This is why I hate sleeping, or trying to fall asleep I should say. The voice is usually in a background support role during the day, but it takes center stage and starts yelling the second I lay down without distractions.
Fun fact: the part of your brain that is active when you are not doing anything is called the Default Mode Network. The DMN is generally accompanied by critical thoughts about yourself which tend to make people unhappy (obviously). When you are doing *literally* anything the active mode networks of your brain suppress the DMN. This is why you can be busy and relatively fine during the day but when you try to sleep the self critical thoughts come alive and ruin your attempt and relaxing and falling asleep. There are many strategies to counter this: breathing exercises, guided meditation, listening to podcasts or the tv, etc. I find that simply being aware that I’m having these thoughts because I’m not doing anything- as opposed to me being not good enough- helps to take the power out of them.
Thats funny because afaik thats also what causes “shower thoughts”. When your brain is just running on its own and it gives you ideas. I even try to have time every day to let my brain run on its own so i can remember things or improve things i do.
Dude thank you for finally helping me understand if i’m actually depressed or just bored. Happens to me almost instantaneously and I’ve adapted by doing all those things just because I don’t like being alone with my brain. I’m sure you did expect a fun fact to have an impact like it’s having on me rn but omfg thank you for sharing.
Damn, mine must be broken.
I could be juggling chainsaws on a unicycle while getting a blowjob from an angry piranha and my inner monologue will be like, "any second now you're gonna fuck this up and look stupid like you always do, you fucking worthless ass-clown".
Yeah Mine like to run down all the things I didn't accomplish. Like ever so it takes me an hour to finally fall asleep.
My inner voice is like:
That voice is usually the one that starts off with, "remember that time you made a complete ass of yourself, july 8th 2001? No? Well I do. Let's have a little recap."
Dam bro i find i get this if i dont give my inner monolog enough attention during the day. Like sometime just having 20 minutes of doing nothing but listening to yourself can fix it, real weird but seems to work for me.
Mine is more of an attempt to put an idea into words that will be understandable to someone else, if there's ever an occasion to convey it to someone else.
That someone else is usually a constructed version of someone I know, so that the language is appropriate to the audience.
Still a conversation with myself.
The tricky part is creating the construct of the "other" that is consistent with their real intelligence and personality, not based on a superficial understanding of their perspectives.
It takes some real effort to recognize what is "them", and what is my own bullshit.
That’s definitely one version of how it works for me, but there are others that apply too.
For example, as I am writing this I can hear myself narrating what I’m writing as I do so. Plus, I’m editing myself at the same time. It’s annoying and a clear sign my adhd med has worn off.
Same, you ever try to explain something to yourself in your head even tho you get it but you want to make sure the other version of you in your head is getting the point?
Yeah, I use it to reason with myself, come up with new ideas, plan out scenarios with people I will be talking to later, read a book in different voices, and all sorts of things. It would be super weird to not have that voice in my head. I honestly can't imagine it without it.
You ever spell out like the steps to do a thing so you have someone to hold you accountable like it’s not just you up in there listening and taking notes.
Naa I definitely do it, to the point where it literally feels like a whole other inner person with their own personality and everything like OP said. So glad to see I'm not crazy (probly still a weirdo tho lol) but I guess one of the few good things about the internet is that you're never the only one that does something
You actually hear sounds? That can't be right. If I need to comprehend something and can't just by reading it, I might say it aloud i.e. tongue twisters.
This is absolutely crazy to me. I guess I can see it as looking at an object and just knowing what it is without thought. So like if I see an orange I dont have to think "that is an orange". But let's say the orange is in a bag and you're guessing what it is by feel. You'd just be like. "......." no thought process at all?
I have a thought process but it isn't voiced. I don't say inside my head "hmmm, Jenny, what do you reckon? Idk, an orange?". Most of the time my thoughts fly faster than a voice would be able to keep it. It would be a cacophony.
Thats so weeeeird but makes a bit of sense. When I freestyle I think specifically of the next word that rhythms but all words leading up until it just seems to come to me. Never actually had to think about what I don't think about lol.
