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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

#161

Post by theshrike79 »

k__ wrote: post #159

Any idea how to get rid of vicious cycles? I like letting my mind wander, but often I hit unpleasent thoughts and it throws me off.

Might be a bit world-huggy, but here goes:

Accept the unpleasant thoughts, but don't dwell on them. One advice I got was to give yourself a set amount of time for unpleasant thoughts or worrying. After that you can let it go and move on.

The most important bit is noticing when you're just thinking in circles without any extra input, that's the route to anxiety and depression.

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

#162

Post by theshrike79 »

neither_color wrote: post #94
jerlam wrote: post #31

There's also the long-standing idea that people come up with great/interesting ideas while in the shower (so much that it's an internet meme), and that's attributed to the shower being one of the few places where you don't have media or electronics trying to capture your attention.

I sometimes drive without any music/podcasts/radio on and get the same effects as shower thoughts. The mind is good at promising things when you dont have to follow through with them immediately.

I can't do audiobooks in the car because my mind starts wander and I notice that I've missed a ton of relevant plot - and it's damn hard to skim backwards in an audiobook.

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

#163

Post by theshrike79 »

marttt wrote: post #97
lazide wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck with young kids!

I think young kids are much more OK with boredom than adults, at least up to a certain age. The whole idea of "boredom = bad" is, IMO, a cultural meme. In the course of time, kids are simply taught to think this way. Before going to the kindergarten, our firstborn was fine with "doing nothing". He rarely questioned it. As soon as the first months there were passed, he started complaining about "boredom" at home -- ob…

I think my kid is broken, they can just leave their phone at home when we go out.

They can also not check their messages for a few days.

Dunno if we did something right or wrong =)

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

#164

Post by theshrike79 »

rzz3 wrote: post #157

What if you’re not comfortable alone with your thoughts? To be honest, long drives alone have a way of dwelling up some tough memories.

Therapy.

It's OK to have tough memories, it's bad to dwell on them without any resolution.

Talking to a friend or SO might work too, but some things are better told to a professional who has no emotional ties to the issue.

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

#165

Post by theshrike79 »

nicbou wrote: post #150
bamboozled wrote: post #51

Has anyone experimented with having a "dumb phone" and taking that with them just in-case people need to contact them or for emergencies? Lately, I've had a few times when I accidentally left my phone at home and after an hour or so realized how much fun I've had without it.

I depend on my phone as a tool. Alarms, calendar, Google Pay and so on. Instead I worked really hard to suppress the loud parts. Notification control, ad blocker rules, very few apps, and so on. I'd say it works well enough.

I use screen time on my phone. I've intentionally limited my time on social media daily. Of course I can just disable it, but it takes intent to do it.

I also use MacOS/iOS focus modes and morning/afternoon/evening summaries pretty heavily to filter the notifications I get actively. Really looking forward to the new lockscreens on iOS16.

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

#166

Post by nicbou »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #156
nicbou wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I depend on my phone as a tool. Alarms, calendar, Google Pay and so on. Instead I worked really hard to suppress the loud parts. Notification control, ad blocker rules, very few apps, and so on. I'd say it works well enough.

I observed a similar "defense" mechanism on myself. I struggled with the thought of not having a phones and rationalizing why I can't do this, which is also a common defense mechanism for addictions. The truth is, the rationalization is often completely made up. I.e. in your case, you can get an alarm clock (or a cheap wristwatch with alarm), a paper calendar/planner (or simply a tiny notebook to write down stuff) an…

I could do that, but it would not benefit me. It's not a defence mechanism, it's just being practical.

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

#167

Post by feet »

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.

I think the problem for some may be that not physically doing anything in a public space opens them up to strangers approaching with unwanted conversation

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

#168

Post by littlecranky67 »

nicbou wrote: post #166
littlecranky67 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I observed a similar "defense" mechanism on myself. I struggled with the thought of not having a phones and rationalizing why I can't do this, which is also a common defense mechanism for addictions. The truth is, the rationalization is often completely made up. I.e. in your case, you can get an alarm clock (or a cheap wristwatch with alarm), a paper calendar/planner (or simply a tiny notebook to write down stuff) an…

I could do that, but it would not benefit me. It's not a defence mechanism, it's just being practical.

If its practical for you thats is okay and good for you. I'm just saying sometimes we trick our mind to thinking exactly that, like "its more practical with a phone" but at the same time not considering that its not practical to read news and browse social media for hours while we should be doing other things. If the later is not happening or not an issue for you, thats totally fine. I just want to point out very often this is not the case, but we make it up in our mind so that we believe it.

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

#170

Post by ChildOfChaos »

I'm trying to do this more.

It's a tough one, because with access to so much information, I feel like there are a lot of interesting things to see and learn which could impact my thinking and the stuff I do a great deal, but at the same time, all of that stuff and content seems to have crept into every spare moment of time, I am not sure how much I know how to genuinely think deeply about things for myself anymore. Most of my 'ideas' or view points are more just something I read from somewhere and I wonder about this is terms of how do these people come up with these thoughts and ideas? i'm just copying there view points but not having much original thoughts of my own, they are just people like me, everyone seems to look up to certain people or 'leaders' but they are just people.

I feel like I need more time and space to have more thoughts of my own. Last year I did experiences with just sitting in silence for an hour a day, or doing a meditiation where I just allowed myself to think whatever thoughts I wanted, it felt really nice, but in the end I wasn't so sure I could spend an hour a day on it.

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