Oh, to be young again. To have a fully functioning spine, the metabolism of a hummingbird, and absolutely nothing to do—except apparently, be bored out of your mind. Yes, according to actual data, today’s teens are feeling the creeping, soul-sucking embrace of boredom at higher rates than they did a decade ago. And while smartphones and social media are part of the problem, they aren’t the whole story.
Surprised? Of course not. Every adult with a working memory knows that boredom didn’t start with Gen Z or Gen Alpha. But something has changed, and if we dig a little deeper, we might find that the real cause of this boredom epidemic isn’t just too much screen time—it’s too little agency.
The Great Teenage Boredom Boom
Back in the 2000s, kids were already claiming they were bored. But since 2010, self-reported boredom has been climbing steadily at 1.17% per year—because apparently, even boredom gets measured now. Things hit an all-time high during the pandemic (no shocker there), but rather than returning to normal, boredom levels climbed again in 2023.
At this point, it’s practically a national emergency. Quick, someone alert the Surgeon General! We must develop an anti-boredom vaccine immediately!
The Doomscrolling Black Hole
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: smartphones. Yes, they contribute to the problem, but not in the way we might think. It’s not just that social media is addicting—it’s that it’s mind-numbingly predictable.
Take Santiago Gonzalez-Winthrop (yes, that is a real teen’s real name), who reaches for his phone when he’s bored. First, he checks Instagram, then TikTok, then Snapchat, and then—surprise!—he doesn’t even remember what he just looked at. But he does remember the crushing existential dread of having wasted hours doing nothing but absorbing algorithm-fed content he barely chose for himself.
And then what? More boredom.
A Crisis of Agency
According to experts (and Santiago’s mom, who happens to be one), boredom isn’t just about having nothing to do—it’s about not having any real control over what you do. And that makes sense. Today’s teens aren’t exactly living in a golden age of independence.
School is rigid. The emphasis is on grades, standardized tests, and crushing college applications—not actual learning.
Schedules are packed. Between extracurriculars, AP classes, and the expectation to be a child prodigy, there’s no time to just be.
Freedom is limited. Parents hover more than ever, and the days of kids roaming their neighborhoods unsupervised are long gone.
The internet isn’t real freedom. Sure, it feels like choice, but the algorithm is doing all the heavy lifting.
In short: Teens are busy, but they’re not in control. They’re overstimulated, over-scheduled, and underwhelmed.
The Illusion of Choice
Here’s the kicker: Social media tricks us into thinking we’re making choices, when really, we’re just passengers. That’s why scrolling eventually feels empty and pointless—because it is.
Teens instinctively know this. Santiago himself admits that his “popcorn brain” is drawn to his phone, but after a while, he feels drained and disgusted. And yet, like the rest of us, he keeps going back.
Social media isn’t filling the boredom void—it’s expanding it.
Is Boredom Actually Bad?
Not necessarily. The problem isn’t boredom—it’s that no one knows how to handle boredom anymore.
Back in the dark ages (aka the 90s), boredom forced kids to do wild, unthinkable things like:
Learning an instrument
Reading a book (yes, a physical one)
Staring at the ceiling until an idea popped into their heads
Setting things on fire (okay, not ideal, but at least it was engaging)
Now? The second boredom creeps in, a screen is there to fill the void. And while that might seem like a solution, it’s just a Band-Aid on the bigger problem: a total intolerance for being alone with one’s thoughts.
How to Fix the Boredom Crisis (Without Banning Phones)
So, how do we solve this? A nationwide Amish reboot? Locking phones in a vault? Probably not. But here are some ideas:
1. Radical Downtime
Rebecca Winthrop (Santiago’s mom and a researcher, so she knows things) swears by digital detox days—whole days where screens are banned, and boredom is given room to breathe. Teens resist at first, but eventually, they figure out how to do something. Imagine that!
2. Reintroducing Unstructured Time
Kids are over-scheduled. Maybe, just maybe, they should be allowed to have an hour where they’re not being graded, coached, or supervised. What a concept!
3. Teaching Actual Curiosity
If school was less about memorizing facts and more about learning how to learn, maybe kids wouldn’t see it as a prison sentence. Just a thought.
4. Encouraging IRL Activities
Santiago himself admits that when he actually goes outside and interacts with other humans, he forgets about his phone. We should probably lean into that.
The Bottom Line
Teen boredom isn’t just about social media—it’s about a lack of agency, independence, and meaningful engagement. If we want to fix it, we need to stop just blaming screens and start reintroducing real-world experiences.
Otherwise, we might just end up with a generation of overstimulated, underwhelmed, and permanently bored adults. And honestly? That’s a far scarier future than a few kids watching too much TikTok.