The Attention Economy: Are We Losing the Ability to Be Bored?
The Death of Boredom
I deleted TikTok in 2020, convinced that I was freeing myself from the endless scroll. No more mindlessly watching dance trends or people making “life hacks” that were neither life-changing nor hacks. And for the most part, I’ve been fine without it—I don’t instinctively grab my phone every second. But even without TikTok, I still feel the pull of digital distractions.
As a kid, I’d sit idle while taking a dump and somehow come up with the most random thoughts. It was prime thinking time. The bathroom was basically my personal TED Talk stage—except instead of discussing world-changing ideas, I was wondering why cereal tastes better at night or if fish get thirsty. Now? The phone has taken over. The moment I sit down, muscle memory kicks in, and before I know it, I’m knee-deep in Instagram, watching some stranger’s morning routine (as if waking up at 4 AM to drink lemon water will unlock my full potential). It’s like my brain isn’t satisfied unless it’s being fed something. And when I do find myself truly bored, I don’t just sit with it—I feel like I should be doing something productive, learning something new, or at the very least, consuming something
But when did we stop allowing ourselves to just sit? When did boredom become something we needed to escape at all costs?
The Business of Distraction
The truth is, boredom didn’t just disappear—tech companies killed it. The attention economy thrives on engagement, and if we’re not looking at our screens, they’re losing money. That’s why everything is designed to keep us locked in.
Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit introduced infinite scroll, making sure content never runs out. YouTube and Netflix perfected autoplay, so before you even decide to stop watching, the next video is already playing. Even notifications are engineered to be irresistible—each one delivers a tiny dopamine hit, pulling you back in like a fish caught on a line.
And the worst part? We know this is happening. We joke about it. But we still keep coming back for more.
What We Lose When We Lose Boredom
There was a time when boredom actually served a purpose. It was where creativity thrived, where your mind wandered, where great ideas took shape. Some of history’s biggest breakthroughs happened because people had the time and space to think. Now? We’ve replaced that space with micro-distractions, and we wonder why we struggle to focus.
Our attention spans are getting shorter, and deep work—where we actually concentrate on something meaningful for extended periods—is becoming harder. Creativity is taking a hit, too. If every free second is filled with content, when do we daydream? When do we come up with those weird, out-of-nowhere ideas that turn into something great? And let’s not even talk about the constant dopamine hits from scrolling, which leave us feeling drained instead of entertained. Somehow, watching videos of raccoons stealing food at 2 AM doesn’t feel as fulfilling as I thought it would.
Reclaiming Attention: Can We Escape the Distraction Loop?
Breaking free from the attention economy feels like trying to escape the Matrix. The moment you decide to be intentional with your time, something new pops up to pull you back in. But I’ve been experimenting with ways to at least push back a little.
Lately, I’ve been trying to resist the urge to fill every empty moment. It’s uncomfortable at first—I still have that instinct to check something—but letting my mind actually be still has been refreshing. I’ve also started leaving my phone in another room when I work, and suddenly, an hour goes by where I don’t even think about it. And perhaps the biggest shift? I’m trying to embrace boredom instead of seeing it as wasted time—no background noise, no passive scrolling, just sitting in silence and seeing where my thoughts go. It’s weird at first, but it’s also oddly refreshing.
And yes, I’ve even tried reclaiming my bathroom thinking time. It’s an ongoing battle, but let’s just say I’m working on making pooping philosophical again.
It’s not easy. These platforms are designed to pull us back in. But the moments of quiet—of actually just sitting with my thoughts—have started to feel like a reset instead of an absence of stimulation.
Conclusion: Finding Balance in the Attention Economy
The world isn’t going to slow down, and the battle for our attention isn’t going anywhere. But maybe the real challenge isn’t quitting screens entirely—it’s learning how to engage with them on our terms. Because if we’re always consuming, when do we ever create? And if we never let ourselves be bored, how will we ever come up with the things worth paying attention to in the first place?
