Cal Newport ascended into the limelight upon his viral Ted Talk in which he called people to ditch social media. In this video from last year, Newport rehashes some of the main benefits of not having social media. Boredom is on the list, interestingly; Newport notes that most people no longer have moments of boredom, and as a consequence, don’t have any space in their lives to reflect, think, and work through their emotions. Andrew McDiarmid, a contributor at Mind Matters, has written on this in the past. He notes,

Mind wandering, or stream of consciousness thought, gives us several mental gains, including the ability to consider obstacles to future goals, generate novel, creative thoughts, and place our experiences in meaningful context, which can foster well-being and enhance health outcomes.

-Andrew McDiarmid, The one New Year’s resolution to make for 2023, per experts (nypost.com)

Newport also says that spending less time on your phone will decrease your anxiety and help your brain create a more accurate framework of your life and the world around you. With constant digital information in the form of images and quips, oftentimes outlandish and negative, it’s hard to keep an honest grip on what’s real and what we can actually control.