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Thanks for posting. Reminds me of Dan Gilbert's famous paper on the subject. He took polls of people at random times during the day when smartphones first emerg

Thanks for posting. Reminds me of Dan Gilbert's famous paper on the subject. He took polls of people at random times during the day when smartphones first emerged. "In conclusion, a human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost." https://dtg.sites.fas.harvard.edu/KILLINGSWORTH%20&%20GILBERT%20%282010%29.pdf https://dtg.sites.fas.harvard.edu/KILLINGSWORTH%20&%20GILBER...

ocular-rockular 2y ago
I'm so confused. I'm trying to understand what is wrong with mind wandering but to me it doesn't seem clear.
- yamrzou 2y ago
  Check this: Why Mind Wandering Can Be So Miserable — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-mind-wandering-can-be-so-miserable-according-happiness-experts-180962265/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-mind-wande...
  - ocular-rockular 2y ago
    > What’s more, people’s negative moods appeared to be the result, rather than the cause, of the mind wandering. This is I think one useful take away from the article... on the other hand... > “A lot of us spend a lot of time trying to optimize the objective reality of our lives,” he told me. “But we don’t spend a lot of time and effort trying to optimize where our minds go.” I'm so sorry but I refuse to take this seriously. The modern day obsession with optimization is off the rails and honestly is probably the thing that makes most people miserable. My man lost respect with that line of thinking. But I don't know mind wandering/daydreaming is pretty lit. I like the distraction. Yeah, sometimes it can be a not very positive experience but I feel like these researchers either fail to address or don't discuss the distinction between daydreaming and anxious thought.
    - IncreasePosts 2y ago
      I'm 100% with you on this one. I feel like people who won't like mind wandering are heavy Type-A, control-oriented personalities, who have some external objective in mind, and are unsatisfied until that objective is completed. I don't think I've ever experienced a negative mood due to mind wandering. If anything, negative moods for me result in more fixation on a problem, where my mind will not wander, and will just constantly come back to a single thing.
even_639765 2y ago
To say it's unhappy is not quite right, it's problem solving and running simulations whose goal is naturally and properly a source of low level anxiety - how to secure this organisms future well being. That wandering mind is conducting probability analysis on potential future events and circumstances or the same calculation on the actual nature of past events. It is trying to secure its future security, to form an ugly phrase. That's what this organism does with its mind. It runs simulations to try to predict the future in an if this, then that sort of way. That's its natural state. Seems harsh to call that "unhappy". Productive reasoning, the kind of mental activity we are proud of and covet, in this context, is really less like thinking and more like acting, like engaging in affirmative, directed action.
- nihhhh 2y ago
  > properly a source of low level anxiety You're wrong on that, it would be more likely to produce a high level of anxiety, to ensure survival in the short term.
  - even_639765 2y ago
    No organism can sustain a high level of anxiety. We're talking about the purpose of the universal default state of mind. It can't be a state of high anxiety.

ocular-rockular 2y ago

I'm so confused. I'm trying to understand what is wrong with mind wandering but to me it doesn't seem clear.

yamrzou 2y ago
Check this: Why Mind Wandering Can Be So Miserable — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-mind-wandering-can-be-so-miserable-according-happiness-experts-180962265/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-mind-wande...
- ocular-rockular 2y ago
  > What’s more, people’s negative moods appeared to be the result, rather than the cause, of the mind wandering. This is I think one useful take away from the article... on the other hand... > “A lot of us spend a lot of time trying to optimize the objective reality of our lives,” he told me. “But we don’t spend a lot of time and effort trying to optimize where our minds go.” I'm so sorry but I refuse to take this seriously. The modern day obsession with optimization is off the rails and honestly is probably the thing that makes most people miserable. My man lost respect with that line of thinking. But I don't know mind wandering/daydreaming is pretty lit. I like the distraction. Yeah, sometimes it can be a not very positive experience but I feel like these researchers either fail to address or don't discuss the distinction between daydreaming and anxious thought.
  - IncreasePosts 2y ago
    I'm 100% with you on this one. I feel like people who won't like mind wandering are heavy Type-A, control-oriented personalities, who have some external objective in mind, and are unsatisfied until that objective is completed. I don't think I've ever experienced a negative mood due to mind wandering. If anything, negative moods for me result in more fixation on a problem, where my mind will not wander, and will just constantly come back to a single thing.

even_639765 2y ago

To say it's unhappy is not quite right, it's problem solving and running simulations whose goal is naturally and properly a source of low level anxiety - how to secure this organisms future well being. That wandering mind is conducting probability analysis on potential future events and circumstances or the same calculation on the actual nature of past events. It is trying to secure its future security, to form an ugly phrase. That's what this organism does with its mind. It runs simulations to try to predict the future in an if this, then that sort of way. That's its natural state. Seems harsh to call that "unhappy". Productive reasoning, the kind of mental activity we are proud of and covet, in this context, is really less like thinking and more like acting, like engaging in affirmative, directed action.

nihhhh 2y ago
> properly a source of low level anxiety You're wrong on that, it would be more likely to produce a high level of anxiety, to ensure survival in the short term.
- even_639765 2y ago
  No organism can sustain a high level of anxiety. We're talking about the purpose of the universal default state of mind. It can't be a state of high anxiety.