Boring is Trending

Yeah, That's Right & I'm so Dam Happy About it!

I laughed out loud when I learned that some of the hottest videos on TikTok right now involve young people attempting to do nothing.

That’s right—attempting. Because apparently, this is very challenging for them to do.

In these videos—referred to as “rawdogging boredom,” a term whose origins are… unfortunately vulgar—young people challenge themselves to sit without distractions for a set amount of time. No phone. No music. No multitasking. Just them, their thoughts, and the slow panic of an unoccupied mind. The entertainment lies in watching them struggle with their own dwindling attention spans. They can’t even use a book, like this fine fellow above.

If you’re a young person who grew up with screens and can still put them away long enough to create, my hat’s off to you, my friend. You’re a unicorn in this world.

Unlike my generation, young people today didn’t grow up expecting to invent their own entertainment. They were handed multiple screens before they could tie their shoes. Most of us didn’t even have a television in our bedrooms. If we complained about being bored, our mothers kicked us outside, handed us a book or a piece of paper, and told us to go read or draw something.

Boredom wasn’t a crisis — it was a starting point.

And if we complained again? We got a chore list. Parents were stricter then. You knew better than to mention being bored a second time, so you learned real fast to find something — anything — to do.

Personally, I prefer boredom. I enjoy it. I relish it and wish I had more.

Boredom is where ideas stretch out, where thoughts wander, where something unexpected has room to surface. It’s the doorway to imagination, reflection, and—dare I say it—sanity.

If this trend is the first step in people trying to loosen the grip their devices have on them, I’m all for it. Yes, it’s a little sad that being bored now requires an audience and validation, because without that million likes, well, you know, they couldn’t move forward. But if that’s what it takes for someone to rediscover their interior life, so be it.

If doing nothing is radical, let’s do more of it!

February Workshops:

Passionate Ink

Beats for Bad Boys Workshop with Calia Wilde, Wednesday, February 25th at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT ($10 for PI Members/$20 for Non-Members; Live Presentation Will Be Recorded): Register here!

Contemporary Romance Writers

February 21 - 4PT | 3CT | 2MT | 1 PT
Covers That Sell: The Psychology of Romance Covers
Margaret Bates

That’s all for this week, peeps. Have a great week reading and writing!