For many people, games, videos and social media offer a quick break from the daily grind, supplying a momentary dopamine boost when life feels difficult or dull. Yet Katy Tam has found that your phone may actually be increasing feelings of boredom or monotony.
Tam, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, cites two recent studies, one from the United States, the other from China, revealing that people today are experiencing boredom at elevated rates. A 2024 paper that she co-authored explored how digital media might be contributing to this.
Tam is principal investigator at U of T’s Life Hacks Research Lab. “We study small, often overlooked aspects of people’s daily lives, especially those related to digital media use,” she says. “We show how these things relate to our behaviours, interpersonal interactions and well-being.”
The “life hacks” behind her lab’s name are practical strategies she’s developed to help people find more meaning and engagement in a world where we’re constantly tethered to our phones — and getting more bored because of it.
We crave more and more stimulation — but we’re chasing after something that’s not achievable, because we just keep wanting more.
“I argue that because we are so constantly exposed to these different stimulations, we are always distracted,” Tam says. “This lowers our actual level of engagement, and at the same time pushes up our desire. We crave more and more stimulation — but we’re chasing after something that’s not achievable, because we just keep wanting more.”
Tam has found that boredom is intensified when we fast-forward or skip videos, something most of us do. “That’s because boredom is an emotion that gets triggered by the gap between how engaged we are, and how engaged we want to be,” she says. Accordingly, her first life hack counsels us to “let the video play. Stay focused and give your brain time to enjoy it.”
Her research has uncovered another problem: at the same time that we’re becoming more bored, we’re also becoming more intolerant of boredom. Thus her second life hack: “You don’t have to love feeling bored — just stop hating it.”
“Many things are not that interesting,” she says. “Like when you learn a new skill, such as playing piano: there’s a period of time where it’s not interesting at all, and you just have to endure that boredom phase to master it. Doing so is very important in helping us regulate our sense of boredom.”
Tam’s third life hack: “Keep an open mind,” and trust your own experience rather than listening to others.
This is because her research has also demonstrated that experiences become more boring if we expect them to be. To test this, she showed three groups of people the same lecture. The first group was warned that it would be very boring; the second group was told the opposite; and the third was told nothing at all. Afterward, people’s opinions of the lecture coincided strongly with what they were told to expect beforehand.
At the same time, Tam urges people to stay focused on what they are doing, instead of keeping five things — or five videos — in their minds at once.
It’s possible that little changes we apply in our daily lives can make a real difference.
That’s why the fourth life hack advises: “Tune your attention to find meaning.”
“When you pay attention to what you’re doing, your life feels more meaningful,” she says. “And our research has found that when a situation feels meaningful to people, they report fewer negative emotions: they feel less sad, less anxious, less tired, less bored.”
Since last year, Instagram users have been allowed to play reels at double their original speed; Tam is currently researching the psychological effects of this feature, which caters to a population that is becoming less able to live without distraction and stimulation.
In 2023, she was awarded the IgNobel Prize in Education for two of her first-authored publications on boredom. The IgNobels celebrate genuine scientific achievements with a humorous bent, honouring research that “first makes people laugh, then makes them think.”
“I was very happy to receive the prize,” Tam says, pointing out that the prizes promote engagement with science among people who might otherwise not be interested in it. “It means my research is funny — and not boring! — and that people can enjoy it.”
Although Tam’s research may sometimes be lighthearted, it has very serious origins — and an equally serious purpose.
During her undergraduate years, she worked in the field of suicide research. “The experience prompted me to think a lot about how to get people to not give up on their lives,” she says. “I thought, helping people to live better lives would be one way to do that.”
She continues: “Many interventions, including therapy, improve well-being. But research often focuses on those who are already suffering from clinical disorders, and I want to understand what prevents us from getting into that state. It’s possible that little changes we apply in our daily lives can make a real difference.”
Katy Tam’s life hacks:
1. Let the video play. Stay focused and give your brain time to enjoy it.
2. You don’t have to love feeling bored — just stop hating it.
3. Keep an open mind and trust your own experience rather than listening to others.
4. Tune your attention to find meaning.