Boredom can be a state or a trait.

Boredom is something that most people generally find unpleasant.

Boredom can potentially help children develop self-regulation and coping strategies.

Every parent knows the phrase. If you’re lucky, you might only hear it once in a while. But for some of us, it’s something that can be heard weekly, if not daily. My kids have had days where there’s a sports game in the morning, a birthday party in the afternoon, an impromptu friend hang, dinner together, and then a movie, and as soon as the living room is cleared of friends, one of them will inevitably say it….Mom, I’m bored.

Boredom is something we’ve all experienced. Boredom is a state of feeling restless or uninspired because something about your current situation lacks stimulation, challenge, or meaning. At least that’s what the internet says. Scientists think of boredom in a bit more complicated way (as scientists usually do). According to psychologists, boredom can be a state—which is something about the current situation you’re in. But it can also be a trait, something about your personality, or how susceptible you are to feeling bored, with some people feeling boredom easily, and others feeling boredom more rarely. Either way, boredom is something that most people generally find unpleasant. So unpleasant that people will do some crazy things to avoid it.

In one classic set of studies, researchers asked college students to spend 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do. They were told to........

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