[stylist] NY Times Article daydream
Donna Hill
penatwork at epix.net
Thu Jan 5 18:14:31 UTC 2012
Brad,
He's right on the money about the need for daydreaming or unconnected time.
I think of it as having my brain in neutral, which I don't do enough
anymore, in part because of my digital world.
I often like to tell the story of how J.K. Rowling came up with the Harry
Potter series. She was traveling by train without even a notebook to write
in when she came up with the idea. The journey proved to be an essential
part of the process, thinking through the plot angles and characters.
Several years ago, I wrote an article for American Chronicle about the need
for "empathetic thought" in the writing process. It's the same thing really.
I was happy to hear that some scholarly work is being done on such things.
Thanks for sharing,
Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Brad Dunsé
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 7:35 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: [stylist] NY Times Article daydream
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
http://www.facebook.com/braddunse
http://www.twitter.com/braddunse
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