Question:
Even when I don’t want to,
I check my phone.
Waiting, walking, even during short pauses.
I tell myself I’ll just glance.
Then 20 minutes disappear.
Why is it so hard
to just sit quietly?
Ossan’s answer:
An ossan once opened his phone
to check the weather.
He ended up watching
a video about someone restoring a chair.
He does not own that chair.
The issue isn’t attention span.
It’s tolerance for stillness.
When nothing external demands you,
your internal world becomes visible.
Sometimes that world is messy.
Sometimes it’s just boring.
And boredom feels dangerous
to a brain trained for stimulation.
So you reach.
Not for information.
For avoidance.
Try this once:
Leave your phone in another room
for ten minutes.
You’ll feel mild anxiety.
Then you’ll feel… nothing.
Then something interesting happens.
Your thoughts slow.
Not because you forced them.
Because you stopped feeding them.
You’re not addicted to your phone.
You’re unused to unfiltered silence.
That’s human.
The goal isn’t to quit technology.
It’s to occasionally remember
that you can exist
without filling every gap.
And yes—
restoring chairs on YouTube
can wait.