> ...remember that you never have to reply immediately.
Yeah, but you have to check immediately, unless you have immense willpower. And so the distraction is already made, the focus is lost, and the time spent switching contexts can't be recovered.
I thought this was a well known observable fact. There are certain creative thought processes that only occur to me when I really have absolutely nothing else to think about, but that basically never happens anymore thanks to the internet. The only reason I'm even aware that I'm missing out on this is because it still happens when I take long showers, so basically the only time I don't have a phone or computer with me.
> I'm really prone to letting my thoughts get off on the worst tangents, and it will take a while to get myself back on track
Sometimes I'll be listening to an audiobook and I'll start thinking about something else. By rewinding the audiobook I can figure out how long the distraction was (could be over a minute). It also amazes me how I have no recollection of the portions of the audiobook that were playing while I was distracted.
> The frustrating thing about external interruptions is the inability to control them. [...] The good news for these internal interruptions is that it should be much easier to control them.
Interestingly, I feel the exact opposite. I'm aware that it's not always possible or socially acceptable to do so, but at least in theory you can always make a choice to ignore or tune out other people. Ignoring the stuff that is going on in your own head is IMHO much harder.
> I can pass time while waiting - doctors office, etc - which makes me more pleasant.
If you need to suppress your thoughts by using a tool while being alone and not doing something (to be pleasant), maybe you should do something about these thoughts rather than suppress them?
This is a problem. For few weeks I am trying to conquer it by focusing eyes onto infinity while looking at the computer. It helps me wade off thoughts other than whats printed (and I just read) on the screen. So read a line, focus to infinity (and picturise what was said in the line), read next line.
Experiment is on only for a few weeks now, but it surely helps in attention and wading off extraneous thoughts.
> yet I have a very similar feeling of being slowed down when I attempt to speak those thoughts out loud in real time
Yeah I sound like an idiot when I start talking because my brain will process thoughts much faster than I can speak them and it ends up with odd extended pauses while I catch up and such.
I don’t write particularly well either, often because I’m on a phone and my phone loves to make radical new words via autocorrect but at least I can read over a few times before posting.
>> When you are speaking, each time you emit a word, you are not attending to every previous word in your sentence
I was exactly doing this until late in my youth. until I learnt people do it sequentially. But it is doable to create connections and pick the sensible case. Not the most relaxing thing.
> Even when I'm tackling a tough problem like a programming challenge or trying to type a detailed reply, instead of sitting with the problem in my head I find myself trying to quickly distract myself. Instead of giving myself 10 minutes to struggle and think, I'll open a new tab and take a quick break to YouTube or HN.
Damn it. That's exactly what I'm doing right now. Back to the task at hand...
> Thinking out complicated abstract concepts in internally verbalized words just seems like it would take forever.
I do this but the internal monologue fits the time it takes me to do the thing or I go onto the next thing. It gives me a good sense of progression, what I have accomplished and the goal im focused on.
If the task is routine like buttering toast the monologue is about something else.
> Personally, I have found that 1 hour + is a good threshold to aim for for some really quality thinking. After about an hour I've already processed normal stuff about family or work and have moved on to deeper topics.
I find this kinda pointless for myself. Most of the time I just revisit the same subjects over and over and come to the same conclusions no matter how I try to solve it. Once I’m done with the menial tasks - the “deeper” topics just make me upset to think about because they make me realize how hopelessly fucked I am. I’d rather not focus on that and instead do a bit of hedonism while I can.
> now, I guess I just don't have time to be depressed or something because most of my thoughts of ending life etc have, quite thankfully, gone away
Negative thought loops, aka rumination, are strongly implicated in many kinds of depression. If you no longer have time to indulge in ruminating, that's one way to break such loops.
> Having hours every day when my mind wasn't hooked up to high frequency information systems was pretty wonderful.
I feel like this is what many people would describe as a period of introspection. You are temporarily closing out far away communications and narrowing focus to immediate surroundings.
You can get more of this by focusing on one object, or closing your eyes. If you do it for 20 minutes a day, you might find yourself more capable of handling other stresses. The skill is currently called being mindful or aware, and you can strengthen it, as you observed, by closing out externalities. After closing your eyes, the idea is to close out thought. It is a challenging and useful exercise. There are some books on mindfulness that could say more.
I was wondering about this recently but so far unable to unplug. Wish it was a tad easier
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