[stylist] NY Times Article daydream

[Brad Dunsé]

Per a recent topic here. Don't let the title 
diswade you, though it does deal with technology 
it also talks about daydream/creativity.

BITS. Resolving to Practice Some iPhone Abstinence.

By NICK BILTON. Email: bilton at nytimes.com. Last 
week, I drove to Pacifica, a beach community just 
south of San Francisco, where I climbed a large 
rocky hill as the sun descended on the horizon. 
It painted a typically astounding California 
sunset across the Pacific Ocean. What did I do next?

What any normal person would do in 2011: I pulled 
out my iPhone and began snapping pictures to 
share on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

I spent 10 minutes trying to compose the perfect 
shot, moving my phone from side to side, 
adjusting light settings and picking the perfect filter.

Then, I stopped. Here I was, watching this 
magnificent sunset, and all I could do is peer at 
it through a tiny four-inch screen.

What's wrong with me? I thought. I can't seem to 
enjoy anything without trying to digitally 
capture it or spew it onto the Internet.

Hence my New Year's resolution: In 2012, I plan 
to spend at least 30 minutes a day without my 
iPhone. Without Internet, Twitter, Facebook and 
my iPad. Spending a half-hour a day without 
electronics might sound easy for most, but for 
me, 30 unconnected minutes produces the same 
anxious feelings of a child left accidentally at the mall.

I made this resolution out of a sense that I 
habitually reached for the iPhone even when I 
really didn't need to, when I might have just 
enjoyed an experience, like the sunset, without 
any technology. And after talking to people who 
do research on subjects like this, I realized 
that there were some good reasons to give up a little tech.

For example, I was worried that if I did not 
capture that beautiful sunset and stuff it into my phone, I'd forget it.

Even with something as beautiful as a sunset, 
forgetting is really important as a mental 
hygiene,' said Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, a 
professor of Internet governance at Oxford 
University and the author of the book 'Delete: 
The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age.

That things in our past become rosier over time 
is incredibly important,' he added. As we forget, 
our memories abstract and our brain goes through 
a cleansing process. Mr. Mayer-Schonberger said 
that keeping a perpetual visual diary of 
everything could slow down our brains' purging process.

Constantly interacting with our mobile devices 
has other drawbacks too. There are more pictures 
in my iPhone of that 45-minute hike at Pacifica 
than most families would have taken on a two-week 
vacation before the advent of digital cameras.

As a result, I had no time to daydream on that 
hike, and daydreams, scientists say, are imperative in solving problems.

Jonah Lehrer, a neuroscientist and the author of 
the soon-to-be-released book, 'Imagine: How 
Creativity Works,' said in a phone interview that 
our brains often needed to become inattentive to 
figure out complex issues. He said his book 
discussed an area of the brain scientists call 
'the default network' that was active only when 
the rest of the brain was inactive - in other words, when we were daydreaming.

Letting the mind wander activates the default 
network, he said, and allows our brains to solve 
problems that most likely can't be solved during a game of Angry Birds.

Like everyone else, I really can't imagine life 
without that little computer in my pocket,' he 
added. However, there is an importance to being 
able to put it aside and let those daydreams 
naturally perform the cognitive functions your brain needs.

Jonathan Schooler, a professor of psychology at 
the University of California, Santa Barbara who 
has focused his research on daydreaming, put it 
this way: 'Daydreaming and boredom seem to be a 
source for incubation and creative discovery in 
the brain and are part of the creative incubation process.

I don't intend to give up my technology entirely, 
but I want to find a better balance. For me, it's 
that 30 minutes a day for daydreaming.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and tell my 
Twitter followers about my New Year's resolution.

This is a more complete version of the story than 
the one that appeared in print.



Brad Dunsé

""Life is too important to be taken seriously."" --Oscar Wilde

http://www.braddunsemusic.com

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