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“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” -- Blaise Pascal
According to Pascal, we fear the silence of existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can’t help but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind.
The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.
...
our aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.At its core, it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is a state of not-being-bored.
Deep thoughts by Blaise Pascal. Was he right? Are we addicted to not-being-bored? Is boredom good for us?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Wednesday November 28 2018, @09:09PM
That's a difficult issue. These days, we have some drugs which can assist in helping one relax. Back in the Paleo/Neolithic periods, that was likely more of a problem.
At the same time, even today we have social groups that include those who are comfortable with their own thoughts and those who have negative ideation (Catastrophizing, anyone?). As long as there is balance within such a social group, everyone can work together to create a gestalt that helps create a functional unit which walks the tightrope between contemplation and action.
Without such a balance, we often end up with dysfunctional, and even potentially dangerous, groups.
I think that's within the normal range of human behavior and experience.
Humans are social animals and have been since before our ancestors learned to walk upright. As such, we rely on each other's strengths to minimize our weaknesses.
All that said, dealing with anxiety/depression is difficult. In addition to the drugs we have today, there are millenia-old coping mechanisms (spottily implemented and frequently ineffective) involving social and familial groups from which we seem to have gotten away.
At one time, odd Uncle Bob (or aunt Judy or even mom) was tolerated and loved, because they were part of the group. That has its downsides, however, as whole families may suffer from such maladies, which may well end up creating really dangerous individuals. These days, we tend to shy away from and isolate those whose behavior and affect are outside what we consider to be norms.
I'm not suggesting that we stop using anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs, but reducing/eliminating the stigma associated with mental illness, along with a recognition that we are a social species and we rise and fall based on the performance of *all* of us, could improve things significantly.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr