Colman Noctor: Boredom is the playground of developing minds 

Too much screen time robs children of the opportunity to play and develop a range of social and task-based skills. Picture: iStock

When we replace idle moments with continuous digital distraction, we forgo a vital catalyst for creativity.

For younger children, free, unstructured play, often sparked by boredom, creates an environment where they set their own rules, explore, experiment, sometimes fail, and hopefully try again.

These experiences are fundamental for the development of imaginative thinking and executive functions: Planning, focusing, and self-control.

Children who use smartphones and tablets spend most of their time on YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Roblox, according to Cybersafe Kids’ research. Playing video games and streaming short-form videos provides almost constant, high-intensity stimulation, rapid changes, colourful visuals, and immediate feedback appeal to a brain wired for novelty and reward. But there are three cognitive trade-offs:

• Attention and focus

Multiple studies show a correlation in children between high screen time and poorer performance on attention tasks. A systematic review of children’s attention found that excessive screen time is often linked with attention difficulties, particularly pre-school.

The relationship between screen use and non-verbal reasoning was demonstrated in a 2020 study by Suzanne Egan and Chloe Beatty, from the Department of Psychology at Mary Immaculate College.

The researchers examined 9,001 five-year-olds and found that children who engaged with screen content (educational games, television/video, etc) for less than three hours a day performed better on non-verbal reasoning tests than those who used screens for more than three hours a day or mainly passively screen watched.

These findings sugest that excessive or low-quality screen engagement could be linked to weaker cognitive performance and limit children’s opportunities to practise problem-solving and creativity.

When children are constantly exposed to screens, especially fast-paced or interactive media, their brains adapt to high levels of stimulation. As a result, more mundane, slower, self-generated tasks seem less engaging and more challenging. This can cause issues with sustained attention in school, reading, and homework.

• Developmental effects

For young children, especially under the age of six, screen time displaces other critical developmental activities: Conversation, sensory exploration, physical play, and social interaction. A 2024 US study of more than 2,000 children under six found that many spend large parts of their free time in front of screens; yet parents overwhelmingly report that they believe their children’s play is crucial to growth.

The concern isn’t so much that screens are inherently harmful, but that they replace experiences vital for brain development, such as through multi-sensory learning (touch, smell, texture, sound, depth), body awareness, balance, and co-ordination. And that is before we mention reading, facial expressions, and developing the skills of empathy, turn-taking, negotiation, and co-operation.

• Impact on mental health

Free play, with its ups and downs, moments of boredom, frustration, failure, creativity, and social negotiation, offers children opportunities to develop coping skills, emotional regulation, and self-efficacy. Without these experiences, children may be less equipped to tolerate idle moments or adversity.

Game for learning

‘Opportunity cost’ is an economic term used to describe the sacrifice involved when choosing one thing over another. Applying this concept to children’s screen time means that every minute in front of a screen is a minute not used for critical developmental experiences.

There is every reason to encourage children to embrace free-flow time.

Creative free play: Building forts, role-playing, drawing, and imaginative games. Such play is more than just fun; it fosters divergent thinking, narrative skills, and symbolic thinking. Pretend play, even with simple objects, helps children imagine scenarios, practice language, and understand social roles.

Physical activity and outdoor time: Running, climbing, exploring support motor skills, co-ordination, balance, and health, while also providing sensory stimulation and fostering a connection with nature. Outdoor play offers a different kind of unpredictable input, which helps develop adaptability.

Social interaction: Negotiating with peers, sharing roles, resolving conflicts. During free play, children learn how to co-operate, establish rules, and renegotiate them.

We should view boredom as a space to incubate ideas and interests. Teenagers, in particular, benefit from unstructured time to explore hobbies, imagine, and process their thoughts.

If your child complains about being bored, acknowledge and reframe by saying something like, ‘I know it feels boring, but boredom is your brain’s way of saying it’s time to get creative’.”

Try to stay calm and consistent and offer gentle guidance: “You can choose to feel stuck in your boredom, or you can choose to make something happen. What interesting activity could we do?”

We need to consider what boredom and free play require of us, because boredom trains the brain to stay calm when nothing exciting is happening, which is a foundation for attention and self-control.

Spontaneous play

Given that boredom and free play are so valuable, parents, educators, and communities must preserve space for them.

Schedule unstructured time: Set aside parts of the day when children are not engaged with screens, lessons, or supervised ‘productive’ tasks, but are free to choose their activities. While I appreciate the arguments that family life is hectic for many, even brief periods can be beneficial.

No over-scheduling: While we can blame screens for some of the lack of space for boredom, parents must watch for over-scheduling. Extracurriculars and structured learning are valuable, but when every spare moment is filled, children lose spontaneity. Free time is not idle time; it’s developmental time.

Limit screen use, particularly passive or recreational screens: Set guidelines for appropriate screen time; ensure screens do not encroach on sleeping hours or time for play and reflection.

Enriching alternatives: Ensure children have access to materials and environments that foster imaginative play, such as art supplies, unstructured outdoor spaces, and peers to play with. Bored children often lack tools; having available creative ‘stuff’ helps stimulate self-initiated creativity.

Role modelling and environment: Adults’ own screen habits matter; children mimic what is around them. And environments where children are expected to sometimes ‘fill’ time themselves provide opportunities for boredom and, in turn, creativity.

The boredom stakes are different for teenagers. On the one hand, the argument is that screens offer social connection, access to information, and entertainment.

On the other hand, they can foster dependence on instant gratification, reduce patience for deeper engagement, and crowd out time for reading, playing music, and less structured, self-driven creative activities.

Research suggests that adolescents who report heavy screen use tend to have lower psychological well-being — less curiosity, more restlessness, and greater difficulty finishing tasks.

Early childhood is a critical period for the maturation of attention networks. These regions develop rapidly between ages three and seven, laying the neural groundwork for executive functions like attention control, inhibition, and working memory.

In a 2016 study published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, it was found that early attention deficits often persist in to adolescence without targeted intervention. So, while organising teenage life to include periods of boredom might seem outdated, it could be key to fostering long-term perseverance, self-regulation, creativity, and identity.

Boredom an opportunity

We should not see boredom as an inconvenience to be eliminated. Instead, we should view it as a resource. When children are bored, free to explore, imagine, make decisions, and invent their own games, they develop skills that screens cannot replicate.

Simple examples like inventing a story with toys or puppets, building a fort from blankets and furniture, or making art using recycled materials, nature finds, or household items all encourage imagination, problem-solving, and flexible thinking.

While there is some evidence that screens are helpful in learning and convenience, they should not fill every gap. When they do, the opportunity cost is high: Attention, creativity, self-direction, resilience, and a richness of experience all suffer.

As parents, teachers, and policymakers, we ignore boredom at our children’s cost. We must safeguard unstructured time and resist the urge to entertain or schedule constantly. Let us cherish the uncomfortable gaps, because it is in those spaces that children learn not just what to do, but who they are.

• Dr Colman Noctor is a child psychotherapist