We're Never Going to Feel Normal Again
So just be weird.
A while back, psychologists at UVA locked people in a room and gave them two choices. They could sit and think for 15 minutes, or they could administer mild electric shocks to themselves. About 67 percent of the men chose the shocks, and so did 25 percent of the women. It explains a lot about the world.
When you can’t understand why Person X would possibly do Y crazy thing, remember that a large percentage of humanity would rather shock themselves, for whatever reason, than spend 15 minutes alone thinking.
Maybe you’re wondering, maybe they were just curious. Well, read the study. None of these folks said they were completely fine being alone with their thoughts for 15 minutes, and figured they would just shock themselves once to see how it felt. The vast majority of them explained they were so bored, it was so unpleasant, shocking themselves was the only way to pass the time.
So most of the people you know would probably rather harm themselves than spend…