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A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

greatergood.berkeley.edu

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Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#31

Post by dschuetz »

acorkery wrote: post #29
dschuetz wrote: post #28

There's a plenty of occasions, causes and distractions to make your mind wander. To me personally the most prominent ones are when reading a book (which is also the most infuriating) and while riding some sort of public transport. The latter one helps me to reduce head buzz which is generated by randomly reading HN posts or working on a demanding task. Reading a book, where I actually need to concentrate on the book,…

I can relate with the reading issue. I've occasionally read 2 pages of a book while thinking of something else entirely, then realise I didn't absorb any of what I read. Not just tuning in and out - nothing.. I also can't skim text - need to almost pronounce all the phrases in my head, which is a pain when reading long books. I do read a lot, and have no literacy or comprehension issues - just seems like there's inte…

Skimming text doesn't work the same for everyone. The eyes literally scan a page for (basically random) nouns, buzzwords, verbs etc to kinda guess the content, regarding the context. The associative power of the brain (which is different in every person) fills in the gaps and usually guesses everything correctly. But when there is a context switch in between... well, the wrong guess can turn out catastrophically bad.

I think, when my mind wanders off while still reading that means I got "bored" with the text by already knowing what's going to happen and I switch to associative thoughts instead. That's a problem for people who think highly associative instead of sequential. They need to apply or follow sequential logic actively instead of just doing it automatically, and that occasionally bores the hell of them, or exhaust them, because often they just know how things are. Hence the wandering mind in this case is a different one compared to the cases in the article.

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#32

Post by mikeyjk »

ycombinete wrote: post #23
throwaway437998 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is correct. To give insight as to why it seems a little too close to hopeless, I feel the only solutions physically possible are just twisting words to make it seem okay but the hard facts remain at the end of the day. I say this maybe preemptively to your response, but I say it respectfully (or rather with no intension to disrespect your response) and, for my own health, wish to be proven wrong. For me in the e…

I have this pretty bad. I'll tell you this much, I have had it with partners with pretty extreme sexual histories, as well as those who have had almost no sexual histories. The "hard facts" themselves are not really the issue, the issue is us ; our brains. We will find the "hard facts" pretty much no matter what, and no matter who. I've recently read this article on Reddit [0], and it has some excellent points/advice…

I experienced this quite badly in my first relationship. It briefly stung me in the early stages of later relationships, but I no longer seem to care.

If I think about it directly, I find it a saddening for a very brief moment, but it's nothing like it once was.

I'm not really sure when or how this changed for me. I'm an extremely monogamous person. I previously had very low self esteem. It was definitely in part a reflection of my insecurities.

I take 10mg of citalopram a day and underwent CBT partway through university due to undiagnosed anxiety, so perhaps this has played a role in my recovery.

Hope you both are doing okay, try and be kind to yourselves - I know it can be extremely difficult.

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#33

Post by Moodles »

I often think that a mind that wanders is a bit like the physical sensation of pain. In general, it is actually a very useful evolutionary advantage to experience pain, as well as to have a mind that can contemplate multiple possibilities, past, future and hypothetical events. This makes us succeed. But at the same time, pain is also a bit primitive in that it is useless and counterproductive when you already know you're sick or injured. Similarly, a wandering mind that is out of control is basically the primary cause of depression. It might be the case that as we evolved, a wandering mind was extremely useful to wander about where to look for food or how to hunter gather better, etc, but perhaps the mechanism is less well-equipped to function properly in modern day society.

All just conjecture of course, no clue if backed up by any evidence :-)

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#34

Post by acorkery »

dschuetz wrote: post #31
acorkery wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can relate with the reading issue. I've occasionally read 2 pages of a book while thinking of something else entirely, then realise I didn't absorb any of what I read. Not just tuning in and out - nothing.. I also can't skim text - need to almost pronounce all the phrases in my head, which is a pain when reading long books. I do read a lot, and have no literacy or comprehension issues - just seems like there's inte…

Skimming text doesn't work the same for everyone. The eyes literally scan a page for (basically random) nouns, buzzwords, verbs etc to kinda guess the content, regarding the context. The associative power of the brain (which is different in every person) fills in the gaps and usually guesses everything correctly. But when there is a context switch in between... well, the wrong guess can turn out catastrophically bad.…

> I think, when my mind wanders off while still reading that means I got "bored" with the text by already knowing what's going to happen and I switch to associative thoughts instead.

Notice any difference between how your brain "behaves" reading fiction and non-fiction/academic works - e.g. reading for enjoyment vs reading argumentative discourse. For fiction, do you also find yourself guessing at the content or wandering off?

