As you can read from my previous blogposts, I have been super into finding out and researching how boredom impacts creativity. There are plenty of studies suggesting that the mind, when left unstimulated, starts to wander, associate, and imagine which in turn spurs creative thinking. Naturally I wanted to test it myself.
Designing the Prototype: A minimalistic Approach
My setup was intentionally simple:
- A section in a quiet neutral room
- A lined block of paper and a pen
- Windows to look out of
- A 15 minute timer
I held this test with a single participant who was instructed to remain in the room for 15 minutes with no access to digital devices or other forms of stimulation. Though instructed to try not to plan out all the things they needed to do, there were no explicit tasks. Just to “be with yourself or the materials in front of you”. They could draw, write, look out of the window, or nothing at all. The idea was to simulate a situation of controlled boredom. Low stimulation, low task demand, but enough autonomy to allow for spontaneous engagement.
This prototype was based on boredom induction methods used in studies like those by Mann and Cadman (2014), who asked participants to complete monotonous tasks before measuring their creativity through established assessments like the Alternative Uses Task.
The Method
The prototype consisted of two sessions held three days apart.
Session 1: Intentional Boredom
The participant was placed alone in a quiet, naturally lit room. No phone. No music. They were given no tasks except to be alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes.
Immediately afterwards they were given an Alternative Uses Task, a common test of divergent thinking that asks participants to name as many unconventional uses as possible for a common object. In this session the object was a brick.
Session 2: Digital Stimulation
Three days later the same participant was asked to play Block Blast, a mobile puzzle game, for 5 minutes. Right after this short period of digital stimulation, they again completed an Alternative Uses Task. This time the object was a plank of wood.
Each set of answers was then evaluated with the help of ChatGPT, which provided a standardized scoring of each AUT across four dimensions:
- Fluency (number of ideas)
- Flexibility (range of categories)
- Originality (unusualness)
- Elaboration (level of detail)
Results after 15 minutes of boredom
When asked to list alternative use cases for a brick the following responses were recorded:
- Wall
- Pavement
- Stairs
- Many different kinds of walls
- Towering walls, scary and cartoony ones
- Walls in a house, in an industrial one but also in an aesthetic farm house
- Brick Bricks Bricks the song from Phineas and Ferb
- A super red cartoon brick
- You can hit someone
- Break through a window with a note on it
- Lay patterns
- I wanna build my house with bricks partly
- The saying “to be stupid as a brick”
- I feel like a brick
Fluency (good overall)
14 answers in total. Even though some ideas revolve around similar themes (e.g. walls) we treat them as separate if they introduce different contexts, emotional tones, or conceptual shifts.
Flexibility (moderate)
The answers can be sorted into 4 distinct categories:
- Structural Uses (Walls, Pavement, Lay patterns, Building a House)
- Aesthetic/Cartoon Imagery (Towering/cartoonish walls, super red brick, phineas and ferb reference)
- Violence/Action (Hitting someone, breaking a window)
- Linguistic Metaphorical (I feel like a brick, “stupid as a brick”)
Originality (high)
ChatGPT marks 5-7 medium-highly original responses:
- Towering cartoon wall (Adds mood and genre which is unusual)
- Walls in house/factory/farmhouse (Nuanced thinking across domains)
- “Bricks bricks bricks” song (Cultural reference and playful)
- Super red cartoon brick (Specific and stylized)
- Breaking a window with a note attached (Narratively imaginative)
- “Stupid as a brick” (Linguistic/metaphorical use – clever)
- “I feel like a brick” (Reflective and metaphorical – unusual)
Elaboration (good)
Several responses go beyond one-word answers and include:
- Emotional tone (towering walls = scary and cartoony)
- Specific stylistic categories (“aesthetic farmhouse”, “cartoony”, “super-red”)
- Personal reflection (“I feel like a brick”)
Results after 5 Minutes of Block Blast
Alternative Use Cases for a Plank of Wood as stated by the participant:
- A jumping thing
- Pirates when they send people to jump
- Hit someone
- Cut it and make thin planks
- Make a wall
- Put hot water to make it flat again when it’s bent
- Scratch yourself
- Put a nail in it
- Drill holes and put shot glasses in there
- Hang pictures on it
- Put it on my table
Fluency (solid)
11 answers in total.
Flexibility (good)
6 distinct categories could be noticed:
- Play/Physical Interaction (Jumping thing, Pirates plank)
- Violence/Defense (Hit someone)
- Construction/Modification (Make thin planks, Make a wall, Put a nail in it, Drill holes)
- Restoration/Repair (Flatten it with hot water)
- Body related Use (Scratch yourself)
- Home Decoration (Hang a picture, Use as part of table, shot glass tray)
Originality (average)
ChatGPT marked 3 medium-highly original replies:
- Pirate plank (Fun, narrative-based, less common)
- Flatten bent plank w/ hot water (Repair idea – unusual and clever)
- Shot glass tray (Very original, social and visual)
Elaboration
Several responses include implied or explicit detail:
- Pirate Plank (evokes a full narrative scene)
- Flattening a bent wood (shows process awareness)
- Shot glass tray (strong visual and functional specificity)
- Table extension & picture hanger (clear spatial ideas)
Conclusion
Comparing the two Alternative Uses Tests reveals a clear shift in the participants creative output depending on their activity before. After 15 minutes of quiet stillness their responses were more associative, playful, and metaphorical, hinting at a more open, explorative state of mind. After just 5 minutes of playing Block Blast, the ideas were quicker, more functional and anchored in conventional uses.
This contrast supports the claim that creativity is positively stimulated by spaciousness, not stimulation. Boredom, when given structure and permission, acts like a mental rest. It opens doors to thoughts we don’t usually have time to notice. Designing for creativity might mean not giving people more to do but more space to let the mind breathe. More silence. More pause.
QnA
After the first session, which was preceded by 15 minutes of rest, I asked the participant several questions to understand their mental state during the rest. The answers and reflections were strikingly calm and therapeutic.
- How easy or difficult did it feel to come up with ideas
“Pretty easy. The thing is I kind of wanted to do the task right, so if I was hesitating it was because of that. But it felt quite easy.” - Did your thoughts wander to a specific topic?
“I was thinking about the future… imagining a farm and imagining life whether I have a corporate job or not. And then I had to push away thoughts of what I need to do right now. But that was kind of easy.” - Do you feel more or less creative now than before?
“Difficult to say about creativeness. But I do feel more relaxed. Less stressed. I’m eager to begin one of my tasks.” - Any surprising or enlightening thoughts?
“Not really… but I got a sense of calmness. I’ve been stressing a lot about leaving. I got a moment to exhale.” - Did you fell bored?
“I tried to think if I was bored. But I felt comfortable. Maybe I wasn’t bored. I was very content.”
