It's called default mode thinking. Or the default mode network [1].
And I agree, not letting your mind do this from time to time results in higher stress and less ability to focus.
It's called default mode thinking. Or the default mode network [1].
And I agree, not letting your mind do this from time to time results in higher stress and less ability to focus.
At some point on William Gibson's now defunct micro blog*, he's about to embark on the book tour for Pattern Recognition (so circa 2003).
I'll butcher his insightful phrasing, but he remarks to the effect of
> I think I'm going to stop blogging. The act of sitting at a laptop and writing these posts seems incompatible with my life as it exists on a book tour. The only free moments available for it to occupy would be ones where I'm sitting, momentarily caught between two scheduled activities and staring off into space. I have a suspicion these moments are crucial for my soul. So, until we meet again.
The comingled ambiguousness and specificity of the observation stuck with me.
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070123212506/http://www.willia...
> William Gibson's now defunct micro blog
Isn't that what X/Twitter basically is (was?), a "micro blog"?
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging
"All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone." -Blaise Pascal
Eh, I get what he's going for but I think it has more to do with our inability to see others as human.
I thought that was Einstein, Lincoln, or Keller :)
It is from Pensées, 139:
> Diversion.—When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions, bold and often bad ventures, etc., I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber. A man who has enough to live on, if he knew how to stay with pleasure at home, would not leave it to go to sea or to besiege a town. A commission in the army would not be bought so dearly, but that it is found insufferable not to budge from the town; and men only seek conversation and entering games, because they cannot remain with pleasure at home.
> But on further consideration, when, after finding the cause of all our ills, I have sought to discover the reason of it, I have found that there is one very real reason, namely, the natural poverty of our feeble and mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we think of it closely.
> Whatever condition we picture to ourselves, if we muster all the good things which it is possible to possess, royalty is the finest position in the world. Yet, when we imagine a king attended with every pleasure he can feel, if he be without diversion, and be left to consider and reflect on what he is, this feeble happiness will not sustain him; he will necessarily fall into forebodings of dangers, of revolutions which may happen, and, finally, of death and inevitable disease; so that if he be without what is called diversion, he is unhappy, and more unhappy than the least of his subjects who plays and diverts himself.
> Hence it comes that play and the society of women, war, and high posts, are so sought after. Not that there is in fact any happiness in them, or that men imagine true bliss to consist in money won at play, or in the hare which they hunt; we would not take these as a gift. We do not seek that easy and peaceful lot which permits us to think of our unhappy condition, nor the dangers of war, nor the labour of office, but the bustle which averts these thoughts of ours, and amuses us.
> Reasons why we like the chase better than the quarry.
> Hence it comes that men so much love noise and stir; hence it comes that the prison is so horrible a punishment; hence it comes that the pleasure of solitude is a thing incomprehensible. And it is in fact the greatest source of happiness in the condition of kings, that men try incessantly to divert them, and to procure for them all kinds of pleasures.
> The king is surrounded by persons whose only thought is to divert the king, and to prevent his thinking of self. For he is unhappy, king though he be, if he think of himself.
> This is all that men have been able to discover to make themselves happy. And those who philosophise on the matter, and who think men unreasonable for spending a whole day in chasing a hare which they would not have bought, scarce know our nature. The hare in itself would not screen us from the sight of death and calamities; but the chase which turns away our attention from these, does screen us.
[…]
* https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18269/18269-h/18269-h.htm
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensées
And mostly reduced creativity.
I'm addicted to reading, I take my kindle and phone everywhere, so will grab them when I'm walking, taking a shower, waiting in line, going to the restroom... Between my kindle and my phone, I read a lot more books than I ever did but I don't digest the information as much as I used to. I also don't make as much associations between what I read and things going on in my own life. So, in a way, despite reading a lot more, I don't think I benefit as much from it.
Now, I'm purposefully forcing myself not to reach to my kindle when taking a walk so that my mind can wander as much as I do.
This is a bit outside the point, but how do you actually read while taking a walk, logistically speaking? Do you mean you take a walk somewhere, sit down on a bench, then take your kindle out? Or actually read WHILE walking?
I do this all the time. Hold your kindle or book far enough away that you have good peripheral vision of your surroundings. Practice widening your view so you can use your peripheral vision to guide your steps while you walk. Look up at intersections.
I can only do this with books. With my phone I am too focused on the phone to work in two visual modes at the same time, which I guess supports the claims.
For a while, I programmed while walking on a mini-laptop. Nice walking paths where I lived. I was on a hobby project and wanted to spend any minute on it. It wasn't pretty. I kept trying to design a contraption I could wear on my shoulders that worked like a laptop desk.
I also attached a laptop to a treadmill at home, but the static electricity from the rubber mat kept zapping the laptop.
The best result was a laptop on an exercise bike. But the bike couldn't have a high resistance or I would lose concentration.
> kept trying to design a contraption I could wear on my shoulders that worked like a laptop desk
Nathan Fielder wears something like this in The Rehearsal. Google tells me it is called Connect-A-Desk.
I have an under-desk bike (just pedals really). Being able to just move my feet while working is nice. But yeah once it turns into an actual workout then I'd be focusing on pedaling and not work.
An early stage iPhone app has you covered for typing ;) https://www.type-n-walk.com/
Aside from what everyone else has mentioned, I wonder if Meta's Raybans or something similar could be useful in this sense (kindle app in your HUD).
Still have complete awareness of your surroundings but still be able to read.
I'd argue that's a much more useful "killer app" than recording everyone around you without their consent.
In my city, if the area is so crowded I can pick a stranger to follow to the common destination or if it's so empty that I don't have to worry about walking into someone, I can confidently read even the most engrossing novel on my phone. I won't dare doing that with any bigger screen because I won't be able to see the upcoming obstacle.
Read while walking, I live in a walkable city. The pedestrian way is safe. I stop reading when I arrive at any intersection then start again once I cross. Even as a kid, I'd rush to open any magazine I bought before I got back home and would read them while walking.
I live in a walkable city, am safe, but others dont appreciate me bumping onto them. And I want to reach the destination without bumping into walls. Or stepping into bike lane or car lane.
See the above comment by pfooty who explains it better than I did. I don't bump into people nor bump into walls. I use my peripheral vision to see what's happening while reading my kindle.
Honestly, it's never seemed hard to me and I don't remember a time when I was not able to walk while reading without bumping into things. Even as a student when studying for exams, I'd walk around in circle in my room reading my textbooks, for some reason walking helped to better remember...
Reading while walking is possible. I used to do this. But with physical books
I used to do it walking to school when I was about 10. Nearly got hit by cars quite a bit.