We all have times when we find ourselves waiting, with nothing to do, in the waiting room of our doctor’s office, at the car mechanic, or during a quiet time at work. Usually when this happens, our instinct is to reach for our smartphone to scroll through social media or check our email, as doing something feels more productive than doing nothing.
Although we think of zoning out as being unproductive or boring, there’s evidence to suggest that it’s far more enjoyable and productive than we realize. In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, researchers found that people consistently underestimated how enjoyable it was to simply sit and wait in a quiet room, without occupying themself.
Zoning out is more enjoyable than we realize
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In the first experiment, participants were asked to wait in a room with closed windows for 20 minutes, with no access to their belongings, including their smartphone, where all they were allowed to do was sit in a chair. Before this happened, they were asked about how much they thought they would enjoy doing this.
What researchers found was that people consistently underestimated how much they enjoyed this sitting and thinking. In a series of related experiments, which included changes such as turning off the lights to block any visual stimuli, participants again consistently underestimated how engaged or enjoyable they thought sitting and thinking would be.
As the authors wrote in the paper, “This underappreciation of just thinking also led participants to proactively avoid the waiting task in favor of an alternative task (i.e., Internet news checking), despite their experiences not being statistically different.”
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Whenever we have a few moments with nothing to do, it’s a reflex to reach for our smartphone to can scroll through the news, social media, or messages. But taking a few minutes to just sit and think can be more enjoyable than we realize,—and it can offer an opportunity for reflection.
As the study co-author, Kou Muruyama, told Healthline, “In the modern digital world, it’s so easy to ‘kill time’ when there is free time, but it may be a good idea to immerse ourselves in thinking in such a situation.” And he also said that previous studies have found that taking some time to let your mind wander can help people be more creative and better at solving problems.