If you are looking for an amusing activity for the upcoming holiday, there is now scientifically proven advice for you: just think about it!
Sure, thinking sounds boring at first, admit the psychologists at the University of Tübingen.
But sitting and thinking is more fun than people think, the scientists write in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
To determine the entertainment value of thinking, the international research team conducted six experiments with a total of 259 students in Japan and England.
They weren't allowed to do anything, just sit around for different lengths of time, sometimes in a conference room, sometimes in the dark.
In one of the experiments, the participants were also asked to assess beforehand whether they would enjoy reading online news or doing nothing.
In a world where everyone on the train or in the waiting room stares at their smartphone every free second, it is not surprising that the test subjects also assumed that distraction is generally more entertaining.
In fact, this was not the case.
The researchers emphasize that thinking was not perceived as “extremely” entertaining either, but only received around four out of seven points on the fun scale.
On average, however, subjects found thinking more comfortable than they had previously thought, and it was also on par with reading the news.
It is already known that aimless thinking has some advantages, such as stimulating creativity or "helping to find the meaning of life," the researchers write.
They now fear that people will miss out on all this because they feel they have to keep themselves busy.
The message to holidaymakers is clear: Have the courage to be bored!