March 17, 2026Updated March 18, 2026, 3:10 p.m. ET
Leave it to Gen Z to rebrand alone time.
There’s a wellness challenge going viral on TikTok, and, regardless of its eyebrow-raising title, it has actual advantages, in keeping with psychological well being specialists. It’s referred to as “rawdogging boredom” − and, just like the viral journey development of “rawdogging” a flight by doing nothing for everything of the time you are on an airplane, this development entails allotting a particular period of time to sit down alone with no know-how to distract you.
That means no cellphone, no TV and no music. Just you, your ideas, and, effectively, your boredom.
Some of the movies of individuals squirming as they try the problem have gone viral. Some commenters have identified the development shouldn’t be precisely revolutionary both. One commenter likened it to “Gen Z re-inventing meditation.”
And you recognize what? According to Stephanie Sarkis, a psychotherapist who makes a speciality of ADHD and anxiousness, that’s completely nice. Unplugging from know-how to deal with mindfulness, she says, isn’t a dangerous concept.
“Anytime that we can unplug and just be in the present moment is a healthy thing,” she says. “When we aren’t doing something, and we’re sitting just with our thoughts, it can really help us process things that have happened to us, process feelings. Especially if we’re using devices to kind of avoid feeling things, which is pretty common.”
Is TikTok, short-form content material ruining our attention spans?
The erosion of our society’s collective attention span through TikTok and different short-form video apps has been a working joke for a whereas now. And sadly, it appears to be true: Research has found short-form movies do negatively impression attention.
That doesn’t suggest you must by no means scroll by way of humorous clips in your cellphone. But it does imply you must achieve this carefully.
Sarkis says it could be good to steadiness the fixed movement of technological stimulation with, effectively, intentional bouts of boredom.
“A lot of people have reached a saturation point with social media, and we’re looking for ways to incorporate staying in the present moment,” she says. “We know that mindfulness does have research behind it showing that it can help improve quality of life.”
Plus, she says, processing emotions is a crucial life talent. Numbing your self with know-how can get in the best way of that.
“Before we had social media, we did sometimes just sit and process things,” she says. “That’s a big part of life, is just not doing things.”
How to meditate correctly
So, how ought to one go about “rawdogging boredom”? Well, turning to some fundamental meditation rules might help. Here are some meditation tips mindfulness experts previously shared with USA TODAY:
- Lose distractions and get comfy. “Make sure that you’re in a quiet setting, free from distractions and that you wear comfortable clothing – you shouldn’t feel constricted in any way,” medical psychologist Juanita Guerra stated.
- Choose a particular time frame. “If someone is new to meditation, I suggest that they start small and begin with a short, simple practice,” stated Danielle Casioppo, a meditation, yoga and mindfulness teacher and coordinator at Yale University. “Try to set a timer for two minutes to start off because most people are not prepared to sit for 30 or 45 minutes in silence in the beginning.”
- Close your eyes and focus in your respiratory. “Sit comfortably and follow the inhale and exhale of your breathing. Then, when the timer goes off, end the practice,” Casioppo stated.
- Increase the size of future meditation periods till you discover a period and method that works for you. “Repeat this brief practice throughout the day as needed and gradually increase the time as desired,” Casioppo stated. “It’s a learnable skill, something that takes practice and patience.”
Contributing: Daryl Austin
