Why this Harvard professor says boredom might be the key to happiness

In a video posted on the YouTube channel of Harvard Business Review, the social scientist and author of From Strength to Strength argues that our unease with boredom is at the heart of modern mental health crisis. According to him, when we eliminate idle time, we also eliminate opportunities for introspection, creativity, and finding a sense of purpose. 

The science behind boredom

The social scientist explained that boredom triggers the human brain’s default mode network, which is a set of regions that turn on when we are not focused on a specific task. “Boredom is a tendency for us to not be occupied otherwise cognitively, which switches over our thinking system to use a part of our brain called the default mode network,” he said. “That sounds fancy. It’s really not.”

According to him, this network is responsible for our wandering thoughts or those moments when we drift toward big and sometimes uncomfortable questions like, ‘What does my life mean?’ Am I on the right path? He said that it is precisely this discomfort that drives most people to reach for their phones.

Brooks also recollected an experiment in 2014 by his Harvard colleague Dan Gilbert. For the experiment people were asked to sit in a room for 15 minutes with absolutely nothing to do. The participants only had a button in front of them, pushing which could give a painful electric shock. Brooks revealed that a majority of the participants gave themselves shocks rather than thinking about nothing. 

Brooks is of the opinion that today most of us have perfected the art of evading boredom, but at the cost of losing our sense of meaning. “We figured out a way to eliminate boredom,” he said. “We’ve been able, almost completely, to shut off the default mode network in our brains. How? The answer is that thing in your pocket with the screen.”

The acclaimed author argues that smartphones are rewiring the brain to avoid reflection. “If every time you’re slightly bored you pull out your phone, it’s going to get harder and harder for you to find meaning. That’s the recipe for depression and anxiety and a sense of hollowness, which, by the way, are all through the roof,” warned the 61-year-old.

To counter this, Brooks recommends small doses of boredom into our daily lives. “Tomorrow, when you go to the gym, don’t take your phone. Can you handle it?” he challenges. 

“Not listening to a podcast while you’re working out. Just being in your head. I promise you, you’ll have your most interesting ideas while you’re working out without devices.”

Boredom as a skill

The author also views boredom as a skill that can be developed like mindfulness or focus. According to him, it gets better at periods of boredom that are 15 minutes and longer. “If you get better at the skill of boredom, you’ll be less bored with your job, your relationships, and the things going on around you.”

More importantly, Brooks believes that this practice can lead to deeper self-understanding. “You’ll start digging into the biggest questions in your life – purpose, meaning, coherence, significance. And who knows? You might just get happier.”

While acknowledging that he is not immune to the temptations of technology, Brooks admitted that he is prone to the same pathologies as anybody else. When it comes to countering the impacts of digital overload, the academic said that he has a few strict personal rules. He said that he follows a no-device-after-7 pm rule, no sleeping with a phone, and no device during meals with the family. 

The author said that he also practises regular social media fasts and screen cleanses. He admitted that the first few hours can be hard. “It’s like children screaming in my head because that’s how dopamine is saying, ‘Get the phone, get the phone. That’s an addiction. But it calms down, and I feel better. By the end, I feel sort of blessed.”

Finding meaning beyond the screen

Despite all these, Brooks does not want you to abandon technology entirely. His views align more with reclaiming control over attention and time. He also reminded us that our grandparents did not live with constant updates about current affairs, and they were just fine. 

“Put down your phones. You need more meaning in your life. And so do I,” Brooks said in a final appeal that sounds more like a plea from a father than a professor.