Ms Weybright, why do young people get bored so quickly?
Among other things, this has to do with the developmental processes of the brain during puberty. It is a phase of rapid growth and profound neurological restructuring. During adolescence, our children are more prone to boredom because the two major control systems in their brains do not grow at the same rate.
Could you please explain that in more detail?
First, the socio-emotional system matures: it is responsible for processing rewards and makes young people increasingly seek out new and exciting experiences. At the same time, however, most of them are not necessarily able to assess the long-term consequences of their behaviour. The cognitive control system – responsible for thoughtful planning and rational decision-making – develops much more slowly. This development is often not fully complete until the mid-twenties. Young people experience feelings such as boredom very intensely, but are only able to regulate their need for more stimulation to a limited extent.
Screens are an easily available response to uncomfortable feelings.
If they are so attracted to adventure, adolescents should be less bored.
Yes, if it weren't for the discrepancy between the desire for freedom and change that young people feel so strongly – and the opportunities that are actually available to them. Of course, adolescents gain autonomy during this time and the conditions in their environment change. But not as quickly as they might like.
From 2008 to 2017, you asked young people between the ages of 12 and 17 how often they felt bored in a large-scale study. The result: adolescents not only felt bored more often, but also more quickly. What are the reasons for this increase?
My impression is that there has been a general sense of discontent in our Western society for some time now – a desire to engage in satisfying activities, but an inability to do so. At the same time, we are seeing an increase in mental health problems in the United States . I wonder if there is a connection.
For me, both points indicate something more fundamental: have we forgotten how to endure uncomfortable feelings such as boredom? Have we lost the ability to find constructive ways of dealing with them without aids?
Perhaps we no longer allow our children to have enough experiences in which they have to endure boredom. Not just for a few minutes, but for several hours. With nothing but a book at hand, if that. Because that's the only way to learn to feel reasonably comfortable even when experiencing uncomfortable feelings. I wonder if we are not losing something important here.
What role do smartphones and social media play?
Of course, the ubiquitous presence of screens is a major challenge. But I think it's too simplistic to blame them for all the problems. Social media can also be a blessing, especially during adolescence: it connects young people with like-minded individuals and creates a sense of community, particularly in cases where adolescents may not have anyone in their immediate environment who is like them. At the same time, adolescence is a period of very intense emotions that young people first have to learn to deal with.
An excess of stimuli can also lead to boredom.
There is a great temptation to turn to your smartphone instead of dealing with boredom or frustration. For me, that is the biggest problem: screens are an easily available answer to uncomfortable feelings. Of course, everyone looks for distraction sometimes. But if we reach for our phones every time we're bored or sad, we may never learn how to manoeuvre ourselves out of such feelings on our own.
At the same time, one might think that, due to the ubiquitous entertainment options available online, boredom no longer exists.
When we talk about boredom, we often think of a lack of stimulation. But too much stimulation can also lead to boredom. The internet and smartphones tend to offer us too much entertainment. However, if we fill our time with largely meaningless activities, we are no less bored. The way out of boredom is not only through stimulating conditions. We also try to counteract the feeling by giving situations more meaning. But when everyone is staring at their mobile phones while queuing at the post office, that doesn't seem particularly meaningful to me.
Is there a meaningful way to queue?
Good question. Research suggests that there are ways to make such moments more meaningful. For example, I can remind myself why I am at the post office in the first place. Perhaps I want to send a parcel to someone who means a lot to me? In this way, I am reorienting my thoughts. Another way is to shift my attention to something else, such as my surroundings: how many parcels are being processed at this branch? What new stamps are available? Well, the post office may not be the most suitable place for this kind of reorientation.
What do you do in such moments?
When I have to wait somewhere, I like to take the opportunity to get in touch with people I haven't been in contact with for a while, even though I value them. It can be as simple as «Hey, I'm thinking of you right now.»
But here we are back to mobile phones again.
That's right. But for me, connecting with other people is one of the more meaningful ways to use your smartphone during boring moments, rather than simply for entertainment.
Another interesting finding in your study was that the girls surveyed were bored significantly more often and more quickly than boys. Why is that?
We don't know for sure. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that girls tend to engage in more physically passive activities in their free time, such as listening to music or meeting up with friends. Boys are more likely to play sports and are generally more physically active. Of course, such gender differences also have to do with our socialisation.
Physical activities definitely require more undivided attention than more passive hobbies. They therefore leave less room for boredom. However, it is also possible that we did not catch the boys in our study at quite the right stage of development; after all, the female brain matures earlier than the male brain. We may therefore have needed data from older boys as well.
