# Pascal was right: Most people can’t sit quietly alone

2026-08-07T20:24:40+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 1 independent outlet

A 2014 University of Virginia study found that 67 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women chose to give themselves mild electric shocks rather than sit quietly alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes. One participant pressed the shock button 190 times. The experiment backed an observation Blaise Pascal made nearly 400 years earlier: "All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." Pascal, a French mathematician and philosopher who died in 1662 aged 39, argued that people seek constant diversion to escape the discomfort of facing their own mortality and insignificance. Today, digital platforms and phone notifications feed this same urge.

## Coverage

- timesofindia.indiatimes.com <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/quote-of-the-day-by-blaise-pascal-all-of-humanitys-problems-stem-from-mans-inability-to-sit-quietly-in-a-room-alone-and-the-100-billion-industry-built-to-keep-you-from-doing-it/articleshow/133040886.cms>

Tags: Blaise Pascal, digital distraction, Pensées, psychology, restlessness, University of Virginia
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