Kids whine when they are bored. Teenagers mope. And adults, those who find the time for boredom, may equate it with depression and even seek psychiatric help.

Interestingly boredom is a relatively modern phenomenon. The word was only coined in English some time after 750. And we certainly take it as a modern phenomenon, a waste product, so to speak, of a culture of convenience and leisure and perhaps inflated expectations. The emotion is blamed for much of the worst of teen excesses, and among adults it is taken as evidence that life is suddenly empty and passing one by.

But now one researcher believes that a spell of boredom can actually do a body good.

His reasoning: “Boredom is a naturally occurring emotion. In psychology we think that all emotions are functional. That means that it has a use. I believe that it is a way to conserve energy but still be ready for action when next called on.”

That's Richard Ralley speaking, and he's a senior lecturer in Psychology at Britain’s Edge Hill University. Ralley has been researching the subject of boredom on and off since about 1999. His full results based on a study of the behavior of 300-plus people will be out this summer. Ultimately, Ralley hopes a better understanding of boredom will help society turn it to better use.

His analysis so far has led him to believe that boredom could actually be a cleverly devised emotion. When a person is moping around bored, they haven’t completely switched off. Yet they are often sedentary, resting mind and body.

At the same time, though, they have this nagging, unpleasant feeling, which makes this resting experience something that a person wouldn’t want to do for too long. That means that when it is time to head off to do something else, the person is rested and ready to go.

In his bid to try to understand boredom, Ralley researched what people did when they were bored. He had expected people to say that they went to find something else to do when they were bored. But no. Instead, people seem to wallow in their boredom for a time, continuing to sit around.

Ultimately, however, they began to feel socially isolated and made social contact with family or friends.

Perhaps not surprisingly, ironing and other chores around the house didn’t help alleviate boredom. Nor did respondents necessarily feel the need to do something active or dash off to a theme park.

“Maybe boredom is a signal for humans to seek social stimulation. Maybe it tells a person that they have been too focused on physical or solitary mental tasks, that they want social interaction – not theme parks,” he concludes.

This has implications for parents. “The opposite of boredom isn’t excitement,” he says. “For parents in the U.S. and U.K., there is a perceived pressure to make sure kids are occupied."

Ralley thinks this is wrong. He goes so far as to advise parents that during school vacations they should allow their kids to laze in bed until noon, then lie sulkily on the sofa staring at the TV for hours. Of course, this is precisely the behavior that drives parents nuts and has them reaching for activities to enroll them in.

But Ralley believes this moping around may in fact be better for them than the action-packed timetable of planned activities that seems to rule the lives of modern youngsters.

"I say, let them sit, sulk and then when they are ready, let them go and hang out with their friends.”

Conventional wisdom says this is how kids get in trouble, as in, an idle mind is the devil's workshop. But Ralley contends boredom is not the culprit at all but rather learned behavior. Kids who get in trouble learned somewhere that destructive behavior brings them attention, and that attention is somehow seen as rewarding. So when they have nothing to do, they revert back and indulge in destructive behavior.

“Some teenagers learn,” he says, “that if they make a demand, something happens. They learn if they bash something, something happens.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere in pop cult, three new movies topped the box office charts over the weekend, led by the Robin Williams family film “RV,” which brought in $16.4 million. “United 93” was second with $11.6 million and “Stick It” third with $11.3 million in ticket sales.

In home movies, Jim Carrey’s “Fun with Dick and Jane” remained the No. 1 video rental on IMDb’s top video rental chart for the week ended April 23, followed by new release “Hostel,” the only first-week entry in the top 10.

In music, singer Rihanna’s dance single “SOS” was the No. 1 single on iTunes as of April 30, followed by Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day.” Nick Lachey’s new single “What’s Left of Me” was at No. 3.

And in books, “Marriage Most Scandalous” by Johanna Lindsey jumped from No. 109 to No. 2 on USA Today’s book chart for the week ended April 30, and also was No. 3 on The New York Times’ paperback fiction bestsellers list for the week ended April 29. Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” remained No. 1 on both lists.