Press Pause: Finding Balance in a Digital World

Redefining Boredom

• Cassie Dietrich • Season 1 • Episode 7

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Guest: Margaret Robinson, Gifted Intervention Specialist

Screens may entertain, but they can also crowd out the quiet moments kids need to spark imagination and solve problems. Margaret Robinson explains why unstructured, screen-free downtime is critical for developing creativity, focus, and problem-solving skills — and how parents can create more opportunities for it.

Topics covered:

  • How constant stimulation affects kids’ ability to focus
  • Why boredom can fuel creativity and innovation
  • Simple ways to encourage unplugged play and deep thinking

This conversation is just one of many. Visit www.dublinschools.net/press-pause to explore tools, resources, and actions you can take today to help your family Press Pause. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a conversation.

SPEAKER_01:

In a world that never stops scrolling, sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is press pause. Welcome to Finding Balance in the Digital World, the Dublin City School District's Summer 2025 Parent Education Podcast Series. I'm Cassie Dietrich, Public Information Officer for Dublin City Schools and your host for this series. Each week, we'll have real conversations with experts and community voices about screen time, tech habits, and how we can help our kids and ourselves take back control in a constantly connected world. Let's press pause and start the conversation. I'm here today with Margaret Robinson, Gifted Intervention Specialist at Dublin City Schools, correct? What building? Bailey Elementary. Bailey Elementary, okay. And you've been with Dublin City Schools for how long? 14 years as a teacher. So just tell us a little bit about who you are, you know, what your experience is, and how you're connected to Dublin. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I've lived in Dublin since 1998, and I have three children, and all three went through Dublin City Schools and are proud graduates. My experience as a teacher, I was a kindergarten teacher for eight years and really loved that experience and then had the opportunity to move into my current role as a gifted intervention specialist, and Jessica's leaded my sixth year of that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So before we move on, can you just talk about what a gifted intervention specialist is? Because that's a little bit of a unique title, and sometimes people don't know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. As a gifted intervention specialist, I work primarily with students who've been identified as gifted, either cognitively gifted, gifted in creative thinking. Those are my primary populations of students I work with. And then some gifted in math, gifted in language arts that I'll work with in small groups. And then I also do talent development. And that is a big phrase there, but it means I go into classrooms and I help teach thinking skills to whole classes of students. We want them to build those things up. So let's talk

SPEAKER_01:

about boredom. And when I say boredom, there's a good kind of boredom, right? That maybe our kids aren't experiencing as much now that they have screens. So can you just tell me what you're seeing in classrooms with students in regards to downtime versus

SPEAKER_00:

screen time? Sure. Sure. Screens are really important in education these days, particularly when we have so much testing that is reliant on computers. So we know that computers are part of our educational experience and they're here to stay. On the downtime aspect of that, we've got recess. We have times in between classes where students will have some of that downtime where they can be a little more social. And we see a lot of creativity at recess. And there are no screens allowed indoor recess or outdoor, which is great because it does give students not only the time to be in their own brains and to be creative in that way, but also that interaction between students, which is so highly important for them to do. We know that the cognitive load of being in a classroom and learning is high. So that boredom and that downtime is so important for their brain development. And we know that many students are capable of filling that downtime on their own, and we see incredible things coming from them at recess time. So I think that is a win that we know kids are able to do it. They just need to be given the freedom to be able to do that in all the spaces that they're in at home, at daycares, at school, all those places.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. And so why is it important for kids to feel bored? What comes from

SPEAKER_00:

feeling bored? Well, first of all, we know it's important because we do need a break from our mental exertion. It allows our brains to rest and reflect on the lessons that we've learned. And for kids, this often happens through play. I mean, even as very young children, you know, I know I used to play school and that was really a very creative time. And, you know, what did that come out of? not be as present in class because they haven't had the practice of planning what they're going to be doing and how they're going to be doing it and all the pieces and parts that you need for whatever it is that you're creating. So that unplugged time gives them that space that they can be creative on their own and build those skills.

