7 ms·

Slightly off topic but this practice of talking-out-loud to get yourself doing stuff is also beneficial to people with executive dysfunction. If your executive

Slightly off topic but this practice of talking-out-loud to get yourself doing stuff is also beneficial to people with executive dysfunction. If your executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal monologue" or the voice in your head. This makes seemingly simpler things like taking a shower, driving, or eating, very difficult! I'd often "forget" to eat, simply because I could not get myself to start. I found that it helps to announce (not necessarily loud) what I am to do, and the steps to do so. ("Okay we're going to get up and walk to the kitchen.", "We're walking now") Though for some reason I use plural pronouns for myself -- we, us etc. Does somebody else do that too? :)

nraynaud 10y ago
on youtube a lot of single people operation use the "We" pronoun a lot. I guess it' a mix of wanting to look bigger, wanting to include the audience, but now it's become a trend.
- 2bitencryption 10y ago
  this isn't because of Youtube. this is because it helps to envision the "you" you as a different entity from the "you" you. I know that doesn't make sense :) It's like saying there's two of us: the one who forgets to do things like lock the door, and the one who really wants to lock the door. "We're going to lock the door right now," we say, because we know one of us will probably forget. I'm a serial talk-to-myselfer, and I've been saying things like "ok we're going to get gas for the car now" or "we're making french toast this morning" since I was twelve.
kibwen 10y ago
Regarding the plural first-person, that's perfectly natural: just think of it as a heads-up to the legion of symbiotic gut flora and face-dwelling mites that you're carrying along for the ride. :)
- t0mas88 10y ago
  And any scientific writer. Even with a single author you would still write "we" everywhere.
  - prashnts 10y ago
    Ah yes, scientific writing and making sure your bodily ecosystem don't feel left out. :)
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
yayitswei 10y ago
"Properly speaking, a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry an image of him in their head." -William James
cjcenizal 10y ago
Sometimes if I find myself task saturated, I'll say to myself something like, "OK, what am I doing. We need X, Y, and Z. X is most important, so let's do X," as a way of regaining focus. Then again I work from home, so if I didn't think aloud from time to time, my vocal cords would rust from disuse. :)
- jedimastert 10y ago
  I apparently so this a lot when I'm cooking. I never noticed it until my wife watched me cook for the first time.
Maakuth 10y ago
This technique is also useful for software development, and is referred to as rubber duck debugging (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging). Verbalizing your problem lends you another point of view to your thinking and often allows you to discover the problem yourself.
- justonepost 10y ago
  I take notes when I deal with a hard bug or write a email I never send.
  - Rovanion 10y ago
    I usually start making a Stack Overflow post and if the subject is general enough I'll end up posting it.
- djsumdog 10y ago
  I learned about that once when someone turned around, started explaining the bug, and during the explanation, realised what the issue was. He then said, "Thank you for being my rubber duck." "Your what?" "Look it up."
  - Maakuth 10y ago
    Indeed :). The background of the term is said to be in some university, which had a rubber duck near the CS teacher rooms. It was mandatory there to first ask help from the rubber duck, before bothering the real teachers. According to the tale, more than half of the students left after talking to the duck.
- allannienhuis 10y ago
  Writing detailed commit notes can be useful in the same way. I have backed out of a commit during the write up more times than I would like to admit because I realized that I hadn't covered some edge case or I completely forgot about something (like the effect of the change on a report or other sub-system). Writing things out in a way that someone else can understand forces you to re-think through the task in different ways.
crooked-v 10y ago
> If your executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal monologue" or the voice in your head. You're assuming here that all people even have that in the first place.
firethief 10y ago
> Though for some reason I use plural pronouns for myself -- we, us etc. It's just a special case of the inclusive "we". I think here "I" would evoke more of a sense of plurality: it suggests an addressee distinct from the speaker. I always use the inclusive "we" when talking to myself about a program or writing comments, even when I'm the sole developer.
yourmums 10y ago
Ooga booga
mod 10y ago
On twitch, the streamers like to say "we." I've never understood it. I wouldn't bat an eye at it being an unusual thing one streamer did, but it seems like they all do it. I think it seems phony, in that context. In yours--I think it's uncommon, but I can't think of a reason why it would be a problem.
- tbabb 10y ago
  "We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
- tbabb 10y ago
  "We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
- tbabb 10y ago
  "We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
- tbabb 10y ago
  "We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
jedimastert 10y ago
This actually describes me a lot. I never had a word for it, but I often describe my ADHD by telling people that I don't have the internal monologue that tells me to eat, take out the trash, or what I was doing before I was distracted by HN. I've actually been in the middle of typing a word and had to remind myself, out loud, what I was doing. It's very strange to see something I thought was very specific to me be described by sometime else
Qantourisc 10y ago
I "we" too, the cause of this is imo because it's your brain's desire/automatic function and your brain's thinking part that are not entirely connected. Yet they are both an I, and 2 I's make a we. Alternatives to we that also would work imo: Me and you( you being directed at one-self), Me and me, Me's (as in plural), I's (as in plural).

nraynaud 10y ago

on youtube a lot of single people operation use the "We" pronoun a lot. I guess it' a mix of wanting to look bigger, wanting to include the audience, but now it's become a trend.

