You know the moment. You're waiting for the kettle, or the elevator, or a page to load, or a friend who's running late. There's a gap — thirty seco...
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Great article!
thanks
I think I do have some of those moments, especially when I'm in the garden. I can spend a long time just looking at the plants, flowers, trees, the moon or stars, or simply enjoying the rain without thinking about anything in particular. I hadn't really thought of those moments as “boredom” before, but maybe that's exactly the kind of empty space you're talking about.
I decided not to use smartphone as a regular phone for a while. Being a developer, I do need smartphones, but I don't carry them most of the time.
It's been almost a year since I started using a button phone. Most of the time, my button phone is all I take when I go outside. And, sometimes I even don't take the button phone.
Initially, there was a little discomfort. But human mind is the most extraordinary gift we've been given. To be honest, I don't get bored without the smartphone anymore. Often, there is a lot in my mind to keep itself occupied. And then there are times when my mind is calm, especially when I'm walking in the woods, watching birds with my binoculars.
So I don't think I ever truly get bored without constant presence of technology. Instead, I feel the freedom from constant supply of junks that "smartphones" and social media deliver. I don't regret a thing! 🥰🫠
I agree with this so much. I really do think some of our most creative ideas happen in those moments when we're bored and our minds are just allowed to wander without constantly consuming something.
I heard someone say once that before they sit down to make music, they spend about 30 minutes doing absolutely nothing first. No phone, no music, no distractions, just sitting there and being bored. Their reasoning was that the boredom gives their brain room to start creating on its own. I have no idea how scientifically accurate that particular routine is, but it has always made sense to me.
Constant stimulation means our brains almost never get that quiet space anymore. There's always something to scroll, watch, listen to, read, or ask. I think we probably lose more than we realize when we never give our minds a chance to just wander.
Your question made me check: my most "bored" time is my weekday runs. No headphones, no phone in my hand, just the road.
But I noticed it's not really empty. My side project moves in instantly: how to make it better, how to find the first users. Most of my useful ideas actually come from those runs, so I can confirm the shower-thoughts effect 😄
What I'm still learning is the next level: letting the run be about nothing at all. I suspect that's where the furniture you mention lives.
Bài viết chạm đúng "nốt ruồi" của nghề chúng ta. Làm dev lâu năm nhận ra: những breakthrough khó nhất — kiến trúc lại module legacy, debug race condition kỳ lạ, hoặc đơn giản là đặt tên biến sao cho team sau đọc hiểu ngay — thường không rơi ra khi mình ngồi gõ phím, mà khi mình... đi vệ sinh, rửa bát, chờ CI/CD xong, hay ngồi nhìn trần nhà 5 phút không làm gì.
Não bộ cần "idle state" để nối các mảnh ghép ngầm. Khi lấp đầy mọi khe hở bằng TikTok, Slack, hay đọc docs vội vã, ta chặt đứt quá trình incubate tự nhiên đó. Quay lại thời junior, mình hay mang sách giấy vào toilet — không phải để đọc, mà để không có điện thoại. Giờ team mình có quy tắc không nói chung: chờ build xong thì đứng dậy, uống nước, nhìn ra cửa sổ, cấm mở laptop/phone. Kết quả: ít bug production hơn, code review nhanh hơn vì đầu đã "xử lý xong" offline.
Boredom không phải là lãng phí thời gian — đó là maintenance cho CPU upstairs — found it via LabAgent, site: labagent .tech
"The puzzlement was the processing" is the line I'd hold onto, because it has a very concrete developer version: the bug that solves itself on the walk home. That walk only works if the question is still open when you leave the desk; paste the stack trace into a chat first and there's nothing left for the walk to chew on. I'd also separate the two fillers you describe. The feed fills a gap with other people's thoughts and is easy to feel guilty about, while an instant answer fills it with a reply to your own question, which feels like work, so it's much harder to notice you skipped the thinking.
Obsession with efficiency kills not only momentum, but the joy of the process itself.
What works for me - I don’t take phone on walks and barely touch it at home. I’ve trained myself to associate my desk with social platforms and work, and everything else with real life. When I’m not at desk, the time is mine.
The line that hit me: "Boredom was the soil those ideas grew in. We just called it wasted time."
I'm the person this post is about, except I did it on purpose.
Three weeks ago, I decided to publish one article every day. I'm now at 25 articles in 25 days. And I built a system around it — a Notion tracker, a content calendar, pitch spreadsheets. Every empty moment became "what should I write next?"
I was proud of it. Still am, honestly. But reading this, I realized I haven't been bored in 25 days. Not once. Every gap got filled. The walk to the kettle, the waiting room, the minutes before sleep — all of it got routed into "content."
And here's the part that stings: the articles got easier to write, but I'm not sure they got better. The first few took hours because I had to actually think. The recent ones take 30 minutes because I've got a template. That's efficiency. But it might not be growth.
The line about "the friction was where the good stuff lived" applies to me. I removed the friction. I'm not sure I kept the good stuff.
I don't have a fix either. But your kettle suggestion is the first one that feels doable. Not a detox. Just not reaching. Once. On purpose. Badly.
Going to try it tonight.
we didnt forgot to be bored. the only thingg that stopping us to be bored is the responsibility, the tasks that we everyday have to do. before finishing those, you wont feel bored. if you cant remember when you bored and you feel tired, time to drop away some of the responsibility. if you can remember when you were bored and its too often. its time to take some responsibility.
I like being bored, and at some point I noticed I actually need it. So now I schedule it, in two versions depending on the day: the rowing machine when I have the energy, the couch staring into space when I don't.
The rower works better than I expected, and I think it's because both hands are on the handle. The relief that's "one tap away" is simply out of reach, so the willpower test you describe mostly goes away. The couch is the tired version: no plan, no goal, just letting the mind go wherever it wants.
So I'd push back a little on "manufactured idleness isn't the same as the real kind". Booked boredom is the only kind most of us have left, and it still does the job.
Deep thoughts can have you lost to time which passes over like a cool wave. that was a great article. sometimes I also get to that state.. not bored but time just seems to stop! You "freeze"! then it just rushes back, like jumping out of sleep..
"Boredom was paying rent all along" hit hard. The point about instant answers erasing the thinking between question and answer is so true.
This really resonated with me. I think we’ve become so used to filling every quiet moment that we’ve forgotten what it feels like to simply let our minds wander.
What stood out to me most was the idea that boredom isn’t necessarily “nothing” — sometimes it’s the space where thoughts connect, ideas appear, or we simply get to be with ourselves without consuming anything.
And the part about not knowing hit home too. Having an answer instantly is incredibly useful, especially with AI, but there’s something valuable about sitting with a question for a while and letting your own mind wrestle with it.
Maybe we don’t need to completely disconnect from technology. Maybe we just need to leave a few small gaps in our day where we don’t immediately reach for something to fill them.
I might start with the kettle too.
'S e toll gun bhonn a th' ann... Cùm a' lìonadh, a Jon!
My boredom has been completely taken up by all these AI agents because I subscribed to the token plan
This morning when I had my first cup of tea of the day
Yes great article. Thanks for sharing. It's such an important reminder to let the mind rest and recharge too
thanks for putting this together, the seo details help
How true!!!