Teenage flicks: how 'phone boredom' became Gen Z's answer to passing the time

From Twitter to Tumblr, swiping through your mobile's apps is the new doing something while doing nothing at all. Is it simply a case of new technology, same old humans?

Horizontal. Phone propped less than 10cm away from your face: minimum hand muscles engaged. Twitter: meme (it's funny, but you don't laugh). Instagram: cat picture (it's cute, but you don't smile). Facebook: acquaintance complaining (it's sad, but you don't frown). Tumblr. Snapchat. Back to Twitter. Repeat for an hour or two, until bodily functions force you to get up - and even then, wait until you are in actual physical pain before going to the loo, so deep are you in your trance-like state.

No, this isn't an extract from the diary of a depressive. This is how we members of Generation Z, the name given to those dull young things born between (roughly) 1998 and 2010, spend much of our free time, locked in "phone boredom". The Daily Beast reports that this involves being on your phone, but largely just opening and closing up to 20-30 apps and finding nothing that interests you. Doing something, while doing nothing at all: technology has created a new way for Generation Z, to go out of their minds with boredom.