THE VIDEO SHELF · boredom and attention
You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why.
Harvard professor Arthur Brooks explains why boredom is useful rather than something to avoid. He describes how a wandering mind engages the brain's default mode network, which supports creativity and curiosity, and suggests it may protect against depression.
Why HN readers recommended it
Commenters cite it when arguing for less phone time and more idle, undistracted thinking.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- Harvard Business Review
- Topic
- boredom and attention
- Format
- explainer
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 2
- HN mentions in dataset
- 5
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2025–2026
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
Also great video regarding this topic: "You Need to Be Bored. Here's Why." [VIDEO] I now regularly force myself to "actively" do nothing for 15 minutes and just think. All the things I put into my brain as "todo, please remember" at some point in …
mixermachine on Hacker News · 2025-09
In iPhone dumbphoneNice design. I like the "today in history" feature Lately I've been working toward less app time and more boredom [VIDEO] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ works wonders
davelacy on Hacker News · 2025-09
In Kagi News
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.