Over the past few decades, there has been an expansion of boredom research [1]. What was once considered trivial has been shown to be critical for mental and physical health, cognitive functioning, social relationships, academic achievement, and workplace performance [2–17]. This surge in boredom research brings to the forefront the need for a cohesive definition of the experience. Past accounts grounded boredom in existentialist notions of meaning regulation, with feelings of boredom indicative of low situational meaning or a lack of life meaning [18–21].
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