World of Psychology

Comments on
Why We Like to Keep Busy

By John M. Grohol, PsyD
Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Why We Like to Keep BusyDo people like to keep busy for no reason? Or is being idle okay with most of us?

Psychological researchers (Ysee et al., 2010) set to find out.

In two experiments with college students, researchers discovered that we can be happy doing nothing at all and remaining idle. But given even the slimmest of reasons to be busy doing something, and most people will opt for doing something over nothing.

The researchers also found that people were happier when they were busy, even if they were forced into busyness.

How can people be happy being busy, if that busyness serves no purpose?

4 Comments to
Why We Like to Keep Busy

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  1. Futile busyness, eh? Do we call that ‘fun’? I suspect the brain has a need to grow due to the driving force of neoplasticity and we register happiness when the brain gets fed the ‘food of stimulation’ it needs.

  2. I just read an artical about this at Anxiety in teens! About keeping busy and obsessive compulsive disorder.

    http://www.anxietyinteens.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:keep-busy&catid=3:anxiety-in-teens

  3. I really would have liked to see a second setup ich which busy didn’t equal walking. As it is, you could also argue that it is specifically taking a 15-minute walk that makes you happy…

  4. being bussy avoids from anessary things ,and westage of money

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