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I realise it is probably rude to ask this, but how old are you? The reason I ask, is that you comment that this is a symptom of your generation's upbringing, b

by frossie 17y ago

I realise it is probably rude to ask this, but how old are you? The reason I ask, is that you comment that this is a symptom of your generation's upbringing, but the reality is that there is also a simple age component in this. When I was young, I used to devour books while commuting on public transport. Occasionally I would glance up at the older commuters and see them sitting there, staring into nothing, and would think "Gee how can they just stand there doing NOTHING". Now I am one of those people - given 5 minutes with nobody fighting for my attention I just sit there and grab the opportunity to think. In other words as life starts throwing more things at you, the necessity of defending some thinking space becomes more apparent, irrespective of which generation you belong to.

Alex3917 17y ago
I agree. An essay is only good if it produces a change in at least one person's thinking. But because you are writing about something that is essentially a part of cognitive development, and because each reader is going to be in a different formative stage of their life, it's not really possible to write about a topic like this in a way that creates value for everyone. For me personally, this essay would have been more useful if you had taken into account the fact that the words 'thinking' and 'ideas' have various definitions. For example, an idea can be a plan, e.g. a business idea. But an idea can also be used to mean a schema. You use the word in both senses interchangeably, and your use of the word thinking itself is also muddled. The essay would be more actionable if you enumerated the different types of thinking, when to do each, how to do each, how each creates value, etc. But I would imagine there are other people for who would get a lot out of this the way it is.
frederickcook 17y ago
I am 24 years old. Quite interesting. Perhaps I am assuming that the availability of media for most of my formative years is the reason I had never taken extended periods to simply think before. A poor assumption, since obviously other forms of media have been around and constantly occupying peoples attention for much longer. Either way, I have come to the same conclusion that you have, and I embrace that 5 minutes where I can get it.

by frossie 17y ago

Alex3917 17y ago

I agree. An essay is only good if it produces a change in at least one person's thinking. But because you are writing about something that is essentially a part of cognitive development, and because each reader is going to be in a different formative stage of their life, it's not really possible to write about a topic like this in a way that creates value for everyone. For me personally, this essay would have been more useful if you had taken into account the fact that the words 'thinking' and 'ideas' have various definitions. For example, an idea can be a plan, e.g. a business idea. But an idea can also be used to mean a schema. You use the word in both senses interchangeably, and your use of the word thinking itself is also muddled. The essay would be more actionable if you enumerated the different types of thinking, when to do each, how to do each, how each creates value, etc. But I would imagine there are other people for who would get a lot out of this the way it is.

frederickcook 17y ago

I am 24 years old. Quite interesting. Perhaps I am assuming that the availability of media for most of my formative years is the reason I had never taken extended periods to simply think before. A poor assumption, since obviously other forms of media have been around and constantly occupying peoples attention for much longer. Either way, I have come to the same conclusion that you have, and I embrace that 5 minutes where I can get it.