2bitencryption 10y ago
this isn't because of Youtube. this is because it helps to envision the "you" you as a different entity from the "you" you. I know that doesn't make sense :) It's like saying there's two of us: the one who forgets to do things like lock the door, and the one who really wants to lock the door. "We're going to lock the door right now," we say, because we know one of us will probably forget. I'm a serial talk-to-myselfer, and I've been saying things like "ok we're going to get gas for the car now" or "we're making french toast this morning" since I was twelve.

kibwen 10y ago

Regarding the plural first-person, that's perfectly natural: just think of it as a heads-up to the legion of symbiotic gut flora and face-dwelling mites that you're carrying along for the ride. :)

t0mas88 10y ago
And any scientific writer. Even with a single author you would still write "we" everywhere.
- prashnts 10y ago
  Ah yes, scientific writing and making sure your bodily ecosystem don't feel left out. :)

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

yayitswei 10y ago

"Properly speaking, a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry an image of him in their head." -William James

cjcenizal 10y ago

Sometimes if I find myself task saturated, I'll say to myself something like, "OK, what am I doing. We need X, Y, and Z. X is most important, so let's do X," as a way of regaining focus. Then again I work from home, so if I didn't think aloud from time to time, my vocal cords would rust from disuse. :)

jedimastert 10y ago
I apparently so this a lot when I'm cooking. I never noticed it until my wife watched me cook for the first time.

Maakuth 10y ago

This technique is also useful for software development, and is referred to as rubber duck debugging (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging). Verbalizing your problem lends you another point of view to your thinking and often allows you to discover the problem yourself.

justonepost 10y ago
I take notes when I deal with a hard bug or write a email I never send.
- Rovanion 10y ago
  I usually start making a Stack Overflow post and if the subject is general enough I'll end up posting it.
djsumdog 10y ago
I learned about that once when someone turned around, started explaining the bug, and during the explanation, realised what the issue was. He then said, "Thank you for being my rubber duck." "Your what?" "Look it up."
- Maakuth 10y ago
  Indeed :). The background of the term is said to be in some university, which had a rubber duck near the CS teacher rooms. It was mandatory there to first ask help from the rubber duck, before bothering the real teachers. According to the tale, more than half of the students left after talking to the duck.
allannienhuis 10y ago
Writing detailed commit notes can be useful in the same way. I have backed out of a commit during the write up more times than I would like to admit because I realized that I hadn't covered some edge case or I completely forgot about something (like the effect of the change on a report or other sub-system). Writing things out in a way that someone else can understand forces you to re-think through the task in different ways.

crooked-v 10y ago

> If your executive function is impaired you generally don't have the "internal monologue" or the voice in your head. You're assuming here that all people even have that in the first place.

firethief 10y ago

> Though for some reason I use plural pronouns for myself -- we, us etc. It's just a special case of the inclusive "we". I think here "I" would evoke more of a sense of plurality: it suggests an addressee distinct from the speaker. I always use the inclusive "we" when talking to myself about a program or writing comments, even when I'm the sole developer.

yourmums 10y ago

Ooga booga

mod 10y ago

On twitch, the streamers like to say "we." I've never understood it. I wouldn't bat an eye at it being an unusual thing one streamer did, but it seems like they all do it. I think it seems phony, in that context. In yours--I think it's uncommon, but I can't think of a reason why it would be a problem.

tbabb 10y ago
"We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
tbabb 10y ago
"We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
tbabb 10y ago
"We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.
tbabb 10y ago
"We" in a context like this refers to the speaker and the reader/viewer together, to me.

jedimastert 10y ago

This actually describes me a lot. I never had a word for it, but I often describe my ADHD by telling people that I don't have the internal monologue that tells me to eat, take out the trash, or what I was doing before I was distracted by HN. I've actually been in the middle of typing a word and had to remind myself, out loud, what I was doing. It's very strange to see something I thought was very specific to me be described by sometime else

Qantourisc 10y ago

I "we" too, the cause of this is imo because it's your brain's desire/automatic function and your brain's thinking part that are not entirely connected. Yet they are both an I, and 2 I's make a we. Alternatives to we that also would work imo: Me and you( you being directed at one-self), Me and me, Me's (as in plural), I's (as in plural).