30 Things to Do Online When You're Bored

Free ideas for a bored evening: learn something, make something, play, explore the world from your screen and meet new people, without endless scrolling.

Last updated October 10, 2026

Why being bored online feels so draining

Boredom on a phone or laptop is a strange kind of boredom. There is endless content a tap away, yet an hour of flicking between feeds often leaves you more restless than when you started. The problem is rarely a lack of things to do. It is that scrolling has no finish line: nothing is completed, learnt or shared, so your brain never gets the small reward of having done something.

The ideas below all have a natural end point. Some take five minutes, some an evening. Most are free, and the resources named are well-known sites that have been around for years. Pick one that matches your energy level and give it a proper go before you switch.

Learn something small

1. Fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, on purpose. Start with an article you know nothing about, such as a random historical event, and only follow links that genuinely surprise you. Wikipedia's "Random article" link is a good starting point.
2. Do one language lesson. Apps like Duolingo turn ten minutes into a small, finished task. If you already study a language, try reading a short news article in it instead.
3. Take a free course unit. Khan Academy covers everything from maths and economics to art history, in short videos with exercises. One unit is a satisfying evening.
4. Learn a practical skill. Basic first aid, touch typing, a few keyboard shortcuts for the software you use every day, or how to cook one new dish properly. Pick something you will actually use this week.
5. Look up how something works. How does a fridge keep cold? Why is the sky blue? How do planes stay up? Explainer articles and videos turn idle curiosity into something you can tell someone else about.
6. Explore space. NASA publishes huge archives of images and mission updates for free, and its "Astronomy Picture of the Day" has a new photo with an explanation every day.

Explore the world from your screen

7. Visit a museum. Google Arts & Culture lets you zoom into famous paintings in more detail than you would see in person and walk virtually through galleries around the world.
8. Play a geography game. GeoGuessr drops you somewhere on Street View and asks you to guess where you are. It quietly teaches you road signs, number plates and landscapes from dozens of countries.
9. Walk a city you have never been to. Open a map, pick a city on another continent and wander its streets in Street View. Look for the market, the train station and the oldest building you can find.
10. Listen to radio from another country. Many stations stream online. Local news, adverts and music tell you more about a place than a travel guide.
11. Plan an imaginary trip. Pick a destination, a budget and a number of days, and build an itinerary. It is surprisingly relaxing, and one day it might not be imaginary.
12. Ask someone who lives there. The best way to learn about a place is to talk to someone from it. You can find people by country on our country pages.

Play something

13. Play chess. Both chess.com and lichess let you play people of a similar level in a few seconds, or solve puzzles if you would rather not face an opponent.
14. Do the daily word and number puzzles. Daily puzzles are perfect for boredom because there is only one per day: you finish, and you are done.
15. Try a co-operative game with friends. Browser-based drawing and word-guessing games work well over a call and need nothing more than a shared link.
16. Play a game over text with someone new. Two truths and a lie, 20 questions or emoji stories turn a chat into something playful. We have rules and examples in fun games to play over text.
17. Build a quiz for your friends. Write ten questions about a topic you love and send it to your group chat. Making it is half the fun.

Read and listen

18. Read a classic for free. Project Gutenberg has tens of thousands of public-domain books, from Sherlock Holmes to Jane Austen. A short story is a good start if a whole novel feels like too much.
19. Find a podcast about something you know nothing about. Fishing, medieval history, tax law: specialists talking about their passion are almost always interesting.
20. Read one long article to the end. Pick an in-depth piece of journalism and read it start to finish with no other tabs open. It feels very different from skimming.
21. Listen to an album properly. Choose an album considered a classic in a genre you do not usually like, and listen in order, start to finish.

Make something

22. Start a tiny journal. Three lines about your day, in a notes app or a document. It takes two minutes and becomes surprisingly valuable after a few months.
23. Learn to draw one thing. Follow a beginner tutorial to draw a cat, a tree or a face. You will be better at it after one evening than you think.
24. Make a playlist for a mood. "Rainy Sunday morning" or "late-night drive". Share it with someone and ask them to add one song.
25. Try a beginner coding tutorial. Making a web page say "hello" is the first step to building things yourself, and many introductions are free.
26. Edit your photos. Go through your camera roll, delete the blurry ones and make an album of the best of the year. It is tidying and nostalgia in one.

Connect with people

27. Message an old friend. Send a photo, a memory or a simple "this made me think of you". It takes thirty seconds and usually makes two people's days better.
28. Join a community about a hobby. A forum or group about running, books, plants or a football club gives you people to talk to with something already in common.
29. Find a language or pen pal. Writing regularly to someone in another country is a slow, rewarding way to make a friend. See how to find a pen pal online.
30. Chat with a stranger. A one-to-one conversation with someone you have never met can turn a dull evening into a memorable one. Have a couple of openers ready, like those in our list of questions to ask a stranger.

A few rules that make any of these work

• Decide before you start. Choose one idea and give it at least fifteen minutes. Switching every two minutes is just scrolling with extra steps.
• Close the other tabs. Notifications are the enemy of finishing anything.
• Match the idea to your energy. Tired? Listen or read. Restless? Play or make something. Lonely? Talk to someone.
• Know when to log off. Sometimes boredom is your brain asking for a walk, a glass of water or sleep. The best thing to do online can be nothing at all.

Chatting when you're bored, safely

If you choose to talk to strangers, StrangerYaar is a free, one-to-one text chat for adults aged 18 and over. You do not need an account, you can match by interests, language or place, and you can send voice notes and GIFs. There is no video, so you never show your face. If you enjoy a chat, add the person as a friend to keep talking. Keep your full name, address and social handles to yourself, and read our tips for staying safe chatting with strangers before you start.

Common questions

Bored right now?

Try idea number 30. Start chatting on StrangerYaar, free and with no sign-up, and see who you meet.