One thing that interrupts my moments of boredom is the thought of falling behind while the world makes progress.

That is precisely the same feeling you get when you move to a quieter town: "nothing goes on here while 'everything is going on' somewhere else".

This feeling of 'nothing doing' pushes me to do stuff, be it a hobby, reading, etc. I think the idea is pretty much associated to the 'time is money' or the 'time is flying, we're getting older, take advantage of your time' sort of thoughts.

A nice point made in the article is the fact that many people just can't stand live in peace with their own thoughts. Indeed.