Boredom is Life: a brief excerpt from the new book "You Don't Need A Smartphone"

A brief excerpt from You Don't Need a Smartphone argues that smartphones have digitized out the many idle, waiting moments that once let attention rest on small, revealing details. Using a F. Scott Fitzgerald image of a houseguest watching a trapped wasp versus a hypothetical modern version endlessly scrolling, the author insists ubiquitous headphones, portable computers and nonstop internet consumption have engineered boredom out of daily life. Quoting Jem Calder’s claim that people can now avoid thinking their own thoughts, the piece contends that digital stimulation raises baseline arousal so analog experiences feel dull by comparison and perception itself is reshaped by routine screen use.

Drawing on a personal phone-downgrade experiment, boredom is redefined as “the feeling of being alive”: the unmediated state when nothing stands between you and the world and when self-questioning becomes possible. Regular encounters with boredom provide a baseline for assessing happiness, relationships, work, appetite and life direction; eliminating those encounters extinguishes opportunities for such reflection. The excerpt accompanies a book launch and forthcoming tour, and reader comments invoke related practices like niksen and living without a phone.