The Boredom Paradox: Why Having Plenty to Do Doesn't Cure Monotony

On this episode

About this episode

You are surrounded by things you could be doing, yet none of them feel worth starting, leaving you stuck in a weird mix of restlessness and agitation. Do you chalk that up to being lazy or unmotivated? Many people do, but science tells a very different story. Boredom is actually a motivated state. It's an internal signal that your brain is hungry for meaning and personal control, but can't find a good place to land. In this episode, Dr. James Danckert, psychology professor at the University of Waterloo and co-author of Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom, joins Emily Kircher-Morris to talk about what is really happening when our brains check out, why people with ADHD feel boredom so…