Being able to sit with boredom without grabbing your phone is a skill most adults don’t have. Get it early.

Boredom is uncomfortable and it is also where a lot of thinking happens, because your mind only wanders when nothing is holding it. Reaching for a screen every time a gap opens means the wandering never gets started, and your tolerance for stillness gets a little weaker each time it is skipped. Plenty of adults lost that tolerance completely and are now trying to rebuild it.

Leave your phone in your pocket for one queue, one bus ride, one wait this week. Let it be dull. See what surfaces when nothing is filling the space.