More People Want to Get Shocked Than Sit in Total Stillness for 15 Minutes With our attention spans shorter than ever, a new study found that people are willing to go to shocking lengths to avoid sitting still.

By Geoff Weiss

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Does the idea of sitting alone in a room for 15 minutes doing absolutely nothing sound like pure bliss or unimaginable torture?

Many participants in a new study out of the University of Virginia agreed on the latter, as researchers concluded that today's society has become increasingly averse to the notion of stillness.

While this may come as no surprise, the experiment also uncovered a rather jarring fact: Some participants, when given the choice, preferred to self-administer a mild electrical shock -- of the same intensity as static electricity -- as opposed to sitting in silence for no more than 15 minutes.

"I think they just wanted to shock themselves out of boredom," University of Virginia psychology professor Timothy Wilson told Reuters. "Sometimes negative stimulation is preferable to no stimulation."

Related: Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Police Can't Search Smartphones Without a Warrant

Of all participants, men were particularly antsy. Two-thirds administered at least one shock, while only a quarter of women did. One male participant even shocked himself 190 times.

All told, nearly 800 people -- including adults from a variety of backgrounds, up to age 77 -- took part in 11 total experiments.

The majority found it "difficult to use their own minds to entertain themselves, at least when asked to do it on the spot," Wilson said. "In this modern age, with all the gadgets we have, people seem to fill up every moment with some external activity."

For instance, when asked to sit alone in their homes without a cellphone, music player, reading material or writing implements, a third of all volunteers cheated, Reuters reports, by instinctively reaching for a nearby device.

Related: Oh, the Irony: Coke Slams Social Media Addicts in New Viral Video

Geoff Weiss

Former Staff Writer

Geoff Weiss is a former staff writer at Entrepreneur.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

'My Brain Thrives on Variety': His Side Hustle Inspired By 'The 4-Hour Workweek' Led to $600,000 in 16 Months

Mark Hellweg, 42, knows what it takes to start a business "with a fraction of the capital."

Marketing

How NFL Star Mark Ingram II is Uplifting NOLA'S Small Business Community — One Parade Float at a Time

Ahead of the Super Bowl, the former New Orleans Saints running back is partnering with Quickbooks for a campaign centered around Kern Studios, a family-owned parade float company in NOLA.

Business Ideas

70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2025.

Business Solutions

Enjoy a Lifetime of MS Visio 2024 for Windows for a One-Time Payment

Teams can now efficiently collaborate simultaneously from anywhere on the same diagrams, charts, and other visualizations.

Business Solutions

Get a Lifetime of Powerful PDF Tools for Just $50

This affordable program has advanced conversion, editing, and annotation tools.