You probably notice how often your phone pulls you out of the present moment. Whether you’re waiting in line, mid-conversation, or simply pausing in thought, the impulse to check your device is almost automatic. This pattern is not incidental; it reflects a deeper shift in how we experience boredom and what our minds do when not preoccupied with notifications or scrolling.
Manoush Zomorodi, a journalist and host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour and the Body Electric series, has spent years examining how our digital habits shape what we think and how we think. Her work highlights the profound impact of technology on our mental and physical well-being.
The Power of Boredom and Creativity
Zomorodi’s book, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self, explores the research and lived experiences behind boredom, creativity, attention, and distraction. Her journey began with a simple but unsettling observation: people rarely let their minds idle anymore. When faced with a moment of inactivity, we instinctively reach for our phones, replacing internal processing with external stimulation.
In her 2015 project that inspired the book, Zomorodi invited listeners to observe their phone use and intentionally create moments without digital input.
“I was shocked that 20,000 people signed up,”
she said on her podcast Note To Self. Participants reported new ideas, deeper reflection, and changes in their routines simply by introducing small breaks from constant connectivity.
One clear pattern from that research was how rarely boredom arises on its own now. Scientific studies show that when people are bored, their brains activate a network associated with creativity and planning. In Bored and Brilliant, Zomorodi writes that
“boredom is the gateway to mind-wandering,”
which helps your brain solve problems and generate insights.
The Impact of Constant Connectivity
In her TED talk, How Boredom Can Lead to Your Most Brilliant Ideas, Zomorodi describes how constant connectivity and smartphone addiction inhibit creativity and cognitive function. She highlighted how people often fill every empty moment with their phones, depriving their minds of the very downtime that leads to generative thought.
Zomorodi’s inquiry later evolved into her Body Electric series, which examines how the Information Age affects our bodies and brains physically and mentally. This work reflects broader concerns about the human consequences of long hours spent in front of screens and in sedentary positions.
Physical Health in the Digital Age
In reporting for Body Electric, Zomorodi collaborated with thousands of participants to explore how our screen-filled lifestyles shape the way our bodies function.
“It’s my journey through the human body to understand its relationship to our technology, to our habits, and what we need to do about it,”
she explained in an interview about the project’s goals.
Her reporting includes working with experts to understand how prolonged sitting, screen focus, and repetitive posture affect energy, stress, and physical health. In one segment, she described her own experiment sitting at a desk for a full day, which led her to question how much of our physical state is shaped by adaptation to screens.
Zomorodi’s work also examines the way digital habits influence stress, sleep, and overall physical well-being. She spoke with researchers about how the position your body takes when using devices can contribute to tension and strain, and how small changes in movement may offset some of these effects.
“Slouching and hunching will give you tight muscles, maybe a lower backache,”
she reported after interviewing a neurobiology expert.
The Rise of Artificial Intimacy
Another thread in Body Electric is the rise of what Zomorodi and collaborators call “artificial intimacy.” As generative AI becomes more capable and accessible, Zomorodi has investigated how relationships formed with AI companions — whether chatbots posing as personal coaches or supportive friends — affect human emotional life.
She interviewed MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle about how people use AI to feel understood or supported. Some listeners turn to bots for companionship because it is easier or more accessible than forming human connections. These interactions raise questions about how intimacy is changing in an era where a sense of emotional connection can be simulated by software.
Implications for the Future
Zomorodi’s follow-up work reinforces a key idea from her earlier research: how you interact with technology matters not just for your productivity and creativity but for your physical and emotional experiences. When you create space away from screens — whether to be bored, to move your body, or to connect with people in person — you allow processes to unfold that constant stimulation can interrupt.
Her reporting suggests that agents of physical and mental health are not found in dramatic digital detoxes but in intentional choices that give your attention and your body room to operate on their own terms. Those choices create the conditions under which your most authentic thoughts, your bodily resilience, and your meaningful connections with others can emerge.
