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The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
21–30 of 62 posts
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#22I don't know about everyone else, but I do my best work alone. Of course, there does need to be a balance, and reference to others, and having others show up to confirm or criticize the work helps. Personally I think there is way to much "social" stuff going on in our society and this is detrimental to real work and innovation taking place. But then again, the choice between bad company and no company is often real t…
>and having others show up to confirm or criticize the work helps. I actually had a rather interesting experience last night where an "outsider's perspective" ended up being the exact insight I needed. My roommate stepped outside to socialize with me while I was repairing my Mustang: which has been having intermittent ignition problems since we replaced the ignition control module 6 months ago. --- To set the stage:…
Reminds me of the rubber duck debugging, only tangentially, but in the same spirit.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#23I'm going to plug my related research on Pinterest. http://ecologylab.net/research/publications/everyday_ideatio... http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2557273
One interesting thing about Pinterest users is that they feel "alone" and unwatched, even though actions are public. In Teresa Amabile's concept of creativity, anticipating an evaluation can be detrimental to creativity.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's pretty insightful. What I hear you saying, and I agree with what I hear, is that some look at alone time as a means of accomplishing a goal (freedom, et. al.) rather than pursing the solitary activity. Contrast that with myself (and I gather you as well) where I pursue a solitary activity for the sake of the activity, and the solitude is a side effect. When I'm riding a motorcycle to a far away destination or…
As a raging introvert who is also a bit of an extrovert at times - yes and no. Sometimes I take up a solitary activity that I don't enjoy quite that much just for the sake of being alone. Going for a run in the morning somehow feels less weird than just sitting in my room staring at the wall. It also gets me away from the internet. Now I could just be alone and away from the internet. But the mind is hyperactive and…
> Going for a run in the morning somehow feels less weird than just sitting in my room staring at the wall.
It's all about branding. In most settings, yeah, it'd be labelled as weird. But if we call "sitting and staring at the wall" something like "meditation" it becomes all cool and esoteric. :-) (I say this as one who spends at least 30 minutes a day sitting and staring at a wall.)
Point taken, though. I guess I have enough solitary activities that I regularly partake in that I never gave thought to those that might need to actively seek out such activities.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a raging introvert who is also a bit of an extrovert at times - yes and no. Sometimes I take up a solitary activity that I don't enjoy quite that much just for the sake of being alone. Going for a run in the morning somehow feels less weird than just sitting in my room staring at the wall. It also gets me away from the internet. Now I could just be alone and away from the internet. But the mind is hyperactive and…
> Going for a run in the morning somehow feels less weird than just sitting in my room staring at the wall. It's all about branding. In most settings, yeah, it'd be labelled as weird. But if we call "sitting and staring at the wall" something like "meditation" it becomes all cool and esoteric. :-) (I say this as one who spends at least 30 minutes a day sitting and staring at a wall.) Point taken, though. I guess I ha…
> I guess I have enough solitary activities that I regularly partake in that I never gave thought to those that might need to actively seek out such activities.
I actually have to remind myself to partake in activities that involve other people (unless I'm currently working for a client on site). The bigger issue is true aloneness without that pesky internet. It's a powerful addiction.
Honestly, I feel more alone when I'm in the gym actively boxing with people than I do sitting at home where I can't help but check my messages ever couple of minutes.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a raging introvert who is also a bit of an extrovert at times - yes and no. Sometimes I take up a solitary activity that I don't enjoy quite that much just for the sake of being alone. Going for a run in the morning somehow feels less weird than just sitting in my room staring at the wall. It also gets me away from the internet. Now I could just be alone and away from the internet. But the mind is hyperactive and…
> Going for a run in the morning somehow feels less weird than just sitting in my room staring at the wall. It's all about branding. In most settings, yeah, it'd be labelled as weird. But if we call "sitting and staring at the wall" something like "meditation" it becomes all cool and esoteric. :-) (I say this as one who spends at least 30 minutes a day sitting and staring at a wall.) Point taken, though. I guess I ha…
In some circles, meditation is still viewed as weird.
But your comparison is curious. Indeed, to a external observer, a person looking at the wall and another doing meditation may look very alike, but what they are doing is the exact opposite of one another.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#27Another study that tells us what everybody already knows.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#28from Grothendieck's Récoltes et Semailles : In those critical years I learned how to be alone. [But even] this formulation doesn’t really capture my meaning. I didn’t, in any literal sense, learn to be alone, for the simple reason that this knowledge had never been unlearned during my childhood. It is a basic capacity in all of us from the day of our birth. However these three years of work in isolation [1945-1948],…
This is one of the most beautiful and insightful quotes about creative activity I've ever seen. Thanks for reminding me of it.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#29As someone who spends a good deal of time alone because I enjoy solitary pursuits, I disagree with the article when it claims that alone time is a form of "liberation", "freedom", and gaining "control". It's been my experience that people who use terms like these to describe their solitude don't actually really enjoy it much at all and tend to only seek this alone time as a manifestation of an avoidant personality. I…
It may be situational, too. I have a family, and when I get the house to myself for a day, it definitely improves my mood and sense of calm. It's very restorative for me.
I can be in my office away from the family, but it's a completely different feeling than being actually alone in the house. Doesn't matter what I'm doing, either. Working, reading, playing, watching TV, etc. It's a very different feeling.
Re: The power of lonely: What we do better without other people around
#30I'm going to plug my related research on Pinterest. http://ecologylab.net/research/publications/everyday_ideatio... http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2557273 One interesting thing about Pinterest users is that they feel "alone" and unwatched, even though actions are public. In Teresa Amabile's concept of creativity, anticipating an evaluation can be detrimental to creativity.
I wonder if the same may hold true for other public networks like Twitter, Instagram etc., although [unlike Pinterest] they have a higher abandonment rate.