Sometimes, we feel bad. We’re in pain or we’re uncomfortable. We want relief.

At times like this, we’re tempted to find relief in something, anything. We look for things around us that will pacify.

The smartphone is always near us. It’s in our pocket.

We pick it up. We don’t have a plan in mind. We just know we want to feel less bad. Maybe it’s boredom. Maybe it’s loneliness. Maybe we’re in a stuffy airport. Maybe it’s simply habit formed from previous experiences feeling bad. Maybe we have no idea why we feel bad and we don’t care to find out. We just know we want to feel better right now.

So we scroll.

We’ll take anything. Anything to alleviate us from the discomfort we’re having. We don’t want to think about the fact that we’re alone in a dark room, lying aimlessly in the bed. We don’t want to look at the backs of the heads of all the other people standing in the line ahead of us, most of whom are also looking at their phones. So we pacify.

More often than not, it’s some unhuman obligation of modern life that’s putting us in these kinds of unpleasant situations.

Look around next time you’re in a stuffy airport. Everybody’s pacifying. Because everybody’s uncomfortable.

Look around next time you’re at a wonderful party or family gathering. Nobody’s pacifying. Because everybody’s content.

Scrolling is our drug of choice, often. We’d rather pacify ourselves than confront the unpleasant parts of life head on.

What if there’s another way?