Is boredom good for you? Why experts say it's a call to action — and how to make the most of it.

At any hour of the day or night, we can be entertained. Simply pick up your phone and there is endless content to consume, videos to watch, articles to read, apps to download, wormholes to discover. With all these options, one need never be bored — and that's a bad thing.

For all the whining about it, boredom can actually have benefits. First, though, we have to let ourselves actually be bored. "Getting off apps and retraining the focus muscles of our brains will require us to do one thing: Be bored," journalist Kate Lindsay recently wrote in her Embedded newsletter in response to a viral tweet from a woman complaining about her ever-dwindling attention span.

"Not being bored is why you always feel busy, why you keep ‘not having time’ to take a package to the post office or work on your novel,” Lindsay continued. “You do have time — you just spend it on your phone. By refusing to ever let your brain rest, you are choosing to watch other people’s lives through a screen at the expense of your own.”

Being bored, she added, “is when you bring a book to read on the subway or make small talk with the person in front of you in line about how slow the pharmacy is. Boredom is when you do the things that make you feel like you have life under control.” And it's something experts agree that should be seen as an opportunity, not a problem. Here's how — and what we're getting wrong about being bored.

What is boredom?

So what is boredom exactly? “Boredom,” says philosophy professor Lars Svendsen, “is a feeling of discomfort that signals that our need for personal meaning is not being satisfied.”

“It’s a motivational state where you want to be doing something meaningful and purposeful to you,” says James Danckert, a professor of psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. “But you don’t want any of the available options.”

Boredom has also been around for forever. “The premodern variety of boredom, called acedia, is one of the seven deadly sins,” says Svendsen. “Acedia is usually mistranslated as ‘sloth,’ but ‘boredom’ would be more accurate.”

Today’s perspective on boredom is also pretty harsh. “Those who express feelings of boredom are often viewed as being less intelligent, successful and worthy,” psychologist and author Carla Marie Manly tells Yahoo Life. “Many people unconsciously link boredom with unproductivity; and, as our society prizes productivity, boredom is viewed negatively by association.”

It's also worth noting that what you’re experiencing when you look at your phone isn’t necessarily healthy mental engagement. “That’s passive engagement of the mind,” says Danckert, “and what boredom is pushing us to do is more active engagement of the mind.”

Why boredom is an opportunity

The reality, Svendsen says, is that boredom is actually not such a bad thing after all. “The state of boredom creates a space in which you could and should relate to yourself. Because outer things lose significance, you are thrown back onto yourself,” he says.

How can we do boredom better? For starters, relax. “The first thing to do when you’re feeling boredom in the moment is just to try and take a deep breath — try and stay calm,” says Danckert, noting that when people report feeling bored they say they also feel restless and agitated. “The second thing to do is to say, 'Well why? Why am I bored right now?'" Next, try and reframe the feeling so that it works for you rather than against you.

According to Danckert, boredom is an opportunity to rethink big and small life goals. “Boredom is a call to action," he says. "Its function is to push you and prompt you to do something else, because whatever you’re doing right now clearly is not working.” People who are bored with their job, for example, might seek out a more exciting and fulfilling career path. On a micro level, the sensation of being bored while you, say, wait for a package delivery might spur you to tackle a project you've been putting off, or make a long overdue call to a friend.

Manly adds that there are ways to make the most out of periods of boredom. “I like to envision boredom as an invitation to follow the muse of our imagination,” she says. “When we slow down to use boredom as an opportunity to dive inward — and outward when appropriate — we can bring new energy and experiences to life.”

“We should just let it intrude on us,” Svendsen adds of boredom, “rather than spending our entire lives trying to escape it, like junkies needing another fix.”

“It’s important to allow boredom to exist without agenda,” Manly adds. “If we see boredom as a route to a specific outcome — e.g., increased productivity, greater action or vast creativity — we dilute the importance of the gift of boredom.”

Tips for using boredom to your advantage

• Acknowledge the signal that something is not working. As the experts say, “boredom is a call to action.” It’s a sign that what you’re doing in the present isn’t fulfilling you. Pay attention to that signal and move toward something that makes you feel fulfilled.

• Let your mind wander. It’s OK to not be entertained at all hours of the day. In fact, we shouldn’t be entertained at all hours of the day. Use moments of boredom to let your brain rest and to truly look around your current environment and engage with it.

• Use boredom as a motivator. Feeling bored is uncomfortable, but if you lean into the feeling — instead of pushing away from it — you will learn more about your likes and dislikes, as well as what inspires and fulfills you and what leaves you wanting more.