Posted on 07/03/2014 3:25:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Most people don’t think it’s fun to sit alone with nothing to do but think — it’s part of the reason for obsessive phone-checking during idle moments. A new study in Science highlights just how unenjoyable this experience is: in short, very. To the point that some people will choose to shock themselves rather than sit alone with nothing to do for a little while.
The researchers conducted 11 experiments in a variety of settings and among a variety of age groups. In most of them, subjects were asked to simply chill out and think for 6 to 15 minutes — no phone, no book, no nothing — and then rate the experience. The participants found it very hard to do so, with rather high percentages saying it was unenjoyable and that they found their minds wandering in a distracting way. And when one group in one experiment was offered entertainment like listening to music or surfing the web, they reported that that was much more enjoyable than being alone with their thoughts.
Maybe not too, too surprising. But one of the experiments really upped the ante in a — sorry — shocking way.
In that one, participants were asked to rate the pleasantness or unpleasantness of a number of stimuli, including an electric shock, and then asked how much of $5 they’d pay to experience or not experience each of them again. Then, they were asked to sit alone with their thoughts, but told that if they wanted to, they could shock themselves by pressing a button (because why not?).
Among the participants who said they’d pay to avoid being shocked again (meaning those who found it particularly unpleasant), 67 percent of men and 25 percent of women nonetheless shocked themselves rather than face, without distraction, what is apparently a terrifying hellscape inside their heads. The researchers suggest the gender difference could come down to men having greater sensation-seeking tendencies than women — that is, they get bored more easily.
These studies, the researchers write, can help explain why some people seek out mindfulness training — simply to make idle moments, which are inevitable, less difficult, and less likely to lead to unpleasant ruminating or self-criticism.
“Without such training,” they write, “people prefer doing to thinking, even if what they are doing is so unpleasant that they would normally pay to avoid it. The untutored mind does not like to be alone with itself.” Amen.
My favorite time of day is when the sun has just gone down but still enough light in the sky to see the trees and fields.
I truly enjoy being able to just sit, think and watch eternity go by.
One of my best memories is about a evening a few years ago. I was working in the barn when it started to get well on into twilight, it had been snowing all day and I decide it was time for a break before going into the house to start supper.
I was sitting on a stump just outside the barn and it was so quiet you could actually hear the snow coming down through the trees. Shush, Shush; it was like listening to the angels breath.
I really feel compassion for any body who can’t sit quiet with just their thoughts.
Thanks. I am doing great. My daughter died in 2004, then in May, 2006, my older brother was found dead by his tractor, then my husband died in July, 2006 and in January, 2007, my mom died. I am at peace about all of them. My daughter’s death was the very, very worst. I do not what people think about dreams, visions, etc but after Janice died I had many dreams about her. In all of them, she was happy, smiling and with a group of children. When we went to visit my mom and others for the first time, I was talking to her. She started asking me questions about her funeral and asked if she was at the funeral. I told her no but she started telling me all about it. She told where my husband, daughter and her kids sat, etc. My family are use to her knowing things. Oh, she also told what songs were sung. She was 102 then. When my brother died, my brother and my niece went to tell her but she already knew. She had already asked someone why he and some other people were crying. Then, when they walked in the door, she said, “Big Buddy is gone, isn’t he?”. We all called him that since he was 13 when I was born and my other brother was 9 so he was Little Buddy. All of us kids knew better than to misbehave because she would know it. Then after my husband died, I misplaced my keys and months earlier I had misplaced my glasses. I had turned the house upside down trying to find them. Then, one day I walked in the den and in the middle of the floor were my keys. I gave up looking for my glasses but one day, I walked in front of the stove and there they were on the floor where I had been walking for days. My daughter said he was telling me to wear them o I could see! My daughter and the employees have had unusual experiences with him at the company. They did not believe her when she had told them about stuff but after they had unusual experiences, they became believers. Now, I wonder if he was telling me to watch my vision because I am going to have to have eye muscle surgery. We have had a very interesting life. God still reigns!
Okay, this is a silly conclusion. More likely is that this was the only time folks could experiment with this shock-equipment and were basically experimenting on themselves. You can sit and think any time, but how often do you get the chance to play with stuff like this and test your own endurance? People like to play with stuff. Especially guys.
I’m spending the entire morning at the beach - by myself.”
My daughter made what is called a “sit upon” over 45 years ago when she was in Camp Fire Girls. Just a square of oilcloth folded over with the edges bound together by fringe. Every now and then I take it and drive down to Galveston in the wee hours of the morning, sit on it in the sand and watch the sun come up. My grandson fondly calls it “Grams navel contemplation time”. Restores my sanity.
You would be hard pressed to get your feet wet in the deep pool of most people's thoughts. Witness what passes for pop culture.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
New York Magazine should like hire someone to like edit Jesse Singal’s “prose.”
Same here - I live in my head. That article must be about liberals- my experience is that they don’t think past their noses.
I love and crave quiet time. Thinking through some hobby issue or just zoning out.
I hate yammering just for the sake of noise, thought the wife seems to love it. Causes friction at times when I want silence and have nothing to say.
That certainly explains such a stupid article.
NYC is indeed a foreign country.
That’s weird. I like to be alone with my thoughts.
Is there anything more annoying than being around someone who has to fill every second with empty chatter?
The Magpuls are so worth it.
He asked if any one was disturbed by lack of speaking in the movie. One guy admitted that within a few seconds of the movie's start, his mind was assaulted by thoughts and voices and sounds unbidden. He said he thought he might lose his mind.
I silently thanked God that I did suffer from this man's particular affliction.
Yeah. I’ve been listening to the AR-15 podcasts. They’re pretty much saying the same thing.
Making phone calls is now the least used function.
I too am one who has no problems with “quiet time”. It drives me ‘round the bend whenever I walk into my lunchroom and the radio is blasting away, 3 folks are having a”discussion”, and the table manners are atrocious. I won’t even go in the lunchroom anymore during meal breaks.
Then when camping, there are those who bring big honking stereos and blast their music so loud you can hear it a mile away. I go out to the woods to listen to the sounds of nature, not the latest Adele/Metric/Black Eyed Peas production.
I LIKE having peaceful interludes, and find them far to rare.
TOO. Oops.
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