We fish out our mobile phones from our pockets everywhere. At grandma’s birthday party where someone tells the same story you’ve heard a hundred times before. On the bus to avoid meeting the gaze of strangers. Or on the toilet. Yes, it has happened that you have done it too. Just admit it! But when was the last time you sat and just thought, without filling the void with anything? It’s been such a long time, yes. Well, scientists think we may be missing something important because we underestimate thinking. Quiet Japanese researchers conducted six experiments to find out more about how we evaluate quiet time. The first of them was very simple. The guinea pigs, in this case ordinary students in Japan and Great Britain, first had to fill out some questionnaires about their expectations of what was going to happen. Then they sat alone in a room without distractions for 20 minutes. Afterwards, they were to assess how the experience was. The inspiring room where the participants in the experiment were allowed to sit. Photo: Aya Hatano Better than expected The researchers found that people generally enjoyed their time to themselves better than they had previously thought. They found the same in several similar experiments. In all cases, the participants thought that the quiet time was better than expected. – One of the reasons why people check their mobile phones when they have free time may be that they are unable to predict that they might enjoy just thinking. So says Aya Hatano, who is behind the research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. She says that doesn’t mean scrolling to pass the time is inherently a bad thing. – But people avoid thinking because they mistakenly believe that waiting is boring. Hatano says they don’t know why we don’t appreciate thinking. But previous experiments have shown that some people go to great lengths to avoid being bored. Rather shock than quiet time American researchers did something a little similar to what Hatano tested. But in addition to the participants initially having to sit and do nothing for fifteen minutes, they were allowed to give themselves electric shocks. Chris and Viktor in Flipklipp test the hill it is to get an electric shock. As many as 67 percent of the men in the experiment gave themselves at least one shock during the quiet time. They therefore thought that it was so hard not to do anything, that they wanted to feel pain instead. Only 25 percent of women did the same. A lost opportunity So. We humans are therefore bad at assessing how stupid it is to do nothing. That is a problem, according to Hatano. Because if you put down your mobile phone, book or hammer, quiet time can help you solve problems, increase your creativity and perhaps give you time to find the meaning of life. – People can miss out on these important benefits because they try and avoid just thinking. What are you going to come up with now? I will scroll on in life. I dare not think, for fear that my innermost thoughts will escape. I can’t answer now, I’m trying to disconnect! Show result
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Research shows that we underestimate how nice it is to sit and think – news Trøndelag
