Why some people constantly check their phones even when they are not bored

You are waiting for a lift and, almost without thinking, your hand reaches for your phone. You are sitting in a car and there is a two-minute pause before you need to get out, so you unlock the screen. You are standing in a queue, waiting for your coffee or food, and suddenly you are scrolling through messages or social media. Often, there is nothing particularly important waiting for you. You may have checked your phone only a few minutes earlier, yet the moment there is nothing else demanding your attention, the urge to look at the screen returns.Most of us would describe this as boredom. But psychology suggests that the story may be more complicated. The urge to reach for a phone during a quiet moment can sometimes be connected to our discomfort with unstructured time, mind-wandering, anxiety, uncertainty or simply the desire for immediate stimulation.