We must give young people the space and time to come up with their own ideas.
However, you also noticed a greater increase in mental illness among girls in particular. When is boredom an indication of deeper-seated problems such as depression or anxiety disorders?
When boredom takes over everyday life and gets in the way of even the most ordinary activities, it's time to take a closer look. But some children simply struggle with boredom more than others. To explain this, I need to back up a bit: in research, we distinguish between two basic forms of boredom: boredom as a situational feeling and boredom as a predisposition or personality trait. We are all familiar with the former; the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic is a typical example of this. However, some people get bored more quickly than others, regardless of their environment and age.
What are the reasons?
A key factor is the ability to regulate one's emotions . Some children find it more difficult to deal with unpleasant feelings. They also find it harder to identify such feelings in the first place. We must not forget that boredom is an emotion. As with other feelings, you first have to learn how to deal with it. It is good for parents to know that their child may need a little more guidance and time to acquire the necessary skills.
Who finds it harder to cope when teenagers are bored: the teenagers themselves or their parents?
It is never easy for parents to watch their children feel uncomfortable. However, especially during adolescence, it is important for young people to struggle with boredom sometimes. We must give adolescents the space and time to come up with their own ideas. But this also means that we adults may have to face some uncomfortable feelings. After all, we would often prefer to intervene immediately.
It is perfectly normal for adolescents to hang out in their free time.
However, in your research, you repeatedly find that parents have a significant influence on whether their child gets bored in their free time and how well they cope with it.
When children are young, we actively support them in organising their free time and helping them find ways to escape boredom. But even then, we can involve them in the search for solutions. When one of my daughters used to get bored, I would first ask: What have you been playing with so far? What would you like to do? Would you like to look in your room and see what you can find there? The older children get, the more they should be able to go through this process on their own.
All the more so as teenagers are only moderately receptive to their parents' advice...
During adolescence, our guidance naturally becomes more indirect. However, parents continue to play an important role. For example, we know from boredom research how crucial a wide range of leisure activities is for young people. As parents, we can continually encourage our teenagers to try out as many different activities as possible. This way, even when they lack energy or motivation, they are more likely to find something they enjoy doing.
What about the balance between structured and unstructured leisure time? How can parents give their children enough freedom without leaving too much room for silly ideas?
It is perfectly normal for young people to want to hang out in their free time and meet their peers outside of structured activities or school. These breaks are very important. It is during these unstructured moments that friendships develop and bonds grow. It is no different for us adults.
I would also like to make a plea – and I say this with the utmost care: Sometimes we should simply let our children do their own thing, fully aware that things may go wrong; we should help adolescents learn from their mistakes – knowing that their ability to plan for the long term is not yet developed; we should give them the tools they need to make good life decisions, but accept that they will probably take a few wrong turns along the way.
Finding the right balance here is often anything but easy for parents.
No question, that's true. How much leeway do I have for such wrong decisions? When young people put themselves and others in danger or come into conflict with the law, that limit has certainly been reached. But we have to accept the idea that teenagers, in their search for themselves, will also do a few things that are outside our comfort zone.
It is precisely in upper secondary school, when adolescents need more autonomy, that we restrict their freedom of movement and take away their liberties.
Because failing and experiencing all the feelings that go with it, and discovering your resilience in the process, are good and important developmental experiences. At the same time, parents should be aware of how their children spend their free time and with whom. Because research also clearly shows that if you surround yourself with peers who engage in risky behaviour, you are more likely to join in at some point yourself.
Young people also get bored at school. However, science has shown little interest in the subject so far. Yet boredom has long-term consequences here in particular, as it affects academic success.
Interestingly, scientific interest in this topic has been growing for several years. In my opinion, boredom at school has a lot to do with how it is structured, at least in the USA. Even in primary school, children here have a lot of free time and many opportunities to play freely.
From secondary school onwards, however, everyday school life suddenly becomes very structured. So just when adolescents actually demand and need more autonomy, we restrict their freedom of movement again and take away their liberties.
This is completely at odds with their developmental needs. Unfortunately, however, research has so far focused primarily on how young people manage to channel their boredom productively – rather than addressing school structures.
However, a German study shows precisely that. It found that young people who were able to enhance content and make it interesting for themselves had more fun at school and fewer performance-related problems.
Of course, one should try to make sense of boring situations, as we discussed in this conversation. However, it is quite a challenging task for young people to turn a dull school lesson into something meaningful for their own lives. Those who get bored more quickly than others are once again left behind.
