"Hospitals are excellent at responding to physical suffering, but what about suffering from boredom? For many there are long waits which can get boring. It may sound trivial or luxurious doing nothing, but could boredom be a problem that impacts on health outcomes and performance of hospitals? Is this a hidden malaise of hospital life?
Many struggle with doing nothing. A study found over two thirds of men, and a quarter of women, preferred electrocuting themselves rather than sitting in a blank room thinking for fifteen minutes. [1] Another study showed almost half our time is spent mind-wandering, with negative mind-wandering associated with unhappiness. [2] The possibilities for negative mind-wandering in hospital must be vast with constant reminders of illness and uncertainty. Normally boredom encourages us to make changes and escape rumination, but options for adults in hospital are limited".... link
In the days before smartphones people read newspapers or books on subways . Today peoples smartphones have taken over the same function.
I cannot recall seeing anybody read a newspaper on their smartphone while riding in a subway. I do, at times, see people reading a book on their Kindle. Games, social media, videos are what I many see people using their smartphones on the subway for.
Some apps ,such as a movie or book app, can keep people occupied for a long time. Others are good for a few minutes. Everyone has their own perferences about how to entertain themselves with apps. My personal one is that wne on a subway rather then books or videos, I cycle through a selection of drawing app plus a puzzle game s. Any one would only keep me interested for a feew minutes. but taken together they keep mme occupied in my subsway playgrund .
When you have nothing to do, apps can help
