Social Media Can Hamper Creativity

Study says sites prevent better use of spare time

- Alice Clifford

Social media could prevent users from reaping the creative rewards of “profound boredom”, new research by Trinity College reveals.

Through its addictiveness, social media has the power to suck up time and energy – that could be spent finding new passions and learning new skills.

Succumbing to boredom could open doors to more creative and meaningful activity.

However, instead of allowing boredom to take over, people often turn to social media to escape the feeling of superficial boredom.

This is the most common state of boredom, such as the feeling we get while waiting for a train. In these moments we seek temporary distractions – this is where our phones and social media can help out and stop us reaching a profound level of boredom.

Superficial boredom and profound boredom are two levels identified first by German philosopher Martin Heidegger.

Dr Timothy Hill, an associate professor at the University of Bath, and co-author of the study, said: “The problem we observed was that social media can alleviate superficial boredom but that distraction sucks up time and energy, and may prevent people progressing to a state of profound boredom, where they might discover new passions.”