SPEAKER_01:

And would you say that you've definitely experienced in your career a change in kids being able to be as creative or like right off the get because of their increased screen time? Like, is it something you're almost having to teach them as opposed to coming naturally? It's hard to

SPEAKER_00:

say because I'd say there are some families who are fantastic at allowing their children to have that boredom and to fill that time. And we see some incredibly creative kids in our spaces. I would say it's more of that executive functioning that we're seeing a lack of. It's the ability to stay focused on a task for a longer period of time. When you think of about the quick dopamine fixes that we're getting when we are playing online games and all of that. And even like the pop-up ads and the constant interruptions in that, kids aren't given that time to have that extended period of time. In the workplace, we might call it deep work, where you turn off your phones and any sort of distractions so that you can really focus on whatever your task is and get deep into it. And so we want to create experiences for kids. Maybe we call it deep play I'm not sure, but it's giving them the experience where they aren't having all these distractions and they're just having the freedom to be creative. of that attention to increase the ability to engage in slower, thoughtful activities and the ability to be creative. And the reason we want them to be creative is we want them to be problem solvers. We know that in order to solve the problems of today and of the future, we need to think creatively. And just to talk about creativity from the lens of a teacher, at least, we know that creativity has four main components. And we know that creativity is all about generating many, many different ideas. If you and I have the same problem, our first idea or two to solve it might be the same. But the more ideas you get about that, the more creative you are with those different ideas, the chances are they're going to be more innovative, which is another aspect of creativity. It's an innovative solution that nobody else has thought of before. We also know that creativity is about being able to elaborate on an idea. So not just having the idea, but adding all those details to really flesh it out and make it a full idea. And then finally, it's that ability to think flexibly. So it's thinking about, well, this is a solution that might work in this space. Well, what happens if I apply it to a different part of my life or a different genre or something like that? So thinking flexibly is part of that. And these four components all need time to develop. You know, you aren't going to be fluent immediately. You need that time to really build the skill of thinking about as many problems as you can. And that's something that I feel like as a gifted intervention specialist, I'm going into classrooms and I'm helping give students some tasks and some activities to help build some of those creative tools that we know that they're going to need. There was a really interesting piece of research that was shared with me that says, spending time on screens turns students into consumers of the creativity of others. And that phrase really stuck with me. We want our students to be producers of creativity. We don't want them passively engaging. We want them actively creating. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Absent of screens, right? You're doing some kind of project-based learning or something like that. Do you find that the kids still have fun? They still enjoy it. It's still

SPEAKER_00:

exciting to them, right? Absolutely. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's fun to go into classes regularly and that when I arrive, have the kids say, yay, Mrs. Robinson's here, you know. And many times they think, oh, it's the fun things that we get to do. And yet it's not just fun. You know, the activities I bring in with the classrooms clearly are going to be developmentally appropriate for the kids, but we want them to have fun as they are building these skills. Where I see the challenge is sometimes when an activity they believe is done and they're ready to just say, OK, give me something to do next. And part of my job is to say, you know, well, what else could you add to it? Can you elaborate on that idea or what might happen next if you are going to apply something else to it? I think a lot of students are looking for somebody to tell them, well, what do I do next? And we want to build that creative part of their brain to say, oh, I can continue with this on my own. And I think that's the exciting part to see the kids starting to develop that more and more as I go into the classrooms. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I could see that. What can parents do at home to give their kids that creative space to think, play, and be bored? So, you know, the whole point of this campaign is press pause, finding balance in the digital world. And so we want to give parents kind of action items or things to think about. Maybe it's just conversations to have. What could they do in their home to kind of try to tackle this, I guess, kind of come up with a balance?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I know it's hard when, you know, a kid comes up to mom or dad and says, I'm bored. And it's very easy to say, you know, hey, let's pull out a game on the iPad or turn on the TV or something like that. But having spaces in your house where kids can be creative. We always had a cabinet at my house and it was filled with all kinds of craft supplies. It had the perler beads. It had markers. It had glue. It had, you know, tape. It had everything that you would need to be creative artistically. And then we have, you know, a room that had a keyboard. And so the kids could play around on, you know, and not everybody has all of those things, but trying to create spaces or boxes or places, the dress ups, you know, those kinds of things where kids can. And if they're saying bored, when a child comes to a parent and says, hey, mom or dad, I'm bored. What is your reaction to that? Is your reaction to that? reaction oh let me help you solve the problem or is you that's great I can't wait to see what you're going to do what you're going to come up with and then could direct them to you know hey what about this you know craft space what can you find in here sometimes giving them that authentic audience and thinking about oh it's so and so's birthday coming up can you create something for them and oftentimes just giving that entry point is just a starter and then suddenly you know oh I want to make these things these cards or these books or whatever they're making for other people as well. So having that space, kind of giving little ideas, giving some authenticity to it, I think is all really, really important. I also know outside of the home, it can be really challenging. You know, you go to a restaurant and you see kids with an iPad at the table and that, you know, makes me sad. And I know there's times and places where that is necessary, but generally speaking, you know, that's the opportunity to have that conversation with your child. And if you need to have a conversation with an adult, you know, pulling out the crayons and the papers and playing the silly games like how many words can you make out of the word restaurant? You know, those little things on the fly that as a parent, when you do it more frequently, it becomes more natural. And I think it becomes easier for parents to be able to do that. So, you know, having the space at home, creating to-go bags if you want when you're on the run, and then building in that time during your day where you have screen-free time, that is just Part of what your family values before bedtime, great time for that conversation, for reading books, for allowing kids to have no screens and to have that screen-free open-ended playtime, I think is really important. I think the final thing to think about for parents to do is wondering, why is my child bored? And sometimes, some of the research is telling us that kids sometimes are getting bored because they are missing I commonly hear the phrase 18 summers.

SPEAKER_01:

Right. You get 18 summers with your kid before they're off kind of doing their own thing. And like that 18 goes so fast. The other thing is, just as I'm talking to you, we're interviewing for a new position here in the communications department. And I interviewed six candidates last week and four of the six work remotely. And every single one of them said the reason they were applying for this job is because they want to get back in the office. They want the human interaction. So although they're doing work that they love and they like their workplace. They just simply are like, I don't want to sit at home by myself anymore. I'm I'm bored. Right. Because they don't have the everyday interaction. And so that was just interesting to me. And I think kids are kids are the same way. Yeah. Yeah. They crave it even when they don't know

SPEAKER_00:

that they do. Right. And they don't know how to phrase it. I mean, to just say I'm bored is, you know, I think that's a catchphrase that kids know. I get attention from somebody when I say I'm bored, whether it's at school or at home. Yeah. And how we respond to it, I think. Yeah. Think about what is driving that statement from the kids.

SPEAKER_01:

So if you had one takeaway from today's conversation with me for parents, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00:

It's a simple one, and it's one that I used to say to kindergarten parents at the beginning of the year at curriculum night and at the end of the year, and that is your child is only the age that they are right now for this time. You know, they are constantly growing older, and we need to cherish the age that they are right Yeah. Yeah. Are your child building from their childhood? What memories do you want them to be building from their childhood? And I think when you think about it from that lens, it really says, let's give them that time to play and create and be kids.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. All right. Well, hey, thank you for coming and visiting with me today. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02:

You're

SPEAKER_01:

welcome. This is what Press Pause is all about, taking a moment to reflect and make small changes that matter. So we encourage our... Encourage our listeners to check our website for resources related to today's episode, including screen-free ideas and strategies for reclaiming boredom at home. Remember, a little pause goes a long way and we'll see you next time. Thank you. Thank you.

Contributor

Cassie Dietrich

Host