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Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

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Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#121

Post by mars009 »

xcambar wrote: post #19

As I grew older, there are certain things I have learned to enjoy more, such as slowness, inaction, loneliness, boredom. Boredom is typically the most controversial, so the reason here is that boredom first allows for moments you want out of, but also there's more: It expands the range of comfort zone of emotions and sets the ground floor of your emotions low enough that you can actually welcome more experiences as r…

Honestly this. I never understood the point of mowing a lawn until now. Taking care of my yard (while failing miserable in some places), gets me away from my computer/phone/tv/whatever, and in touch with the outside world, even if its just me and my yard.

Heck, I have come up with solutions to coding problems while mowing or just removing weeds

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#122

Post by nasmorn »

xcambar wrote: post #113
bigDinosaur wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does that seem to be 'too strongly'? Just like how being very fit requires some level of guilt with eating cake, so too does avoiding overuse of smartphones.

Because there is a middleground. Being fit or staying away from your phone doesn't require to run 20k a week or to remove the phone from your kids' perception of the world.

If you want to be a runner it will certainly require 20k. That is 2 hours of training.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#123

Post by eastbound »

> Not all thinking is intrinsically rewarding, and in fact some people are prone to vicious cycles of negative thinking

Major reason why I avoid thinking. If I’m left to wander, I have dark ideas, remember the bad parts of my life, and have hate for everyone.

What social networks and Youtube help me for, is cover these thoughts and let me spend my time in the present, at the price of not enjoying creativity anymore, or not being able to debrief on my day / month, because any debrieffing would cause think about the past.

Our societies are challenging and nothing happens like we want, and no amount of psychiatrist has helped, because psychiatrists don’t change society.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#124

Post by tresqotheq »

osamagirl69 wrote: post #26

There is some interesting discussion in the analysis portion of the paper that resonated deeply with me. >However, the fact that participants underestimated the potential task motivation during the thinking period may indicate that people avoid thinking not because it is aversive but because it is expected to be aversive. >Such an inaccurate expectation may lead people to unnecessarily avoid spending time thinking in…

Yea, It is as if people expect you to pull out the phone and stare at it if you have nothing to do in a public place. Imagine someone catching you, being lost in your own thoughts, in somewhere like that. They would suerly peg you for a weirdo.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#125

Post by WalterSear »

tresqotheq wrote: post #124
osamagirl69 wrote: post #26

There is some interesting discussion in the analysis portion of the paper that resonated deeply with me. >However, the fact that participants underestimated the potential task motivation during the thinking period may indicate that people avoid thinking not because it is aversive but because it is expected to be aversive. >Such an inaccurate expectation may lead people to unnecessarily avoid spending time thinking in…

Yea, It is as if people expect you to pull out the phone and stare at it if you have nothing to do in a public place. Imagine someone catching you, being lost in your own thoughts, in somewhere like that. They would suerly peg you for a weirdo.

Just start talking to yourself out loud - they'll quickly assume you're perfectly normal.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#127

Post by abhaynayar »

I have stopped listening to audiobooks while I'm out for a walk.

At first, audiobooks seemed like such an efficient use of time. But after finishing a couple of audiobooks on my walks, I felt that my brain and my ears always yearned for not listening to audiobooks and instead just wanted to enjoy the walk itself. Now I just walk. If I'm not feeling that well, I do put on some music for a while, but never an audiobook or a podcast.

On that note, I have decided to just read physical books. For all the inconveniences that reading a physical book has, I have felt that it makes reading more intentional. I can't just read anywhere or anytime I want. I have to now deliberately decide to read, even if it is way more inefficient. It lets my thoughts breath and settle. The purpose for me now is not to read as many books as possible, but to enjoy the books that I do read, and absorb them down to their core.

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#128

Post by xcambar »

nasmorn wrote: post #122
xcambar wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there is a middleground. Being fit or staying away from your phone doesn't require to run 20k a week or to remove the phone from your kids' perception of the world.

If you want to be a runner it will certainly require 20k. That is 2 hours of training.

I was specific about "being fit", not "being a runner".

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#129

Post by Flashtoo »

intrasight wrote: post #87
theshrike79 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I specifically need to zone out and calm my mind TO fall asleep. Took me years to teach my brain that "lying down in bed" == "brain turns off". Otherwise I'd spiral into a web of incomplete thoughts that would never get anywhere and I'd just get really stressed - and then fall to a restless sleep, anxious. Now if I'm a bit wound up, I put on some wireless headphones and listen to some really boring or non-consequenti…

I can't emphasize enough what an impact this approach had for me. I suffered from sleep anxiety and insomnia. Took trazodone for years. It lost its potency and I wanted to get off the sleep drugs. Then I discovered history podcasts. The only ones that work have a single person talking and no ads intermixed with the podcast episode. Usually I'm asleep five minutes into the podcast. Then when I wake in the morning, I l…

Are there any specific podcasts you would recommend?

Re: Put down devices, let your mind wander, study suggests

#130

Post by syntheweave »

abhaynayar wrote: post #127

I have stopped listening to audiobooks while I'm out for a walk. At first, audiobooks seemed like such an efficient use of time. But after finishing a couple of audiobooks on my walks, I felt that my brain and my ears always yearned for not listening to audiobooks and instead just wanted to enjoy the walk itself. Now I just walk. If I'm not feeling that well, I do put on some music for a while, but never an audiobook…

I took a sketchbook on my walk today. I did have my phone and used it some, but drawing things from life, with traditional materials, is a nice way to slow down and engage with the immediate world. Especially since with walking routes, it's usually the same things every day, so while you might think "I've seen this before", once you try to draw it and capture everything you can, it's like you haven't seen it at all.
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