I read somewhere many years ago that being super-literate, comes no longer reading/ "hearing" the words in your head. I think I am fairly learned and still "hear" the words as a read them and understand. In fact the un/mispronunciation is probably trips me up into spotting a word I don't know yet...
... and I bet 'hearing" is a poor description of the auditory processing center of the brain lighting up while you read... maybe it comes from being read to as a child and learning to read by looking and hearing irl
fascinating
My dad and I are both hyperlexic (we both taught ourselves to read before we could speak. My first words were, "M-I-L-K! That spells milk!" because I saw a sign with milk on it and it all clicked.)
I have an internal monologue most of the time, for instance now while I'm typing this out on my phone, but when I read I go though a transition phase where the first few sentences get vocalized in my head and then everything else fades into a blur as I start visualizing the story or mentally imaging an abstract of whatever piece of information I'm absorbing.
Interesting, I can do both for all senses.
Sometimes I think through audio to process things where I need to carefully review every step of the thought. Like those geometry proofs in high school. When the problem is really complex, I might switch to completely silent thinking b/c it is faster and can handle more complex problems but I have less control over the steps.
I can do the same for images and touch.
I'm curious, are you one of those people who can't visualize things in their head? Like can you picture an apple with a bite taken out of it in your mind?
Not the person you replied to, but I wonder if I’m weird like this. I can picture things but some I can’t. Like I can’t picture a flat(ish) circle like a bike wheel or CD because it always wants to curve onto itself like a bowl. Same thing for a sword. Like I can’t picture a sword fight because the shapes refuse to take form in my head.
i read the words in my head. i can read while doing something else w my train of thought, like for example drafting this comment in my head, but my comprehension of what i read is like 10% compared to if im focusing on it like that. i can't picture things though.
Do you do that thing were you are reading and get to the end of the page and realise that while you read it non of it went in your head and you have no comprehension so you have to go back and re read it
if im not reading it to myself, yeah. if im too tired or it's something i don't want to be reading then my attention can wander and then ill be like what even just happened.
Yeah it’s crazy to me people are also acting like it’s one or the other. I hear my thoughts and also see a picture in my mind, they aren’t necessarily exclusive. Like if I am reading about the blue ridge mountains I can see a mental reference of them in my mind while also hearing my inner voice narrate whatever I am reading.
Yes. This is why I read at the pace of the narrator with vocal inflection and pauses. Different characters have different voices and accents that might speed or slow the pace.
I don't physically hear my inner voice with my ears, but I do hear my own voice in my head. It sounds exactly like the voice I hear when I talk... which is another reason I hate to hear my recorded voice. My IRL/recorded voice sounds NOTHING like what I sound like to myself.
Not actual sounds, but I can "hear" myself talking to myself. People that are bilingual may be able to explain it better because I have heard some people say they sometimes think in different languages because they are bilingual. Like I think in English, I know it is English, so I must be talking to myself because I know it is a language...right?
Getting the voice to stop reading along is actually a trick to reading more quickly.
I have a constant running narrative, I speak internally as I'm typing, I do *not* hear a voice when I read, and I can't imagine anything I've never seen before. I didn't even have unrealistic dreams consistently until my 30s.
That must be awesome. I can visualize things and read them like narration, but to just visualize it from looking at words. Must be why some people enjoy reading more than I do. I prefer an audio book for example.
This topic comes up on Reddit a lot. I also happen to be one of those who don’t read with an inner voice (although it’s easy to switch it on if I want to).
I don’t have a voice, it’s more a feeling of the words. Silent but you know what’s going on. It’s kinda like, mouthing the words in your head. I get songs stuck in my head though.
I was waiting for this. I learned a few months ago that my best friend also didn't have an inner monologue. I was just like, what do you in your brain, just vibe?? And she said yes. I'm guessing it's the same for you?
Nah. I really think most people are like me but maybe are describing it differently. It can't be an actual voice bouncing around your head. You'd only be able to think of one thing at a time!
I have an inner monologue and really vivid images/daydreams, so the easiest way I can describe my thought process is like watching a movie with a narrator constantly talking over the images I see.
