What I have observed is that most lives are repetitive and quiet. This is the baseline reality we all occupy. But that quiet life makes people panic, so they layer noise on top of it. Constant talking, doing something, scrolling, and "seeking fun" are not expressions of a joyful life. They are symptoms of a boring one. The vector matters here. You don’t seek stimulation because you are happy; you seek it because you cannot tolerate the flatness of your own day. I have a seemingly happy friend who appears to be always high-energy and funny. He is always online and always reacting. He spends nine hours a day on TikTok. When you add the rest of his other online content consumption, he crosses fourteen hours of daily phone use. I asked him once how he does what he does. "Do you because your life feels so boring that you can't sit doing nothing?" There was no argument. He just said, I agree with what you say. (The speed of that admission was the most striking part.) Each video provides a novelty reset so the brain never has to inhabit the same moment twice. (The moment you turn the phone off, reality rushes back in, and it feels unbearable.) This has nothing to do with liking the content. It is about an active avoidance of silence. We often label the quiet person as "boring." This is often a projection. That assumption only holds true if you personally cannot sit with your own mind. If you already find engagement in observing or simply existing, you don't need to decorate your life with extra input. Stimulation is a cost. The loud person looks alive because their stimulation is visible. The quiet person looks empty because sufficiency is invisible. Internally, these roles are usually reversed. One needs constant external data to tolerate the present. The other doesn't. Society confuses noise with meaning and activity with aliveness. When your life already feels full, you don't chase fun. When it feels empty, you call the chase “living.” Most people fall into the first category, so they normalize escape and misunderstand stability. The next step is to remove the escape and stay with reality long enough for it to become interesting on its own. (It usually does.)
SANTOSH RAUT
Dec 27, 2025, 06:17 AM
