📒 Long Read on The Boredom Paradox
Our (supposed) longing for nothing, the Default Mode Network and the origins of Harry and Hermione
You may already know that I very irregularly publish an actual print magazine together with the amazingly talented bunch over at LMNOP. It’s called Absolute Zeitgeist, and we see it as “an attempt to capture a collective sense of time”.
A—Z is an open source curatorial magazine that captures the themes and elements that shape our present. For each issue, we pick a theme (from A to Z) and invite A—Z’s community to submit their reflections on it, in the form of any content visual or textual via a designated Are.na board, and a curator to support us in shaping and exploring a vision around the theme.
The second issue of the zine centered around the theme (B for) “Bored”. We asked ourselves; are we still capable of being bored? Do we in fact need to? Through six lenses supplied by curator Joachim Baan, various writers and artists submitted their views. One of which is my own. I thought it might be nice to also share it here as a little sample of the mag.
Basically in my piece I try to explore the dichotomy between boredom as a chosen state, and as something that happens to us beyond or choice. And how it sometimes seems we want to avoid boredom at all costs, vs. our (supposed) longing for nothing.
For the other’s perspectives on this matter, find B is for Bored here, here, or here. And to submit to the next issue, “C is for Care”, go » here.
The Boredom Paradox
Boredom can sometimes feel wasteful, unproductive—Unwelcome in our optimization-obsessed culture. Yet, ongoing research reveals a different truth: this seemingly empty mental state actually creates necessary conditions for growth. By stepping away from the stream of stimulation, we unlock capacities for self-directed learning, resilience, and innovation.
When boredom strikes, the brain activates what neuroscientists call the Default Mode Network (DMN). A constellation of regions that hums to life during rest. This is not mental laziness; it's the brain's creative systems at work. In this state, consciousness shifts inward, allowing for the kind of associative thinking that forges connections between seemingly disconnected ideas. Your parents were not wrong, when they told you to “stop complaining”, because “being bored makes you creative”, when you had absolutely nothing to do on one of those eternal, rainy (depending on where you grew up) Sunday-afternoons. They might have only lacked the neurological vocabulary to explain why those rain-soaked hours were actually cognitive gold.
Without external factors drawing attention, the mind turns inwards, excavating thoughts and reassembling them in new configurations. Introspection as innovation, daydreaming as problem-solving. The brain, deprived of constant stimulation, begins generating its own. And often discovers something remarkable while doing so.
Famously, J.K. Rowling, once stranded on a delayed train, years before her public persona would take darker turns. She credits those hours of enforced stillness with birthing the wizarding world that would eventually make her a -literal- billion dollars. Her mind, freed from distraction, wandered into territories that active engagement might never have reached. So the next time an announcer at Central Station delivers the news of daily delays, make sure to tune in: your fortune might be around the corner. When it does, just please leave the transgender community alone.
But the Default Mode Network does more than spark creativity. It operates as something like the neurological foundation of selfhood itself. The DMN doesn't only daydream; it constructs and maintains our sense of identity, weaving together memories, traits, and emotional states into the narrative we call "self."
Basically it orchestrates our ability to remember the past, and project into the future, to understand others and ourselves. It deactivates during external, goal-oriented tasks. Visual attention, working memory, the cognitive demands of our hyperconnected lives. Scientific proof that all you have to do is pull out your phone and scroll through some reels or stories for a while if you’d want to block out the innovative ideation for a sec.
What struck me most when cognitively processing all this input for this piece, is that the functions and triggered neural systems mentioned above all do the same thing; they pull you out of the current moment.
Reflecting on yourself and others, daydreaming, thinking about past and/or the future, they’re interestingly all opposites of now. Boredom essentially liberates us from the current, opening neural paths to reflection and innovation.
And given the particular intensity of our zeitgeist. Given 2025's cascade of crises and distractions so far, this feels to me like more than academic curiosity. It's an argument for resistance. So clear your schedule for this Sunday. Look out the window for a while. And just see what happens.
