantic coincidence. According to contemporary research, it is the very condition for certain forms of thought.

What cognitive psychology teaches us today about boredom and creativity goes far beyond metaphor. And its implications are both counter-intuitive and practically important.

Boredom as an incubator

An experiment that has become a benchmark: in their research published in 2014, Sandi Mann and Rebekah Cadman subjected participants to deliberately boring tasks (copying phone numbers from a directory) before giving them creativity tests.

The result: participants who had performed the boring task achieved higher scores in divergent thinking than the control group. Even better, those who had simply read the directory before the creative task performed even better, suggesting that active daydreaming, rather than mere passivity, is the real driver.

Bench and Lench (2019) confirmed and refined these findings: boredom stimulates the motivation to seek novelty, to find meaning where there is none immediately. It acts as a signal of "under-utilization" of cognitive resources, prompting the mind to activate unusual associations and explore mental territories that are normally seldom visited.

The default mode network: the brain thinking without us

Neuroimaging has identified the brain substrate of this phenomenon. The default mode network (DMN) is a set of brain regions that activates precisely when we are doing nothing in particular: during daydreaming, mind-wandering, and introspection.

This network, long considered mere background noise, is now recognized as one of the most important for higher cognitive functions:

→ Creative thinking and unusual associations

→ Memory consolidation

→ Simulation of future scenarios

→ Understanding the mental states of others (theory of mind)

→ Emotional integration

This network needs unstructured time to function. Every time we fill a gap of silence with external stimulation (a video, a notification, music), we interrupt this process. Not dramatically, not irreversibly. But systematically, over time, the effect is measurable.

Moderate boredom, chronic boredom: a fundamental distinction

A point of clarification is necessary: not all forms of boredom stimulate creativity.

Moderate, occasional boredom, the kind that occurs in a temporarily under-stimulating situation, is what activates the DMN and opens up divergent thinking.

Chronic, intense boredom, accompanied by a persistent feeling of emptiness and an inability to project oneself, has very different and potentially harmful effects.

The distinction is similar to that between short fasting (beneficial for certain metabolisms) and prolonged food deprivation (pathological). It is the same basic experience, but the dosage and duration change everything.

The goal is not to be more bored in general. It is to allow those moments of moderate boredom that occur naturally (during transit, between tasks, during a break) instead of immediately filling them with external stimulation.

Mindfulness: learning to be present without escaping

Mindfulness meditation offers a complementary angle on this topic. By asking practitioners to observe their internal states without trying to alter them, it specifically develops the capacity to inhabit discomfort, including boredom, without reacting impulsively.

Studies on boredom in contemplative practices show that it is common in meditation contexts, especially among beginners. Far from being an obstacle, this boredom can be treated as an object of meditation in itself: observing its texture, its progression, the thoughts it sparks, without trying to make it disappear.

This approach aligns with what psychology calls distress tolerance: not the absence of discomfort, but the ability to go through it without triggering an automatic reaction. It is a trainable skill, and boredom can be one of its best training grounds.

What this changes in practice

Leaving a few moments of the day unfilled (commutes, waiting times, breaks) without putting anything in your ears or hands. This is a concrete practice to train boredom tolerance and reactivate the benefits of mind-wandering.

When a creative idea or a solution arises "out of nowhere" (in the shower, while walking, upon waking up), it is rarely a coincidence. It is often the result of processing that the brain performed during a moment of relative inactivity. Becoming aware of this can help value these moments instead of filling them.

Mindfulness meditation, even in short practices (ten minutes a day), is one of the best-documented approaches to developing the ability to stay with your internal states without running away.

In conclusion

Boredom is not an enemy of productivity. In its moderate version, it is actually one of its best allies.

What we lose by filling every silence is not time, it is processing. It is the brain's ability to weave invisible links, integrate experiences, and produce ideas that focused attention cannot generate alone.

Leaving space for empty moments is not a form of laziness. It is a form of intelligence.

Next episode: What monks knew about boredom