I feel this is the world we live in since 2007. Everything you can imagine is available right in your hand, taking away every possible space for boredom in your head.
For every creative person this is suicide. I find this part of the article utterly important: „People who are bored think more creatively than those who aren’t.“.
I explicitly take time off every day where I can get bored.
One of my greater recent personal concerns has been why my 'new ideas' bin remains empty for so much longer than it used to. Several culprits exist, but it's clear that constantly having a way to amuse or inform myself with a wide variety of fresh, new entertainment or factual minutiae to "fill in the cracks" of my day is a major perpetrator. I just remarked yesterday how I don't hardly mind standing in line any more.
Back when I worked on a production line (with the shortest breaks allowed by law), I would fill napkins with all kinds of scribbles for at least half of my break time. A similar thing happened with text files in a very different setting, when my duties consisted of waiting for a phone to occasionally ring.
The big question is how to properly cultivate the type of boredom that leads to this creative mental state. Neither of those situations I mentioned are ones I would choose to experience again.
Take a drive anywhere with no set destination.
Use public transit alone also would work .
Go to a library and read a book that you may or may not like.
Go to an art museum and look at one painting .
Distracted means never dealing with any of the difficult aspects of being a person. With bored, at least, you might get around to looking at some of that.
I often wonder if The Government shut down Starbucks and Candy Crush, how many days it would be before a full revolution.