Manuel Moreale, who is purposefully taking in far less information during the month of June, mentions this about the silent periods that he used to fill in with podcasts:
First couple of days I could see my brain wanting to fill the silence with something but that was mostly out of habit more than anything. It’s now a week and I don’t even think about podcasts anymore. It honestly was easier than I thought.
Find times to be bored. Let your mind wander in silence. For me, it has allowed real ideas – ideas that are authentically my own and not spurred on by someone else’s thoughts – to spring up and take shape.
See also, from 2010, The “What To Do When You’re Bored” List.