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#35

Post by chrlsdrnt »

dschuetz wrote: post #28

There's a plenty of occasions, causes and distractions to make your mind wander. To me personally the most prominent ones are when reading a book (which is also the most infuriating) and while riding some sort of public transport. The latter one helps me to reduce head buzz which is generated by randomly reading HN posts or working on a demanding task. Reading a book, where I actually need to concentrate on the book,…

It depends on what I’m reading. If I’m reading a book I enjoy, I absorb the pages as if a movie is playing in my mind. I don’t see the words, only the images of however my imagination creates it.

If I’m reading something technical or work related, I can’t concentrate because my mind is unable to bridge that gap between the text and my imagination. I find myself bored within moments and I skim the text looking for keywords that are relative to the problem I’m trying to solve.

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#36

Post by dschuetz »

acorkery wrote: post #34
dschuetz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skimming text doesn't work the same for everyone. The eyes literally scan a page for (basically random) nouns, buzzwords, verbs etc to kinda guess the content, regarding the context. The associative power of the brain (which is different in every person) fills in the gaps and usually guesses everything correctly. But when there is a context switch in between... well, the wrong guess can turn out catastrophically bad.…

> I think, when my mind wanders off while still reading that means I got "bored" with the text by already knowing what's going to happen and I switch to associative thoughts instead. Notice any difference between how your brain "behaves" reading fiction and non-fiction/academic works - e.g. reading for enjoyment vs reading argumentative discourse. For fiction, do you also find yourself guessing at the content or wand…

Fiction in most cases uses descriptive language, with a lot of cues for imagination to kick in. It's something different compared to reading scientific articles in journals. In such article you need to follow the logical reasoning and decision-making, considering other possibilities and outcomes (especially when reading the problem analysis and conclusion parts).

Both cases have similar pattern in terms of wandering off for me, but they are not quite the same. Reading for joy means enjoying the products of your own imagination, but sometimes it shoots over the line, I guess. Reading for work is more tedious, because its not for fun, hence the guessing distraction, like "yeah, I get it, but what about this and that?" Having understood the problem, reading the solutions then seems kinda obvious.

There is a difference, but both follow the same pattern, so: yeah.

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#37

Post by dschuetz »

acorkery wrote: post #34
dschuetz wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skimming text doesn't work the same for everyone. The eyes literally scan a page for (basically random) nouns, buzzwords, verbs etc to kinda guess the content, regarding the context. The associative power of the brain (which is different in every person) fills in the gaps and usually guesses everything correctly. But when there is a context switch in between... well, the wrong guess can turn out catastrophically bad.…

> I think, when my mind wanders off while still reading that means I got "bored" with the text by already knowing what's going to happen and I switch to associative thoughts instead. Notice any difference between how your brain "behaves" reading fiction and non-fiction/academic works - e.g. reading for enjoyment vs reading argumentative discourse. For fiction, do you also find yourself guessing at the content or wand…

As I learned, my habit of kinda omitting the obvious and wander off to the non-obvious relations behind it all the time seems to be rare. I've never met another person who does that.

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#38

Post by Regardsyjc »

dschuetz wrote: post #28

There's a plenty of occasions, causes and distractions to make your mind wander. To me personally the most prominent ones are when reading a book (which is also the most infuriating) and while riding some sort of public transport. The latter one helps me to reduce head buzz which is generated by randomly reading HN posts or working on a demanding task. Reading a book, where I actually need to concentrate on the book,…

I could be wrong but your mind wandering off on a tangent while you're reading might be a sign of creativity. Creativity could be when you find relationships between two things that might not have been initially connected in your head. Your mind wandering could be your brain literally making new connections between the new material you're reading and existing material in your brain. Also, I think comparing and contrasting information is a way of learning. I'm basing this from a book I read, A Mind for Numbers, and they have a chapter that explains how the brain works and thus how people learn.

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#39

Post by silveroriole »

I’m curious what this means for mainly intellectual jobs/skills. What’s the difference between mind wandering and, er, thinking? We can easily separate “programming” from “thinking about what’s for dinner,” and say the latter is wandering - but what about “could I do this another way? What was that technique I read about yesterday? But if I use that, then it might have this downside, which would mean x happens, and in scenario y that would be bad because z...” Is that wandering or focus? It’s certainly about what happened in the past and what will happen in the future (or will never happen at all). And it surely could make you unhappy. But it also seems very necessary!

Re: A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind (2010) [pdf]

#40

Post by avenius »

silveroriole wrote: post #39

I’m curious what this means for mainly intellectual jobs/skills. What’s the difference between mind wandering and, er, thinking? We can easily separate “programming” from “thinking about what’s for dinner,” and say the latter is wandering - but what about “could I do this another way? What was that technique I read about yesterday? But if I use that, then it might have this downside, which would mean x happens, and i…

I'm not sure there really is a difference. I often find myself drifting off into code issues - I've had many an epiphany while trying hard to focus on something completely different.
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