Skip To Main Content
Coruña British International School

Boredom is necessary

Why do children and adults need boredom in their daily lives? Like any other emotion, yes, it is necessary, and we should learn to be bored much more. And we should also teach children to be bored.

Joy is necessary to be able to externalise the happiness that something makes us feel. Sadness is also necessary to show others what makes us need help, or what has not ended as we would have liked. Similarly, fear is necessary for survival: it allows us to be alert to danger and to be prepared for it. But what about boredom - is there any use or logic in being bored? Well, like any other emotion, yes, it is necessary, and we should learn to be bored much more. And we should also teach children to be bored.

We live in an overstimulated society. We live in the age of rushing, of routines. In the society of over-activity, of being busy absolutely every hour of the day, of the week, of the month and even of the year. We cannot see a space in our diary without crossing it out. A gap destined to think, to be alone, to enjoy the silence. A gap destined for boredom.

And if this is the case in adult life, it is even more so with children. They have their routines so established and internalised that they don't even know how to live without them. It is necessary to be able to occupy almost all of their time at a time when it is not easy to reconcile family life. They get up, go to school and spend an average of eight hours there. Afterwards, they go to extracurricular activities, do their homework, have dinner, take a shower, have time to read, five minutes of screen time and the bedtime ritual begins. And when the weekend approaches, families have already made an elaborate schedule so that there is no room for the expression: "mum, dad, I'm bored, what can I do".

Boredom as a synonym for imagination

However, if boredom exists, it is not in vain. Just as it is not in vain for any other emotion we may experience. Allowing children (and adults) periods of time away from the constant stimulation they are used to can enrich their lives.

A few years ago, psychologist Sandi Mann decided to study everything about boredom, knowing that it is one of the most repudiated emotions in human beings. In one of her most famous books, The Art of Knowing How to Be Bored (Editorial Plataforma), she states that "there is a positive side to boredom, and that it can be a catalyst for humour, fun, reflection, creativity and inspiration". She also asserts that the problem is that we tend to avoid boredom and yet we should encourage it more.

In this interview with La Vanguardia, she was categorical: "We impoverish our children by avoiding boredom. It enriches their spirit". "The child will not die if you wait a little, nor if you bore him a little more. Don't rob him of the experience of being bored!

She is not alone in believing that boredom is, above all, the reason humanity still exists today and that it is necessary to be more creative, more imaginative and happier.

If you want your kids to be creative, let them be bored

A study published in the Creativity Research Journal and carried out by a team of psychologists at the University of Central Lancashire found a fairly close relationship between boredom and creativity. Specifically, they found, through a simple test, that the people who were most bored before starting were the ones who gave the most creative answers to the researchers. In this way, they came to the conclusion that people should not shy away from boredom, but see it as an opportunity to work on creativity.

The best thing for boredom: free time

Taking into account the expert opinion on the benefits of boredom, at Coruña British International School we encourage it in the best possible way: giving children time for free play.

As we said at the beginning, over-stimulating their day and filling it with a thousand activities is not the best remedy for them to learn to be bored. And if they don't learn to do so, they may develop a low frustration tolerance that will appear when they find themselves without any tasks to do.

Did you enjoy this article?

Now, you can get to know our educational project by booking a visit with the person in charge of admissions and asking her all the questions you want. Reserve a day below.

Book your personalised visit

Latest news on education

Latest Posts