The lost art of simply being

Remember when we used to just… exist? No notifications, no endless scroll, no algorithm dictating what we should think, buy, or aspire to be? We didn’t need constant stimulation. Boredom wasn’t something to be feared; it was a gateway to imagination, introspection, and, most importantly, presence.

But now? We have lost the ability to simply be.

The moment we feel the slightest discomfort—waiting in line, sitting in silence, or even pausing between conversations—we reach for our phones. Not because we need to, but because we’ve trained ourselves to fill every second with something. Anything. A text. A meme. A dopamine hit disguised as a like.

We have become allergic to stillness. The world now moves at the speed of a refresh button, and we feel the pressure to keep up. But at what cost? We no longer make eye contact in coffee shops. We don’t let our minds wander—we let our thumbs do the wandering instead. We have lost the magic of uninterrupted, spontaneous conversation because someone is always “just checking something real quick.”

The irony? In trying to stay connected, we’ve never felt more disconnected.

Boredom used to be a spark. It led to creativity, daydreaming, and, occasionally, epiphanies. But today, boredom is a problem to be solved, not an experience to be explored. Yet, some of history’s greatest ideas were born from stillness. Einstein famously stared out of windows, letting his mind drift. Writers, artists, thinkers—they all understood that doing nothing was often the precursor to doing something meaningful.

Now, instead of staring into space, we stare into screens. Instead of dreaming, we scroll. Our addiction to stimulation is making us exhausted. The news cycle never ends…comparison never stops…the pressure to keep up, to be informed, to respond instantly—it’s never ends. Yet, none of it brings real fulfillment.

We spend hours online, but we struggle to hold a five-minute conversation without reaching for our devices. We chase digital validation but feel unseen in real life. We are so plugged in that we’re tuned out—from our own lives, from the people we love, from the beauty of existing without performance, production, or purpose.

How do you reclaim our ability to just be? Sit with stillness. Let your mind wander. Notice your surroundings. Let yourself daydream. Stare at the ceiling. Be present in conversation, listen to understand, not only respond. Go analog. Walk without headphones.Give yourself permission to exist. Have moments that aren’t documented, shared or optimised.

We weren’t designed for this pace. We weren’t meant to be this overstimulated, this tethered to information, this distracted from ourselves. So let’s remember how to exist without performance. How to sit with our thoughts instead of numbing them. How to live without constantly proving that we’re living.

Let’s rediscover what it means to be human—fully, presently, and intentionally. Because in a world that never stops moving, the most radical act might just be to pause.