The Big Idea: Should We Embrace Boredom? – Intermediate

General English

The Big Idea: Should We Embrace Boredom?

Level: B1-B2Time: 60 minFocus: Word Forms

TEXT:

📋 Overview

1Warmer

2Key Words

3Comprehension

4Key Language

5Discussion

6In Your Own Words

The Guardian

HIGHLIGHT:

Mind & Wellbeing

The big idea: should we embrace boredom?

Smartphones offer instant stimulation, but do they silence a deeper message?

Sophie McBain11 June, 2025

1In 2014, a group of researchers from Harvard University and the University of Virginia asked people to sit alone for 15 minutes. The only thing they could do was press a button that gave them a painful electric shock. Almost half of the people in the experiment pressed it. The study's authors concluded that "people prefer doing to thinking", even if the only thing to do is painful.

2Since the development of smartphones, most of us have been walking around with a device that can stop us feeling bored, even if it's not good for us. We often reach for our phones for something to do. This isn't always a bad thing, but it's worth noting that most people distract themselves in very similar ways.

3Smartphones have also increased the pressure to use our time well. To sit and do nothing is seen as a waste of time. But that ignores the fact that when we're doing nothing we're often thinking quite hard. What happens to all those difficult thoughts that start to form in the seconds before we look at our phones again?

"People prefer doing to thinking, even if the only thing to do is painful."

4Most psychologists would agree that boredom is a useful emotion. According to Erin Westgate, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Florida, we become bored if something doesn't absorb our attention, or when we believe it to be meaningless. But when we are bored, we should realise the need to do something more interesting. However, if people don't react in the right way to their boredom, they may find themselves becoming chronically bored. That is associated with a number of different problems, including depression and anxiety.

5There is evidence to suggest that chronic boredom is becoming more common, and that this is because of smartphones. In a study published in 2024, researchers noted that the number of students in China and the US who described themselves as bored increased in the years after 2010, when smartphones became popular. Why did this happen? Research has shown that the main reason we pick up our phones is because we are bored, but that the behaviour actually makes it worse. One study, for instance, found that people who were bored at work were more likely to use their smartphones – and then felt even more bored.

6The average American spends more than four hours a day on their smartphone and more than seven hours a day in total online. That adds up to spending 17 years of your adult life online. When boredom strikes, we should try not to reach for our phones instantly. Instead, we should see it as an opportunity to connect with friends or our community or try something different or new. The people who don't mind being bored, at least for a short time, may actually experience less of it. It could even be the first step towards a life that feels more meaningful and freer.

📋

Lesson Overview

About This Lesson

This article examines the effect that smartphones have had on how we react to, and deal with, feelings of boredom.

Level: Intermediate (B1–B2)
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language Focus: Word forms (verb / noun / adjective / adverb)
Time: 60 minutes
Activities: Key words (definitions + fill-in) · Comprehension T/F · Word forms table · Discussion · Class survey

👈 The article is on the left. Use tabs to navigate. Choose a highlight colour and select text to mark in the article — you can use all three colours at once. Click ✕ to clear all highlights.

Warmer

Discuss the following questions in pairs.

😴

How often do you feel bored? What jobs or tasks do you find particularly boring? Why?

📱

What do you do when you feel bored? How good are these things at making you feel less bored?

Key Words

a. Complete the definitions

Find the words from the wordpool in the article (marked in bold). Then complete the definitions.

absorbadds up toaloneassociated withconcludeddevicedistractelectric shockevidenceexperimentformmeaninglessopportunitypressure

If you feel , it's because of too much worry or stress.

means to stop someone from giving their full attention to something.

A(n) is a test to learn more about something or see how it works.

means to take in something like an idea or a piece of information.

When you are , you are without other people.

means something was decided after thinking carefully.

is when something does not have a clear reason or meaning.

A(n) is a chance to do something, especially something good or useful.

A(n) is a small piece of equipment that does a special job, often using technology.

10.

When something is something else, it is connected in people's minds with that thing.

11.

is the information that shows something is true or real.

12.

To means to create something, especially ideas.

13.

When something a number, it equals a certain amount.

14.

A(n) is a sudden and painful feeling you get when electricity passes through your body.

Answer Key (a):

pressure
Distract
experiment
Absorb
alone
Concluded
Meaningless
opportunity
device
associated with
Evidence
form
adds up to
electric shock

b. Complete the sentences

Complete the sentences with words from part a in the correct form.

1.I didn't touch the wire, but I still got a small that hurt my hand.

2.It's hard to focus on reading when something is there to you every five minutes.

3.The business manager the meeting by thanking everyone for their time.

4.All the data we collected in the showed the same result.

5.When you add the rent, bills and food, it over £1,000 a month.

6.A smartphone is a very useful , but it's also very easy to waste time on it.

7.There was no clear plan, so the meeting felt completely .

8.The manager said there might be a(n) for me to work abroad for six months.

9.Some people believe stress is strongly heart problems.

10.It's important to your ideas clearly before you start writing.

11.Sam was completely in the house all weekend and didn't speak to anyone.

12.The police didn't have enough to make an arrest.

13.Try not to speak too quickly – give people time to what you say.

14.Lexi was under a lot of before the exam and couldn't sleep well.

Answer Key (b):

electric shock
distract
concluded
experiment
adds up to
device
meaningless
opportunity
associated with
form
alone
evidence
absorb
pressure

Comprehension Check

Decide if the statements are True or False according to information in the article.

More than half of the people in the Harvard experiment chose to give themselves electric shocks rather than sit quietly.

The author believes that using smartphones to avoid boredom is always harmful.

According to Erin Westgate, boredom happens when we find something uninteresting or pointless.

Students in China and America reported feeling more bored after smartphones became widely used.

Research shows that using phones when bored at work helps people feel less bored.

Americans spend over a decade and a half of their adult lives browsing the internet.

Answer Key:

False – Almost half (not more than half) pressed the button.
False – The author says "This isn't always a bad thing."
True – Westgate says boredom occurs when something doesn't absorb attention or feels meaningless.
True – Boredom increased in years after 2010 when smartphones became popular.
False – Using phones when bored at work made people feel even more bored.
True – 17 years adds up to more than a decade and a half.

Key Language: Word Forms

a. Complete the word forms table

Find the words in bold in the article. Then complete the table with the other word forms.

Verb	Noun	Adjective	Adverb
—		painful
		meaningless / meaningful	/
	development
react
	boredom	/

Answer Key (a):

pain
painfully
mean
meaning
meaninglessly
meaningfully
develop
developed
— (no common adverb)
reaction
reactive
— (no common adverb)
bore
bored
boring
boringly

b. Use the correct word form

Complete each sentence with the correct form of the word in brackets.

1.The dentist told me that the treatment might be quite but that it would only last a few minutes. (pain)

2.Jamie has a bad cold and won't be in school today. (development)

3.The teacher spoke so that half the class fell asleep during the history lesson. (boredom)

4.If I told you I had won £1 million, what would your be? (react)

5.The art gallery was full of paintings that no one seemed to understand or enjoy. (meaning)

Answer Key (b):

painful
developed
boringly
reaction
meaningless

Discussion

Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.

📱

Think about how much you use your phone. What online activities feel meaningful, and which ones feel like you are wasting your time?

🧘

Would you be willing to try a 'digital detox' (e.g. not using your device for a certain number of hours or days per week)? Why or why not?

In Your Own Words – Class Survey

Work in groups. Follow the steps below to complete a class survey on boredom.

Step 1 — Create your questions

Write 6–8 survey questions using these ideas. Ask other groups and note their answers.

How often do you feel bored during a typical week? (Never / Rarely / Sometimes / Often / Very often)

You're waiting for a train but have no phone battery. What do you do?

Put these from most to least boring: lectures, social media, household chores, waiting in queues.

When you feel bored, what's the first thing you reach for? Why?

How long can you sit quietly without feeling bored?

Do you think you get bored more or less easily than your friends? Why?

Step 2 — Analyse your data

Look at the answers. Find patterns or interesting results.

Step 3 — Prepare a 3-minute presentation

Include: your research focus and key questions · the most surprising discovery · one recommendation based on your findings.

💬 Useful Language

Our research focused on … / We asked questions about …

Most people said that … / Only a few people …

The most surprising result was …

We recommend that … / Our advice is to …