Mindfulness versus doing nothing in the olden days

[Platypusdiver]

Before smart phones, if we had nothing to do, we did nothing. Maybe read a book/newspaper or idle chat. But often we did literally nothing during many parts of the day.

I was wondering if we were getting the benefits of mindfulness just through everyday life. Or alternatively now, our brains are constantly working because we have unlimited distractions, and this is causing alot of mental health issues.

If I am not careful, my entire day is filled by distractions. Listening to podcasts when getting ready and driving to work, scrolling when waiting, reading the internet instead of even watching TV.

I'd never thought of it like that OP. Personally I'm not glued to my phone (I'm typing this on a desktop) so I still "do nothing", as you put it, when waiting for a bus, sitting on a bus/train, waiting for someone in a cafe or whatever. And I absolutely love it. I love people watching, listening to bird song, the sounds of life in general, the scenery and sights fleeting past the window and other people's conversations! Or just losing myself in my own thoughts/imagination. I also like to be aware of my surroundings, partly for safety reasons, but also just to absorb the world around me. No electronic device can replace that in my opinion and I certainly don't need to tell anyone that I'm next to the cheese counter in Sainsbury's.

I used to stare out of the window, but there was nothing "mindful" about it.

You are right OP that we are overstimulated nowadays. I try to choose my activities wisely, but MN proves I don't police myself very well 😂

I do relate to those thoughts -

reading a book is slower and involves other parts of your brain

all kinds of crafting - creating things, again with slow care , baking

even running with no podcast and no gym takes you there

even the laundry in my nanas day was rather like that

time for the brain to switch into a different mode / space

it’s probably hard to generalise becuase of diversity in life but I do think that mindfulness is being used to excuse doing things that so obviously ( to me) benefit peoples mental health

I think this has crept into society from the start of industrialisation

If I'm doing puzzles with paper and pen I put them down when I've had enough, it's not an issue. When I've looked at all my usual things on the internet and decide I've had enough, in fact I could even go so far as to say I'm bored, there's something stopping me from turning it off. But I know that when I do turn it off and go and do something I'll feel better for it. But here I still am ....

The action of just staring out the window is mindful imo. Same as watching the washing go round in the drier at the laundrette (I think I must miss going to the laundrette!)

Ha!

I suppose I miss being mindless, rather than mindful.

I used to lose myself in reading a book, for hours on end. I can't imagine doing that nowadays without checking my phone etc.

I was just sitting and staring out of the window two minutes ago. Was one of my favourite pastimes as a child too, I had a window seat in my room and would sit on it for hours just staring out the window.

I don't listen to anything while walking, I like to be able to hear my surroundings and be lost in my own thoughts. I love to spend an hour or more just walking around the forest.

On trains I usually split my time between reading a book, being on my phone, and looking out the window. I remember one time on the night train as a child, I couldn't sleep so I just looked at the moving landscape all night.

I remember one time on the night train as a child, I couldn't sleep so I just looked at the moving landscape all night.

That has reminded me a train journey I was on 40 years ago. The lights weren't working so I had (😉) to cuddle up with the guy I was with and we shared a tube of smarties.

We aren't making any memories when we're staring at a screen.

Yes same!
id read all day. At meals, late at night. Thoroughly immersed. But I have t read a book in 20 years now.

What changed? Presumably it was a gradual thing?

I had children. And I couldn’t immerse myself anymore. I do miss it though. And bizarrely still see myself as an avid reader!

I read articles, news, science and politics. But it isn’t the same.

I used to literally do nothing as a teenager( when i was at home and not going out with chums), just laying on the sofa and 'looking up the wall' as my mother would say! Loved it..still do it when I can but agree the mobile phone has taken up some of that time..doing nothing is an important thing ..IMO

The earlier comment about years ago people waiting for a bus, is interesting. These days people seem to need constant entertainment. Like people walking or jogging having headphones in. It's like why not just take in your surroundings, listen to nature, enjoy thd peace and quiet.

I’m old enough to find the apparent constant need for earbuds or headphones clamped to one’s ears very strange indeed. And probably dangerous.

Across the year I find myself genuinely excited by the varying sounds of the ground beneath me when I’m waking in parks or woods or wherever. That sensory exploration is part of the walk. I don’t see how a true crime podcast or a mindfulness app could possibly be preferable. Not to speak of the simple need to be aware of what’s going on around you as you walk - I need my ears to cross the road …

Mind you the boredom on a Sunday afternoon was chronic

As I’d tell my dc boredom is good for your brain.

Do you honestly believe that? Jeez. So let me reassure you that for those of us who didn’t grow up with smart phones, or my parents who didn’t grow up with television, we had full, busy, interesting lives. They didn’t need the world brought to them. They went out to find it. Need some food? Go out to the shops. Get some money out to pay a bill? Off to the bank. Research for a school project - library. Entertainment? Cinema, theatre, concerts, visiting friends. At home they read, had hobbies, cooked, cleaned, did puzzles, listened to the radio. And if they sat idly? Well imagination is what made discoveries/invention/creativity possible. Sitting under that apple tree and wondering why apples fall down and not up! Gravity! Whoa!

Yes you did things but it was slower with more time

the shops closed on a Saturday and that was it till
monday. Pubs closed

you had to do things slow - you walked to the bank and quite often it was just yih on your own

TV was limited if you had one - you didn’t slob in front of it every night and you didn’t go to the gym every night

days were more filled of simpler routine and there was motr downtime

@greencartbluecart I'm not sure I made the most of it though. I remember panicking once because a friend who'd come to stay for the weekend took the Sunday supplement home with them, and the shops were shut, and I didn't know what to do with myself. Also telly was shit because you only had the choice of whatever was being broadcast at that precise moment.

I mean nowadays we have so much more choice about how we spend our time. We can learn all about mindfulness online, or do yoga classes, or any number of things that were once only available as paid courses you had to physically attend or simply not available at all.

Not that I make the most of that, either! (clearly!) but I do go through phases of physical/spiritual/mental improvement interspersed with being a lazy-arse pointless browser. I think that's just human, and I never stop appreciating what the 21st century offers.

I like broadcast tv. And I miss that shared experience of others watching it at the same time. Now I can’t spoiler things as others are waiting to watch it.

I remember seeing someone talk about this and saying that our brains need time to process and distill our thoughts, reactions, feelings, ideas, memories etc. That used to happen organically, while having to do boring tasks or walk to the bank or wait for the bus or hang around your house chronically bored on a Sunday night. The person in the video was saying now our brains don't get that chance to just think about stuff, let it slowly work things out or piece things together, and it's having a terrible impact on mental health.

Exactly this! I recently read The Pickwick Papers for the first time and loved it. I have a full set of Dickens hardbacks which belonged to my grandparents, and while I love reading them at home, I wouldn’t want to carry them around: they’re heavy, bulky, and I’d hate it if they were damaged. The complete works of Dickens cost me just 99p on Kindle, so I had the best of both worlds: the hardback at home, and the Kindle edition (with different and very lovely illustrations) when out and about. I hate sneering references to ‘staring at your phone’: I’m usually reading, thank you very much!

This makes sense. I remember writing out my dreams as a teen (must find that notebook 😱)
and a weird consequence was that my memory went awry as i was making so much effort to recall them. Once I stopped my memory went back to normal.

I really miss waking up & just being. In bed, resting, thinking.
Now, it’s the phone. Work, emails, news, Insta, WhatsApp…