How Did We Get 「Stuck」 in the Chair?

The Rise of Sitting — A Lifestyle Evolution

For most of human history, our ancestors were always on the move — hunting, gathering, and later farming. Survival demanded constant physical activity, shaping our genes, muscles, bones, and cardiovascular system for an active life.

But around 200 years ago, the invention of the steam engine during the Industrial Revolution changed everything:

From fields to factories to offices: Steam power and electricity gradually took over physical labor. Initially in factories, the work was still tough, but it marked the start of less physically demanding labor. By the 20th century, home appliances and widespread electrification freed people (especially women) from heavy housework, while new office jobs emerged.
Sitting became a status symbol: Being able to sit and work with your brain instead of toiling outdoors was considered a mark of progress and success. Sitting became synonymous with “work,” and nobody questioned it — it was desirable. This is when the large-scale cultural shift toward sitting began.

A World Designed for Sitting Still

If changes in work habits were the first shock, modern technology has fully penetrated daily life, anchoring us to chairs, couches, and seats in cars, trains, and planes. Our once-active bodies have gradually been “optimized” out of almost every physical task. And this trend is only accelerating — AI and robotics promise even more comfort, keeping us even more sedentary.

Transportation: From Moving to Sitting

Transportation brought enormous benefits, especially in extending our range. Distances that once took a lifetime can now be covered in hours. But from another perspective, it’s also a story of physical decline.

In the past, walking or riding a horse was itself exercise, burning calories and strengthening the body. Today, cars, trains, and planes have turned all travel into passive “sitting.” Machines do the work; we just sit. Our travel went from active movement to passive transportation. We gain unprecedented freedom, but our bodies pay the price: long hours of sitting quietly accumulate hidden health risks.

Household Chores: From Hidden Exercise to “One-Button Solution”

Maintaining a household used to provide gentle, consistent daily exercise. Modern appliances have quietly erased much of this “invisible movement,” the small but steady physical activity built into daily chores.

Automated chores: Washing machines replaced scrubbing by hand; dishwashers removed the need to stand and clean dishes; robot vacuums and cordless cleaners handle bending, sweeping, and full-body motion. While these devices free us from tedious tasks, they also remove moderate-intensity physical activity from daily life, turning homes into spaces primarily for resting and sitting.

Entertainment: From Outdoor Play to Fingertip Frenzy

The way we spend our leisure has been the final — and arguably the most important — piece in the puzzle of sedentary culture. It has taken over almost all the free time we could have spent moving.

The “screen migration” of leisure: Before electronic devices, entertainment was mostly outdoors and social: running around, playing sports, visiting fairs, or hanging out with neighbors. Today, leisure has largely moved indoors, and physical interaction has been replaced by swiping and tapping. TV, video games, short videos, and social media offer immersive experiences and instant gratification at minimal cost, turning what used to be active outdoor time into hours on the couch or in front of a screen. We’ve gone from real-world players to spectators in our own lives, glued to screens.

We’ve entered an unprecedented lifestyle: stillness has become the backdrop of daily life, and inactivity the default mode of existence.

The Hidden Cost of Our Tech-Comfort Life

For a long time, we’ve just taken it for granted: swipe your finger, connect to the world; press a button, dinner’s ready; elevators replace stairs, cars shrink travel time. Technology promised convenience—and delivered it—so well that it quietly removed almost all of our daily movement. t wasn’t until the 1950s that scientists finally realized something was seriously wrong.

London Busmen Study

In 1949, British scientist Jerry Morris conducted a landmark study comparing the health of about 31,000 London double-decker bus drivers and conductors. The drivers spent the entire day sitting in their seats, while the conductors were constantly moving up and down the bus.
The study found that bus drivers had a heart disease incidence of 2.7 cases per 1,000 people per year, nearly double the 1.9 cases per 1,000 people observed among conductors, and their conditions were generally more severe.
This research provided the first concrete evidence that prolonged sitting can truly be harmful to health.

Exercising isn’t the same as sitting less. Later studies revealed an even bigger truth: “Sitting too long” and “not exercising enough” are two different problems. You could hit the gym for an hour daily and still spend the rest of the day glued to a chair—you’re still at risk. It’s like taking a vitamin but filling the rest of your diet with junk food—your body still suffers.

Our bodies come with an ancient contract with nature: genes built for running, climbing, chasing—a life in motion. But in chasing comfort and efficiency, we’ve ripped up that contract. Soft couches, elevators, climate control, and endless chairs created a “comfort fortress,” freeing us from hunting, gathering, and moving around.

The consequences? Inevitable. When our bodies’ ancient design clashes with our ultra-comfy modern world, conflict erupts. Today’s common health problems—from stiff shoulders and back pain to serious illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, plus hidden struggles like depression and anxiety—show that our bodies are reacting to this comfort, sometimes violently.

Perhaps the greatest irony of human history is this: after thousands of years using our brains to escape hard physical labor, we never noticed that we were slowly draining our own energy in the process.

Carve Out Some Movement in Everyday Life

But this ironic situation can be changed — if we invented the convenience of sitting all day, we can just as easily use that same smarts to balance comfort and movement.

We’re not saying ditch modern life. Washing machines save your hands, cars get you places faster — that’s progress. The key is to leave space to move: stand and stretch during work breaks, swap “sitting inertia” for short bursts of activity; walk or bike for short trips, turning “machine transport” into a body wake-up; put down screens on the weekend, go for a stroll, shoot some hoops — turn “screen time” into full-body fun.

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