Boredom: Is It Good For You?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 April 2026

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We keep hearing that we need to be BORED more, with people online swearing that boredom can work magic — restoring your mind, and even supercharging your creativity. So, is boredom secretly good for us? We talk to cognitive neuroscientist Prof. James Danckert and organizational psychologist Prof. Guihyun Park to find out. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/ScienceVsBoredom In this episode, we cover: (00:00) They say we need more boredom (02:06) This is your brain on boredom (12:30) Does boredom push us into creativity? (22:08) Should you try to be more bored? (23:53) When you give your brain time to rest This episode was produced by Michelle Dang, with help from Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. Wendy Zukerman is our executive producer. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wylie, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and this is Science Bases.
0:05.0	Today on the show, we're pitting facts against feeling bored.
0:14.2	Across the internet, people are embracing being bored.
0:18.8	Raw dogging boredom for one hour.
0:20.9	Raw dogging one hour straight.
0:22.9	No phone, no TV, no music, no moving, no sleeping for an hour straight.
0:27.7	That's right.
0:28.8	They're raw dogging boredom.
0:31.0	There's all these videos of people recording themselves,
0:33.9	sitting on the floor of their bedroom, doing basically nothing,
0:39.5	in some cases for hours.
0:41.0	And why are they doing this?
0:43.0	Raw dogging boredom.
0:44.5	The problem is we've created a way of living where you do not need to be bored at all.
0:49.7	And the second you feel bored, you grab your phone.
0:51.9	Like people like to say, oh, I just can't be bored.
0:54.2	I'm the type of person who always has to be doing something, right?
0:56.7	That's justifying the addiction.
0:59.4	Influences are telling us that we need to push back against this addiction
1:03.7	and embrace boredom like a lost art.
1:07.6	They say that being bored is actually good for us.
1:10.5	And it could inspire us to be more imaginative and creative.
	...

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