Brain cooked by TikTok? Try filming a video of yourself being bored

Young people are teaching themselves how to do nothing

Young people are teaching themselves how to do nothing.

On TikTok, users are challenging themselves to sit idle — no devices, no books, no music, not even food or sleep — and simply stay free of distractions for a set period of time. The videos, some of which have accrued millions of views, feature a time lapse of a person sitting expressionless in their room while a giant timer faces the camera, counting down a set period ranging from minutes to hours.

The trend, dubbed “rawdogging boredom,” appears to be the latest attempt by some Gen Zers to heal attention spans long splintered by the mindless short-form entertainment available online at every turn.

Mia Ristaino, 21, posted herself partaking in the challenge for seven days, starting off with five minutes before gradually upping her time to 15 minutes. Ristaino, a college student in Fort Worth, Texas, said she was surprised at how difficult it was to sit without distractions for even a few minutes.

“I feel like I always have something to do or something on the TV in the background. Or a lot of times, I honestly will listen to my textbooks or record myself with my notes, and I’ll play that while I’m cooking or cleaning. And so whenever things are quiet, it’s very weird for me,” Ristaino said. “I want to work on my attention span. I want to work on just being present in the moment.”