Forget the bright lights of the boring city - nature is more interesting

Forget the bright lights of the big city, new research has found urban environments are more boring than the natural world.

The University of Essex research used field studies, social media data, and interviews to explore the negative impact of the built world.

Led by Dr Wijnand van Tilburg the team found that visits to green areas were less boring than concrete spaces, and that this difference was driven by the visual bleakness of urban environments.

Green Exercise

And a study of 75,882 American posts on X – formerly known as Twitter – discovered users living near natural spaces were less likely to tweet about being bored than people with more buildings in their vicinity.

The paper, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, builds on the University’s international reputation for establishing research into Green Exercise.

Now Dr Van Tilburg, from the Department of Psychology, hopes the research will help influence urban planners to incorporate natural features and help encourage people into nature.

Burning with boredom

Dr Van Tilburg said: “Iconic English rock band The Clash accused the grey stone bocks of London of causing them to ‘burn with boredom’.

“Turns out they were on to something - without natural spaces around us, the living environment invites boredom into our lives.”

The paper also examined the impact of colour on boredom, with vivid scenes more likely to inspire positive feelings, and combatting boredom.

The research looked at 660 participants across the five experiments.

Its findings build on Dr Van Tilburg’s previous research into boredom, which has sparked interest around the world.

'Boredom on the rise'

Dr Van Tilburg says it is vital to understand boredom as it can lead to anti-social and negative behaviour - such as gambling, substance use and dropping out of education.

"Boredom is common and on the rise in society,” said Dr Van Tilburg.

“Our research shows that this easily overlooked and often dismissed experience turns out to cause a slew of problems.

“These include include rule transgressions, group tensions, impulsive behaviour, and poorer well-being.

“The finding that natural spaces can help prevent boredom offers a new tool to curb boredom problematic impacts in society.”