Here’s another idea that I stole from Bertrand Russell. What if the pain is caused not just by any thinking, but by thinking about yourself? If you’re mostly interested in external things, you’ll be mostly happy, no matter how much time and effort you spend thinking. But if your thoughts have a habit of circling back on yourself and how you could be better, you’ll be miserable and look for escape paths, like the internet (which forcefully pulls your thoughts away from yourself and thus makes you happier for awhile).
Here’s another idea that I stole from Bertrand Russell. What if the pain is caused not just by any thinking, but by thinking about yourself? If you’re mostly interested in external things, you’ll be mostly happy, no matter how much time and effort you spend thinking. But if your thoughts have a habit of circling back on yourself and how you could be better, you’ll be miserable and look for escape paths, like the internet (which forcefully pulls your thoughts away from yourself and thus makes you happier for awhile).