Puppies, dancing babies, celebrity soundbites: A common go-to salve for a bout of boredom is to swipe through videos on your social media platform of choice. But that habit is likely making your problem even worse, according to new research.
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To understand what you should take away from this study, it’s important to look further into what boredom really is, said Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, an independent research organization. She was not involved in the research.
“A study like this is easy to misinterpret as another mark against digital media, rather than to more usefully understand boredom as a motivational signal,” Rutledge said.
Like anger or sadness, boredom is an unpleasant emotion, and it’s often misunderstood or stigmatized, she said.