4 ms·

Of course academic work is creative work, but saying "there's no off switch" is too simplistic. Academics are people too. They prepare meals, watch television,

Of course academic work is creative work, but saying "there's no off switch" is too simplistic. Academics are people too. They prepare meals, watch television, spend time with their kids and spouse, go grocery shopping, go out for drinks, and visit mindless entertainment websites just like the rest of us. They may happen to think about their work during those activities but ,if they do, it's only by accident. The question of how much time they spend in these "leisure" activities vs "work" activities is well-posed enough to have a useful answer. And of course it varies from week to week but that doesn't mean we can't talk about what the distribution looks like. A professor whose average workweek is 60 hours lives a different life than one whose average workweek is 40 hours.

vtlynch 11y ago
>They may happen to think about their work during those activities but ,if they do, it's only by accident This says so much about how we think about thinking
- ryanmonroe 11y ago
  That most of us have times we dedicate to thinking about the things that make us money and times we dedicate to thinking about other things? I'm not sure what's wrong with that. Obviously we don't have the strict control to turn our thoughts completely on or off so this doesn't preclude what might be considered "background processing". Still, surely it is reasonable to dedicate some times to some things and other times to other things, even if the things in question are creative processes. For most people, deciding "I'll just work through this new research topic whenever I spontaneously happen to be thinking about it" is probably not their best way to contribute to the field.
  - vtlynch 11y ago
    >That most of us have times we dedicate to thinking about the things that make us money and times we dedicate to thinking about other things? I'm not sure what's wrong with that. Obviously we don't have the strict control to turn our thoughts completely on or off so this doesn't preclude what might be considered "background processing". Still, surely it is reasonable to dedicate some times to some things and other times to other things, even if the things in question are creative processes. Of course. After all, humans are computers.

vtlynch 11y ago

>They may happen to think about their work during those activities but ,if they do, it's only by accident This says so much about how we think about thinking

ryanmonroe 11y ago
That most of us have times we dedicate to thinking about the things that make us money and times we dedicate to thinking about other things? I'm not sure what's wrong with that. Obviously we don't have the strict control to turn our thoughts completely on or off so this doesn't preclude what might be considered "background processing". Still, surely it is reasonable to dedicate some times to some things and other times to other things, even if the things in question are creative processes. For most people, deciding "I'll just work through this new research topic whenever I spontaneously happen to be thinking about it" is probably not their best way to contribute to the field.
- vtlynch 11y ago
  >That most of us have times we dedicate to thinking about the things that make us money and times we dedicate to thinking about other things? I'm not sure what's wrong with that. Obviously we don't have the strict control to turn our thoughts completely on or off so this doesn't preclude what might be considered "background processing". Still, surely it is reasonable to dedicate some times to some things and other times to other things, even if the things in question are creative processes. Of course. After all, humans are computers.