Mind Wandering: Is it really the answer to lost focus?
Have you ever wondered what the opposite of focused attention is? Well, most of you probably got called out for it in school, daydreaming. Or, to be more specific, mind wandering. It's when you don't focus on one thing and let your mind wander to anything that pops into your head. It is the feeling of relaxation, no stress, and no distractions to take that focus and place a spotlight on it.
But is it the answer to lost focus?
Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus, seems to think mind wandering is crucial for recovering lost attention, even saying…
“letting my spotlight disappear entirely was improving my ability to think and to focus in some way I couldn’t articulate”
This could help in the long run, but should we constantly and consistently do this? This may apply to some people, but others have occupations where it could be deadly if you slip up and lose focus. Can this be applied to everyone, or does this strategy only work for a select few?
How this won't help
Joe Gibson wrote an article on Medium, claiming that…
“Excessive mind-wandering has consistently been shown to correlate with mental conditions such as anxiety, OCD, depression, ADHD, and general unhappiness. But, the more time we spend in our heads, the greater the likelihood we will suffer”
He warns us to stop mind wandering, which could lead to serious mental problems. He also mentions how it is because too many of us are compulsory thinkers, and society has made most of us like that. We are constantly made to think we need to do this and, therefore, only think about it until it is done, yet many of us have wandering thoughts that flash at the speed of lightning. Then we need to stop and think about those thoughts; before you know it, you wasted time (Gibson).
He goes on to talk about how exactly our brain responds to attention spans and where we focus our mind.
“The moment our attention is turned away from anything but the present moment, our DMN lights up, and we are flooded with self-referential thoughts. If loss of focus means more thinking, then logically the way to decrease mind-wandering is to reclaim our focus”
This contradicts Hari's text about stolen focus. DMN refers to the Default Mode Network, and that is the areas of the brain that are more active when we are resting compared to when we are active.
So Why Does it Achieve Different Results for Different People?
After doing some basic knowledge research, I came across the answer I had been looking for.
“people with higher WMC [working memory capacity] mind-wander less on high concentration tasks no matter their boredom levels. People with low WMC are better at staying on task for low concentration tasks, but once the task increases in difficulty, they have a hard time keeping their thoughts focused on the task”
So, this explains how the same concept works differently for different people and under different circumstances. Of course, this was a lab test with specific conditions placed on undergraduate students that they had to follow so they could track the data. However, this simulation proves how some people can focus better than others and is unique for each person.
Hello, I am Joseph Crickmore.
But you can call me Joey. I love art and design, and anything else that can be created with my own hands. I have a younger brother who has an autistic disorder, so I always show my support on World Autism Awareness Day.
I myself am a designer, content creator, and freelance artist for commissions.
