8 ms·

Stop listening to podcasts. Enjoy the quiet. I use to fill up my day with listening to podcasts during all non-work time (e.g. driving in the car, exercising,

Stop listening to podcasts. Enjoy the quiet. I use to fill up my day with listening to podcasts during all non-work time (e.g. driving in the car, exercising, even showering). It overloads your brain if it's having to process info during every waking moment. You brain just needs quiet time to think, relax and explore. I'm way more relaxed, creative and find unique solutions to problems now, than before.

supernikio2 3y ago
It would be interesting to know how much quiet time the brain needs to properly rest throughout the day. However I feel like this question falls into the "optimise every second of the day" thought pattern which kinda goes against the point.
- andyferris 3y ago
  That’s funny. Still, I think it’s more that the “obvious” optimal (fill up your day with productive tasks) is actually non-optimal, which is an important and useful fact to consider and share.
- ericjmorey 3y ago
  It likely depends on things that are difficult or impossible to measure like the amount of stress experienced in the past.
antegamisou 3y ago
> It overloads your brain if it's having to process info during every waking moment. And many times, it's overloaded with BS by the host. Suprisingly a lot of misinformation comes from many of HN's favorite influencers.
matwood 3y ago
I've been switching back to classical music more and more for this reason. For me it fades into background like white noise. Slightly related, but one of my favorite ways to exercise for many years has been Jiu-Jitsu. It forces presence in the exact moment, which for me triggers a mind flush. When I get done training I often immediately see solutions to problems I had been exploring. Finally, there is a fairly new book that suggests to stop listening to things at all waking hours, "STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World".
- alexalx666 3y ago
  classical music is great! I started with piano sonatas and now able to enjoy piano and violin concerts. Highly recommend Roon/Qobuz combo for streaming classical
Barrin92 3y ago
I don't know if it's a purely modern thing but quietness is I think straight up perceived as uncomfortable by a lot of people now. Had a conversation recently with someone saying that they can't have a meal without having something on in the background, and in conversations too people are very hung up about avoiding silence. it's really underdiscussed how averse people seem to just contemplation.
- Silverback_VII 3y ago
  >it's really underdiscussed how averse people seem to just contemplation. Another observation I've made is that the more time people spend consuming information, the more they feel compelled to talk. It's as if humans are programmed to share the information they've gathered. I'm certain that in the past, people eagerly listened if you had new information, but these days, everyone is constantly collecting new information. It seems like everyone wants to share/talk, yet no one wants to listen.
- MrVandemar 3y ago
  > in conversations too people are very hung up about avoiding silence. "If they don't stop exercising their mouths, their brains start working." -- Douglas Adams
codyb 3y ago
I know a few people who seem to always be in negative moods... and when I learn about them, it appears, that basically every waking moment of their lives, there is _some_ form of... signal just being beamed directly into their brain. Whether it's all day long with headphones on playing music, or podcasts, or TV. It's bonkers to me. I resolve so many of my own issues just... staring out the window, or staring at the ceiling. I get that people are different, and we all have our different ways of going about things, but I just cannot imagine it is healthy to not let your brain "breathe" a bit sometimes. I mostly sit with my noise cancelling headphones on, with no sound. And lately, I'm just moving towards not having them on at all when I'm not in meetings. It's wonderful. There's a reason "silence is golden" after all. I actually still find classical music a bit distracting a lot of times even. A lot of the newer composers especially are particularly discordant.
- Swizec 3y ago
  I need to be very tired to just stare out the window. Get fidgety and somehow anxious. But a motorcycle ride or a nice drive? Even doing the dishes? Now we’re talking! The mind and body are occupied in a mostly autonomus task so the rest of your brain can process and digest. It’s great. Dare I say I almost enjoy doing chores now. Another great option for me is boxing. For those 3 minutes in the ring, you are _not_ thinking about anything else. Whether you like it or not, your mind clears and focuses and only the sparring partner exists. It’s great. You can get that level of focus on a motorcycle, but that gets a little dangerous for my taste. Maybe I should try going to a track.
  - akhosravian 3y ago
    Sorry to be that guy, but IME the fidgety & anxious feeling is almost always some need in one’s life that is being unmet. If you sit with that feeling it often becomes clear exactly what the source is. YMMV especially if you’ve experienced some serious trauma.
    - mathgorges 3y ago
