This year, I鈥檓 trying to spend more time being bored.

When I was a child, I would sometimes complain of boredom during the long, hot stretches of late summer.

My parents typically had two answers 鈥淕o play outside.鈥� If this failed, 鈥淲ell, I can find something for you to do,鈥� which was also effective at getting me to scamper off to play outside.

In the last few years, I鈥檓 becoming less and less bored.

It鈥檚 starting to worry me.

First off, I think it鈥檚 not good for me personally.

All the best stuff happens when you鈥檙e bored. Daydreams. Creative thoughts. Sudden insights, whether it鈥檚 into a thorny work problem or into just how you can fix that stupid dripping faucet.

I do my best thinking when I鈥檓 taking a walk, or a shower, or doing the dishes or sweeping. Mindless chores mean the mind has to make up its own play to keep itself busy.

But I do a lot less deep thinking when I鈥檝e got something to keep me entertained. And I could easily fill every second of every day up with all the options at my disposal.

Social media, podcasts, Netflix, YouTube, Wikipedia. All at my fingertips thanks to the now-utterly-necessary smartphones that most of us need just to do our jobs!

So I鈥檓 trying to put down the phone, and just let my mind wander.

That鈥檚 a valid individual solution, but what about society as a whole?

There鈥檚 been a lot of talk of late about how social media and smartphones are eroding our attention span, and that certainly seems true.

I鈥檝e seen much less talk about how we鈥檙e losing the capacity to be bored.

If society is less bored, what does that mean for our future?

Just a thought 鈥� do you think Medieval illuminated manuscripts, the steam engine, or the Apollo program would have come about without someone being dead bored at some point, with their mind idly wandering about, looking for something to do?

I don鈥檛.