Sometimes, Learning Begins With Being Bored
The author recounts refusing a smartphone at age eleven, which led to prolonged periods of boredom that she believes fostered social and cognitive skills. Recent data from the Department of Health and Human Services and education surveys highlight rising screen time and declining face‑to‑face abilities among children. Studies, including a cellphone ban experiment at an Alabama high school, suggest that limiting device use can improve engagement and interpersonal interaction.
- ▪At age 11 the author chose not to own a smartphone, experiencing extended boredom instead of screen distraction.
- ▪In May 2026 the Department of Health and Human Services warned that children spend about eight hours daily on screens, comparable to time spent sleeping or in school.
- ▪A 2024 Education Week Research Center survey found 62% of educators say students’ eye‑contact abilities have worsened over the past decade.
- ▪Educational psychologists Deci and Ryan argue that curiosity‑driven learning, free from external rewards, yields deeper motivation.
- ▪A 2024 Auburn University study reported that a cellphone ban at a high school increased classroom engagement, focus, and peer interaction.
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| Original publisher | RealClearEducation |
| Canonical URL | https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2026/08/04/the_best_part_of_my_childhood_was_being_bored_1198460.html |
| Publication time | Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:32:04 -0500 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-08-09T20:58:58.892Z |
| Last seen | 2026-08-09T20:58:58.892Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | kmzBDOFrHzKj · 1 stories |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
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| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
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| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
up next: now reading: The Best Part of My Childhood Was Being Bored Gustavo Fring The Best Part of My Childhood Was Being Bored By Jaclyn Decherd August 04, 2026 Gustavo Fring X Story Stream recent articles Video: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ... Article: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ... Article: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ... Entry: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ... Video: Global Warming Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit ... At 11 years old, I refused a smartphone—not because my parents said no, but because I was afraid I would become addicted.I couldn't really explain my hesitation at the time. I simply watched people my age—and often twice or three times my age—reach for their phones whenever they encountered boredom, loneliness, or discomfort.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at RealClearEducation.
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