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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteIn her 29 June 2024 PerthNow opinion column, Belle Taylor argues that being “lazy” can be surprisingly difficult: the moment an empty stretch of time appears, we often fill it with a phone, a book, a chore or some other activity. Her point is not that rest needs a special method. It is that genuine idleness means resisting the urge to replace one task with another.
What Taylor means by being lazy
Taylor is talking about letting time remain unfilled, not simply choosing a different pastime. A quiet moment can quickly become an opening to check a screen, read, tidy up or get ahead on something. Those activities may be enjoyable or useful, but they are still activities.
Her question—“Have you tried being lazy lately?”—turns that reflex into something worth noticing. Could you sit for a minute without reaching for a phone or magazine, and let your thoughts come and go? The experiment is deliberately ordinary: no purchase, equipment or elaborate routine is required.
Why the Seoul Space-out Competition fits the argument
The column points to the Space-out Competition, a participatory event created by visual artist Woopsyang. Seoul Metropolitan Government traces its start to 2014 and says it moved to the Hangang River in 2016. The event gives Taylor’s idea a public, almost playful form: people gather to practise doing very little while an audience watches.
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For the 2024 event, Seoul’s announcement placed the competition on May 12 at Jamsugyo Bridge in Banpo Hangang Park. It asked participants to remain inactive for 90 minutes, describing the task as maintaining “a state of serene idleness, devoid of action or thought.”
The rules make the challenge more specific than simply sitting down. According to The Korea Times, heart rates were checked every 15 minutes. The result combined audience votes with heart-rate stability. The event is an artistic and cultural illustration of the difficulty of switching off—not evidence that a particular amount of inactivity produces a health benefit.
What the 2024 turnout figures do—and do not—say
The Korea Times reported that 117 people in 77 teams took part in 2024, and that approximately 2,800 teams applied. Taylor’s column gives a different application figure: 4,000 people entered, with 117 making the final cut. The sources agree on the 117 participants, but their application totals use different numbers and units. They should not be combined into one count or used to calculate a single acceptance rate.
Taylor also identifies freelance announcer Kwon So-a as the winner and speed skater Kwak Yoon-gy as third place. The Korea Times spells the winner’s name Kwon Seo-ah. In a separate detail reported by Taylor, Kwak said he had tried out for the Olympics five times and had never taken a proper rest during 30 years of training; Taylor attributes the remark to CNN.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →How to try Taylor’s small experiment
- Notice an unoccupied moment. Choose a brief pause that would otherwise prompt you to reach for a screen or start another task.
- Leave it unfilled. Sit without opening a book, starting a chore or looking for something to watch. Taylor’s suggestion is to let the moment be a moment, rather than turning it into a new activity.
- Pay attention to the impulse. Notice when you want to check your phone or find something to do. You do not need to treat that urge as a problem to solve; it is simply part of the experiment.
This is a practical reading of Taylor’s column, not a clinical prescription. The article and the event accounts describe a challenge and an observation about distraction; they do not establish that idleness treats a condition or improves health.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the column leaves with the reader
Taylor’s point is less about celebrating laziness than questioning the assumption that every spare minute must be optimized or occupied. The competition makes that impulse visible by asking contestants to do almost nothing in public. At a personal scale, the same idea can be tested in a quiet minute, without turning rest into another project.
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