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You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why.

Harvard Business Review · 18M views · 2025-08-26 · 5:50

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Overview

Harvard professor Arthur Brooks explains why boredom is useful rather than something to avoid. He describes how a wandering mind engages the brain's default mode network, which supports creativity and curiosity, and suggests it may protect against depression.

On Hacker News

Commenters cite it when arguing for less phone time and more idle, undistracted thinking.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2025–2026

Topics

Neuroscience & the brainProductivity & self-improvementPsychology & human behavior
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boredomdefault mode networkcreativityphone usewellbeing

What people said

mixermachine · 2025-09 · Recommendation

Also great video regarding this topic: "You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why." [VIDEO] I now regularly force myself to "actively" do nothing for 15 minutes and just think. All the things I put into my brain as "todo, please remember" at some point in time are coming back during these 15 minutes. I get quite a lot of clarity with this exercise. As soon I pick up my phone afterwards and start browsing the clarity evaporates which feels bad. So wasting time on my phone becomes less and less appealing to me. Lets see where this leads me. I so far wasted quite a bit of time with my phone.

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davelacy · 2025-09 · Recommendation

Nice design. I like the "today in history" feature Lately I've been working toward less app time and more boredom [VIDEO] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ works wonders

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FunnyLookinHat · 2026-08 · Reference

"You need to be bored" - [VIDEO] This is harder than ever - I've always got the urge (no pun intended to the original post) to start a new worktree, keep the agents unblocked, or write down a new idea. I've started going on silent drives to help - 2 lane roads for an hour or so, just staring ahead and thinking about nothing and everything. I'll reward myself with a podcast on the way back from wherever my "could be anywhere" destination is.

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Sources

Video by Harvard Business Review, played through YouTube.

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