      If you’re interested in doing this, but find it hard to sit it the feelings, consider trying Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which involves investigating the root of your feelings within your mind. It’s best to do DBT with a professional, but there’s a large community of DIY DBT practitioners out there. [1] If your unable to investigate the source of some feelings (e.g. because your brain shuts down when you interrogate them) there is a new-ish practice for detangling your thoughts without all the interpersonal unpleasantness of Talk Therapy (that doesn’t mean it won’t be unpleasant in it’s own way). It’s called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Again, working with a professional is best, but it’s possible to be successful with a DIY approach. [2] Disclaimer: I’m not a professional in any form of health, mental or otherwise. I’m just a happy self-administered DBT & EMDR patient :) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/dbtselfhelp https://www.reddit.com/r/dbtselfhelp [2]: https://anxietyreleaseapp.com/ https://anxietyreleaseapp.com/
leroy-is-here 3y ago
People don’t know what they are like at equilibrium, so when something affects them they do not know the source. By constantly filling your self, you cannot be sure of the source. When filling yourself of podcasts, of food, of low-entropy words, of wine, of cheap books, of easy sights, of leisure, of wine, of coffee, etc. — when filling yourself of all these different things, it’s hard to know your literal self, because it’s being fluctuated nearly every second of the day.
endorphine 3y ago
I was in the same boat. I subconsciously reached for ways to distract my mind whenever it didn't have something to occupy itself with. - When I was doing the dishes, I would immediately put a podcast on - When I was waiting for my kid's music lesson, I would immediately grab a book to read - When I was eating, I would always turn the TV on - When I was sitting on the couch, to supposedly rest, I would put a music record on and I would also reach for my mobile phone to "catch up" or text a friend - When I lie to bed, I immediately would grab my phone to browse HN I realized that these were harmful habits that I subconsciously formed as a way to distract my mind from other thoughts that were causing stress and anxiety. These days I'm more mindful about this and I try to just sit there by myself and just be. Kinda like meditation.
- sosuke 3y ago
  Soooo did you come up with good habits to handle the thoughts causing stress and anxiety? Was the change good or bad?
  - endorphine 3y ago
    Nothing particularly fancy, just being more mindful and conscious of when I tend to do this, and deliberately stop doing it.
- a_petrov 3y ago
  Been there, done that. - Doing the dishes - podcast - Walking in the lunch break - audiobook - Cycling in the park - audiobook After a couple of months I felt my brain is completely fried from that information overflow. Now I don't even put my earbuds, unless I'm in a very noisy area and I need to focus on a work task. I'd say what you describe is an active form of meditation. I do that now when swimming, walking, or simply having a coffee in the morning and looking at the ocean.
mjochim 3y ago
> Stop listening to podcasts. > > Enjoy the quiet. For me, this translates directly to “close this very tab.“ “Now.“ And I’ll do that, but I’ll hit reply first ;-).
- wholinator2 3y ago
  Exactly, i agree. But i also fight with the idea that there might be some extra wisdom if i just keep scrolling a little bit longer. Maybe if i close now I'll miss out on the most important part
SamPatt 3y ago
Agreed, and if you combine silence with physical movement (aka go for a walk or hike) the benefits of both are amplified. So many brilliant men in history are known for having walking routines. I'm not going so far as to say walking made them brilliant, but I do think it's likely it contributed to them being able to maintain the physical and mental health needed to be able to think deeply and communicate their thoughts to others.
simplone 3y ago
Genius CEOs know that, so while they email for 30 minutes and go surf, we grind or get fired. If we didn’t grind we’d build our own solutions. Corporatism is not a random emergent thing. Occupational psychology goes back 100 years, and behavioral economics almost as long. It’s all melodrama over the end of literal reality if we don’t burn ourselves out though.
pyfan878 3y ago
I'd add cut off browsing news/reddit and scrolling social media. It also overload the brain with garbage.
munificent 3y ago
This, 1000%. If you're always jamming new media into your brain, it's like you're constantly writing to a hard drive without ever giving it time to defragment.
deegles 3y ago
I went through a "productivity" phase where I tried to listen to podcasts every day at 1.5x speed or more to be more efficient... it did not last long.
satysin 3y ago
100% agree. I used to have podcasts or an audiobook on to listen to while I was doing 'boring' tasks but I found it was just causing my brain to work overtime and drained me of mental energy so quickly. Now I just enjoy the sound of silence. Sometimes I may put on some music quietly to drown out another background noise but always something I know well so that my brain knows it and doesn't spend time or energy processing it for the 1000th time. I've found it can be any music providing I know it well enough. I actually listen to fewer podcasts now because of it but I am much happier about that as I seriously began to worry about how my brain needed constant stimulation. I was unable to just be still in silence. I worry a lot of us are just overloading our brains with constant stimulation leading to faster burnout and mental health issues but that is a conversation for another day!
bifrost 3y ago
Yes, 100% this.

