We always feel the need to drown out the noise. Whether playing blaring music in our headphones when working out to feel motivated or listening to a comfort show while studying for a test, we are incredibly uncomfortable with silence. Many prefer coffee shops with a bustling of activity and distraction to work in the quiet spaces of a library or a bedroom. Even while sleeping, we use white noise to provide a sense of relaxation to induce a good night’s sleep. In reality, this background noise is a form of escape.
A newly coined term in psychotherapy, “Adaptive Information Processing,” argues that our brains can only effectively process emotions in a beneficial, quiet environment. In this still space, people can fully digest and overcome frightening experiences and bask in the warm glow of joyful moments. When constantly running from–instead of processing–unsettling experiences, similar feelings will eventually come back in full force, and one will not have the foundation and muscle memory to overcome their discomfort.
“Recently, my car’s Bluetooth hasn’t been working, so I’ve been driving in silence,” Nate Goss (’25) said. “While it was kind of annoying at the beginning, the quiet allows me to actually think and reflect on my day, which was previously difficult when balancing school, sports and my social life.”
Generation Z finds this stillness unbearable and even deems it frightening. However, this apprehension is not their fault. Unlike previous generations, who attacked their problems head-on and embraced the pauses without implementing distraction, those who grew up in the early 2000s have been shaped by a society filled with constant stimulation. Our parents and grandparents could not hide behind screens when emailing teachers for a grade boost or text their friends when there was a mutual conflict. They could not escape this in-person confrontation and even learned to welcome the unsettling.
From an early age, Gen Z–the pioneers of the term “iPad kids”–learned how to turn up the volume on an iPod Touch before they could even talk. As they entered elementary and middle school, Gen Z expanded their digital outreach by making sing-along videos on Musical.ly and playing Papa’s Pizzeria rather than finishing their math homework. Whether doom-scrolling for hours on social media or rushing from a club event to basketball practice to tutoring on a late Wednesday night, this hectic lifestyle has conditioned children to thrive on loudness and activity. This everlasting stream of information and entertainment leaves Gen Z out of practice with fully processing their emotions.
A study by The National Institute of Health noted an association between high device usage and emotional regulation deficiencies in adolescents. Unconscious emotional avoidance when spending excessive hours on screens per day was shown to ultimately result in family and interpersonal conflicts and poor academic performance. When turning to screens in times of small or sizable mental health struggles, adolescents are further hindering their mood regulation abilities, irrationally teaching themselves that inevitable personal or external issues can be permanently pushed aside.
“I watch a lot of shows and listen to a lot of music–it helps me focus on other people’s lives rather than the things I need to do,” Abby Elkowitz (’25) said. “When I’m listening to music, I have a hard time thinking about anything else other than what I’m listening to.”
In addition to serving as a form of escape, constant media consumption can also subconsciously permeate our thought processes on the daily. According to an article published in the Harvard Medicine Magazine, music activates nearly all parts of the brain, triggering an intense emotional response. Similarly, a study published in the journal “Frontiers in Psychology” found that music is used primarily to alleviate boredom and create “a comfortable private space.” This then begs the question, why do we require external noise in order to feel at ease with ourselves, and what are the potential consequences of this?
In answer to this question, another study published in the Applied Cognitive Psychology Journal found that constant background music actually limits our ability to think creatively and independently, as it has a disruptive impact on certain cognitive functioning abilities. It overloads the brain’s phonological loop, an aspect of working memory, making it difficult to process information–especially when listening to music with lyrics. Media and technology usage have also been proven to have a similar effect on our ability to concentrate and have full jurisdiction over our minds. Researchers from the University of Chicago concluded that even having one’s phone in the room while trying to complete focused work limits memory capacity and overall task performance, whereas keeping the phone in another room yields more productive outcomes.
Thus, excessive media reliance is pervasive both cognitively and emotionally, pointing to a larger issue: we don’t know how to be bored. The act of simply sitting, free from distractions and diversions, is lost on our generation. According to a Resting Tech study, in 2024 the average person spends over seven hours on screens every day. This, combined with our persistent need for ceaseless activity, is enough to keep us physically and mentally occupied at all times, allowing boredom to always remain suppressed. This mentality however, while outwardly productive, may actually be inhibiting our potential for personal and intellectual growth. A study published in the journal “Neuropsychologia” found that boredom often results in a greater sense of motivation and desire for activity. While these findings could be perceived as simple evidence supporting our inherent desire for pervasive media consumption and productivity, instead, they can be understood as a call to take a step back from noise and static, sitting in silence and discovering where our minds and desires wander when not influenced by the cacophony of modern media.
Although boredom manifests itself differently with age, allowing oneself to be truly alone with their thoughts can not only provoke noteworthy self-reflection, but encourage them to embark on a new task or hobby that they otherwise would not have. Boredom is, psychologically, a gateway and precursor to discovery; whether it be finding new hobbies, learning new languages or spending time outdoors. This can be taken advantage of across all ages; from children composing a rainy day activity to adolescents starting a long-term DIY project, the options are virtually endless.
“My initial interest in DJing sparked when I was bored one day, and I looked into it on TikTok since I love house music,” Emma Simpson (’26) said. “I decided to give it a try and it is now a fun activity that I love to share with my friends, in addition to it being relaxing overall after the stressors of my day.”
Still, we have largely lost this open-mindedness somewhere in our transition between spending class time making skyscrapers out of dry noodles and marshmallows to entering derivatives into a TI-84 calculator. At some point, we get confused or disinterested, disengaging with learning and becoming accustomed to taking a nap during class and staring at a blank wall for the 90 minute English class period. The lack of personalized education can feel restricting, as some may wish to spend their time analyzing literature, whereas others prefer conducting physics experiments. However, the inevitability of communal boredom among adolescents signifies opportunity; therefore, rather than defying it, we can use our ennui proactively. Simply acknowledging the presence of this feeling and thus contemplating solutions to it is the key to building habits of both creativity and problem-solving.
However, allotting additional time to simply accept boredom can be equally important for cognitive stimulation. This facilitates the processing of experiences and the wandering of the mind, allowing the brain to recover and reset. Our avoidance of allowing ourselves to be bored has largely grown simultaneously with expectations for adolescents. Stresses and pressures on us as teenagers increase with age, where we feel the need to do something productive or social in order to drown out anxieties. Stress often prompts us to embark on any task that will invoke a temporary sense of satisfaction; however, doing this interferes with the crucial time of self-reflection and personal development.
A study conducted by the American Psychological Association found that by large, humans would rather execute a task requiring cognitive effort as opposed to no task at all. However, this is not to say that this allowance of boredom is costly. A mind that is not racing between keeping a 4.0 GPA and working a part-time job is not unproductive; rather, the opposite. Self-awareness and reflection are virtues that, psychologically, are directly linked to ultimate success.
With short-term mental stimulation readily available at our fingertips, boredom has lost its value and meaning. Rather than serving as a gateway to creativity and discovery, boredom has become a concept to avoid at all costs. Gen Z must press pause on a favorite song or TV show rather than their thoughts in order to deconstruct their deeply ingrained fear of silence.
