The end of boredom

Richard Nicholls, The Future Foundation, says “Boredom” could soon seem a rather quaint affliction peculiar to the inefficient consumer of yesteryear…

The trend of ‘Smart Boredom’ describes how consumers are intelligently converting quiet time into something constructive and beneficial. Downtime never needs to be dead time anymore.

Leisure, no matter how relaxing or restful, can always be converted into some form of achievement. Driven by the lightning pace of technological innovation and prompts to more effectively use the time available to us, we foresee a future in which moments of boredom – underutilised, unfulfilling episodes of downtime – can easily be expunged from daily life.

We have observed a reappraisal of the concept of downtime. Whereas inactivity might once have been interpreted as wasted or empty time, it is now undergoing a transformation in its image and is increasingly embraced as an activity, or rather a non-activity, in its own right. It is this form of downtime that we define here as Smart Boredom.

This is not to say that actual boredom or laziness is becoming more socially revered. On the contrary, consumers often use quiet time constructively by undertaking low-level activities that continue to add value to their lives in some way. Now, dead time is rarely completely vacant at all. It is occupied by rewarding/useful/educational activities such as surfing the web on-the-go, cruising social network news feeds or chatting on Skype while passively watching TV.

The Smart Boredom trend has been massively facilitated by digital innovations that enable us to live in a constantly connected world, continuously providing us with ever more convenient solutions for so many daily tasks. Consumers connected to the mobile web via Smartphone or tablet devices can now accomplish several, purposeful activities with minimal effort. We know from nVision Research that 81% of mobile phone owners aged 16-24 have a phone that can browse the internet and 48% have one that can download apps.

In future, we expect that consumers will become expert practitioners of downtime management, becoming ever more able to banish ineffectual and boredom-inducing moments from their lives. nVision forecasts that by 2015, 53% of Brits of any age will be going online via their mobile phone at least once a month (up from 27% in 2010 and just 15% in 2008). And we can see from OFCOM data above how use of mobile phones for non-communicative purposes – such as “to pass the time” – is growing.

More and more, consumers will consider all pockets of underused time as opportunities to either carry out meaningful/useful tasks or to indulge in assisted and super-indulgent moments of self-restoration and rejuvenation. Currently app usage is heavily skewed towards social networking and games. But as we can see from the nVision Research above, significant minorities are already using the likes of productivity apps or personal health tracking apps. We wonder if it is these kinds of apps and mobile internet activities that could see significant growth over the next few years as they add functional value to consumers’ lives.

The next phase in the Smart Boredom trend could be an emphasis on the ‘smart’. Future Foundation research from Autumn 2010 found that already 14% (out of the total sample, not just mobile internet users) agree that “If I have a spare ten minutes, I’ll often use my phone to carry out chores (e.g. email, shopping, banking, bill payment)”, rising to almost a quarter of 16-34 year olds. And consumers are becoming better able to monitor the data that surrounds them. In a trend we call the ‘Quantified Self’, consumers are increasingly able to use mobile devices to track, for example, personal health metrics (such as blood pressure, the number of calories they consume every day and the distance they have travelled each day). This information provides a real-time and easily digestible commentary on everyday life – and in many cases helps the consumer on their quest to personal “improvement”.

“Boredom” could soon seem a rather quaint affliction peculiar to the inefficient consumer of yesteryear.

For more, contact Richard Nicholls at the Future Foundation on 020 3008 6103/ richardn@futurefoundation.net.