supernikio2 3y ago

It would be interesting to know how much quiet time the brain needs to properly rest throughout the day. However I feel like this question falls into the "optimise every second of the day" thought pattern which kinda goes against the point.

andyferris 3y ago
That’s funny. Still, I think it’s more that the “obvious” optimal (fill up your day with productive tasks) is actually non-optimal, which is an important and useful fact to consider and share.
ericjmorey 3y ago
It likely depends on things that are difficult or impossible to measure like the amount of stress experienced in the past.

antegamisou 3y ago

> It overloads your brain if it's having to process info during every waking moment. And many times, it's overloaded with BS by the host. Suprisingly a lot of misinformation comes from many of HN's favorite influencers.

matwood 3y ago

I've been switching back to classical music more and more for this reason. For me it fades into background like white noise. Slightly related, but one of my favorite ways to exercise for many years has been Jiu-Jitsu. It forces presence in the exact moment, which for me triggers a mind flush. When I get done training I often immediately see solutions to problems I had been exploring. Finally, there is a fairly new book that suggests to stop listening to things at all waking hours, "STFU: The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in an Endlessly Noisy World".

alexalx666 3y ago
classical music is great! I started with piano sonatas and now able to enjoy piano and violin concerts. Highly recommend Roon/Qobuz combo for streaming classical

Barrin92 3y ago

I don't know if it's a purely modern thing but quietness is I think straight up perceived as uncomfortable by a lot of people now. Had a conversation recently with someone saying that they can't have a meal without having something on in the background, and in conversations too people are very hung up about avoiding silence. it's really underdiscussed how averse people seem to just contemplation.

Silverback_VII 3y ago
>it's really underdiscussed how averse people seem to just contemplation. Another observation I've made is that the more time people spend consuming information, the more they feel compelled to talk. It's as if humans are programmed to share the information they've gathered. I'm certain that in the past, people eagerly listened if you had new information, but these days, everyone is constantly collecting new information. It seems like everyone wants to share/talk, yet no one wants to listen.
MrVandemar 3y ago
> in conversations too people are very hung up about avoiding silence. "If they don't stop exercising their mouths, their brains start working." -- Douglas Adams

codyb 3y ago

I know a few people who seem to always be in negative moods... and when I learn about them, it appears, that basically every waking moment of their lives, there is _some_ form of... signal just being beamed directly into their brain. Whether it's all day long with headphones on playing music, or podcasts, or TV. It's bonkers to me. I resolve so many of my own issues just... staring out the window, or staring at the ceiling. I get that people are different, and we all have our different ways of going about things, but I just cannot imagine it is healthy to not let your brain "breathe" a bit sometimes. I mostly sit with my noise cancelling headphones on, with no sound. And lately, I'm just moving towards not having them on at all when I'm not in meetings. It's wonderful. There's a reason "silence is golden" after all. I actually still find classical music a bit distracting a lot of times even. A lot of the newer composers especially are particularly discordant.

Swizec 3y ago
I need to be very tired to just stare out the window. Get fidgety and somehow anxious. But a motorcycle ride or a nice drive? Even doing the dishes? Now we’re talking! The mind and body are occupied in a mostly autonomus task so the rest of your brain can process and digest. It’s great. Dare I say I almost enjoy doing chores now. Another great option for me is boxing. For those 3 minutes in the ring, you are _not_ thinking about anything else. Whether you like it or not, your mind clears and focuses and only the sparring partner exists. It’s great. You can get that level of focus on a motorcycle, but that gets a little dangerous for my taste. Maybe I should try going to a track.
- akhosravian 3y ago
  Sorry to be that guy, but IME the fidgety & anxious feeling is almost always some need in one’s life that is being unmet. If you sit with that feeling it often becomes clear exactly what the source is. YMMV especially if you’ve experienced some serious trauma.
  - mathgorges 3y ago
    If you’re interested in doing this, but find it hard to sit it the feelings, consider trying Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which involves investigating the root of your feelings within your mind. It’s best to do DBT with a professional, but there’s a large community of DIY DBT practitioners out there. [1] If your unable to investigate the source of some feelings (e.g. because your brain shuts down when you interrogate them) there is a new-ish practice for detangling your thoughts without all the interpersonal unpleasantness of Talk Therapy (that doesn’t mean it won’t be unpleasant in it’s own way). It’s called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Again, working with a professional is best, but it’s possible to be successful with a DIY approach. [2] Disclaimer: I’m not a professional in any form of health, mental or otherwise. I’m just a happy self-administered DBT & EMDR patient :) [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/dbtselfhelp https://www.reddit.com/r/dbtselfhelp [2]: https://anxietyreleaseapp.com/ https://anxietyreleaseapp.com/

