Intervals that used to contain nothing are now reliably filled. The change is in what is available during a two-minute wait, not in anyone's tolerance for emptiness.
The gaps were structural, not chosen
Queues, journeys, waiting rooms and the periods between tasks produced regular unfilled time that nobody selected.
Filling them required carrying something, and the options were limited to whatever fitted in a pocket and suited a short interval.
A device that carries everything and starts instantly removes the constraint entirely, so the gaps close by default rather than by decision.
Short intervals were the hardest to fill and are now the easiest
A two-minute wait could not accommodate a book or a conversation, so it stayed empty even for people who disliked it.
Content designed for short intervals fits precisely into that space, and formats built around brief items exist because those intervals are numerous.
The result is that the smallest gaps disappeared first and most completely, while longer periods retain more variety of use.
Boredom had functions that are now unsupported
Unoccupied attention tends to drift toward unresolved matters, plans and half-formed ideas, which is where a good deal of ordinary thinking happens.
Writers and researchers have long described the value of walking, waiting and other undemanding activity for exactly this reason.
Occupying every interval removes the occasions on which that drift used to occur, without anything visibly being lost at the time.
The interval is a commercial asset
Attention during previously empty time is valuable, and products are designed to capture it: short sessions, instant loading, content that requires no continuity.
Design decisions follow directly, since anything that adds friction to starting reduces how much of a short interval can be captured.
This is why services compete on how quickly they can be entered and resumed, which is a competition specifically for the smallest gaps.
Reintroducing gaps requires arrangement
Because filling is now the default, an unfilled interval has to be created rather than merely allowed.
Practices that achieve it work by removing the option physically: leaving the device behind, walking a route without headphones, keeping a room without screens.
Approaches relying on restraint alone perform poorly, because the decision is presented dozens of times a day and only has to fail once for the interval to close.