Finally, boredom is what gives us a taste for adventure and encourages us to seek out novelty - the ingredients that help cultivate humans as an intelligent and curious species.

We do almost anything to avoid feeling bored.

As soon as our interest in an activity begins to decline we quickly turn to playing games, replying to messages, or engaging with some other easily-accessible distraction. We do this to avoid the mental discomfort of boredom. We're never too far...

As well as increasing our idea quality (i.e. creativity), boredom also increases our idea quantity . Seriously, doing less work can apparently make us more productive.

Contrary to popular belief, we don't just get bored because we've got nothing to do. There's always something on our to-do list , a chore we need to complete, or an essay we need to write

In a 2014 study called 'The challenges of the disengaged mind ', participants were placed in a room alone, for up to 15 minutes, with nothing to do but think. They also had the choice to give themselves an electric shock by pushing ...