leroy-is-here 3y ago

People don’t know what they are like at equilibrium, so when something affects them they do not know the source. By constantly filling your self, you cannot be sure of the source. When filling yourself of podcasts, of food, of low-entropy words, of wine, of cheap books, of easy sights, of leisure, of wine, of coffee, etc. — when filling yourself of all these different things, it’s hard to know your literal self, because it’s being fluctuated nearly every second of the day.

endorphine 3y ago

I was in the same boat. I subconsciously reached for ways to distract my mind whenever it didn't have something to occupy itself with. - When I was doing the dishes, I would immediately put a podcast on - When I was waiting for my kid's music lesson, I would immediately grab a book to read - When I was eating, I would always turn the TV on - When I was sitting on the couch, to supposedly rest, I would put a music record on and I would also reach for my mobile phone to "catch up" or text a friend - When I lie to bed, I immediately would grab my phone to browse HN I realized that these were harmful habits that I subconsciously formed as a way to distract my mind from other thoughts that were causing stress and anxiety. These days I'm more mindful about this and I try to just sit there by myself and just be. Kinda like meditation.

sosuke 3y ago
Soooo did you come up with good habits to handle the thoughts causing stress and anxiety? Was the change good or bad?
- endorphine 3y ago
  Nothing particularly fancy, just being more mindful and conscious of when I tend to do this, and deliberately stop doing it.
a_petrov 3y ago
Been there, done that. - Doing the dishes - podcast - Walking in the lunch break - audiobook - Cycling in the park - audiobook After a couple of months I felt my brain is completely fried from that information overflow. Now I don't even put my earbuds, unless I'm in a very noisy area and I need to focus on a work task. I'd say what you describe is an active form of meditation. I do that now when swimming, walking, or simply having a coffee in the morning and looking at the ocean.

mjochim 3y ago

> Stop listening to podcasts. > > Enjoy the quiet. For me, this translates directly to “close this very tab.“ “Now.“ And I’ll do that, but I’ll hit reply first ;-).

wholinator2 3y ago
Exactly, i agree. But i also fight with the idea that there might be some extra wisdom if i just keep scrolling a little bit longer. Maybe if i close now I'll miss out on the most important part

SamPatt 3y ago

Agreed, and if you combine silence with physical movement (aka go for a walk or hike) the benefits of both are amplified. So many brilliant men in history are known for having walking routines. I'm not going so far as to say walking made them brilliant, but I do think it's likely it contributed to them being able to maintain the physical and mental health needed to be able to think deeply and communicate their thoughts to others.

simplone 3y ago

Genius CEOs know that, so while they email for 30 minutes and go surf, we grind or get fired. If we didn’t grind we’d build our own solutions. Corporatism is not a random emergent thing. Occupational psychology goes back 100 years, and behavioral economics almost as long. It’s all melodrama over the end of literal reality if we don’t burn ourselves out though.

pyfan878 3y ago

I'd add cut off browsing news/reddit and scrolling social media. It also overload the brain with garbage.

munificent 3y ago

This, 1000%. If you're always jamming new media into your brain, it's like you're constantly writing to a hard drive without ever giving it time to defragment.

deegles 3y ago

I went through a "productivity" phase where I tried to listen to podcasts every day at 1.5x speed or more to be more efficient... it did not last long.

satysin 3y ago

100% agree. I used to have podcasts or an audiobook on to listen to while I was doing 'boring' tasks but I found it was just causing my brain to work overtime and drained me of mental energy so quickly. Now I just enjoy the sound of silence. Sometimes I may put on some music quietly to drown out another background noise but always something I know well so that my brain knows it and doesn't spend time or energy processing it for the 1000th time. I've found it can be any music providing I know it well enough. I actually listen to fewer podcasts now because of it but I am much happier about that as I seriously began to worry about how my brain needed constant stimulation. I was unable to just be still in silence. I worry a lot of us are just overloading our brains with constant stimulation leading to faster burnout and mental health issues but that is a conversation for another day!

bifrost 3y ago

Yes, 100% this.