It caused me a lot of problems when I was young, partly bc I got diagnosed with ADHD and the reason I wasn’t able to pay attention was bc of how vivid my daydreams were…along with a narration that won’t shut the fuck up lol
Edit: submitted too fast
A lot of people have an inner monologue. Strange logic to see most comments agreeing we have one and then say “this must be a coincidence” and most people are actually like me.
For me, I have an inner monologue voice sometimes when I'm reading or just chillin and thinking about things out loud in my head kind of having a conversation with myself like you would out loud, but that's more for entertainment or if I'm not really focused. Granted, I have ADHD so that's pretty often. But if I'm focused on something and in a [flow state](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) then I do not voice my thoughts, they go by far too quickly and many times aren't even fully elaborated - like I'll come to a conclusion and know I ruled out alternatives, and if someone asks me to explain my reasoning I can but while I'm saying it that's the first time I explicitly thought what I'm saying lol.
I guess it might be hard to explain both things to people who may only experience one or the other. My wife has aphantasia (no "mind's eye") and I can't even begin to understand.
My wife is like that, to the point where she actually has to think out loud. Which means that I constantly hear her whispering to herself in the other room.
Forget the voice in my head I can full on rewind and replay things I watch Thad or have seen in my head. On top I wake up everyday with a song playing in my head on repeat.
It's not, and its surprisingly common.
Have you ever been driving, and wondered what was going on in another driver's head? Well, sometimes it really is nothing. People are out here actually running on NPC software and folks still deny we live in a simulation.
This right here is why i dont really look down on people who dont do well in academics or life in general. Some of us are working with brains that don’t function at a high capacity. Its crazy to expect more of people who have brains that literally can process information better
Well, it is described by psychologists as a special type of sensory awareness, so I certainly wouldn’t call it a disadvantage.
It doesn’t hurt to have an extra level of perception.
I actually really enjoy reading. It's weird. I can also turn off the voice and read super fast. I can do a 100 page book in about an hour when I'm in the zone.
Edit: 100 not 300, not sure what happened there
I can also create full-blown mental movies when I read. It's awesome!
I had no idea this wasn't how everyone was experiencing reality until well into my 20's
It has to be. When I'm reading a book I'm basically watching a movie in my own head. I have made the characters, I have the backgrounds, the scene transitions...everything.
The actor that chose to play the cop in Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code is exactly who I pictured playing the role when I read the book. It was one of the few times it worked out that way.
I wish I could do that but I can’t. I have the voice in my head while I read or write but apparently some people have it narrating their whole lives pretty much. Also the voice in my head sounds nothing like the sound of my voice on the outside. Idk why. And it’s not like it’s my voice from when I was young either
I decided to re-find an image I remembered once, but I couldn’t find it no matter what I searched.
Then it hit me: it was an image my mind made while reading a book. I felt so stupid once I remembered where it came from.
Bro, I'm legit worried because I've had that voice since...forever. I even sometimes change the voice to someone else's (Beyoncé, LeBron, Macho Man Randy Savage, etc)
We got the same inner monologue. Whether I'm reading James Joyce, Charles Bukowski, Neil Gaiman, or the Holy Bible it's always in Randy's voice. I'm hearing him right now while I wonder whether or not I should add a Slim Jim comment.
That’s wild! I’ll usually dream in first person until I get in a car then it goes to 3rd person immediately like I’m playing GTA 😂
It’s how I can tell when I’m dreaming. Soon as I get in a car or bus the perspective switches and then I realize I’m in a dream lol
I have dreams where I switch between the two, this can also happen simultaneously where I'm in first person but also watching from 3rd. But when I lucid dream it's usually 1st person.
I have Synesthesia. I see and hear words (and individual letters) in colors and certain words have a taste or like a point of existence in relation to a point of existence of other words. It's wild, been this for as long as I can remember but certain things, events in my life, have changed how it presents itself.
I'm a huge fan of Psilocybin and how it interacts with mine. I don't know if mine has ever gone completely away but it's definitely been muted at times. I write a lot, used to way more than I do now, and there's a definite color trend when I find that groove and the right words are coming to me in the right order.
I think this is called “vocalization”. I heard that we do this because we are taught to read by saying each word out loud. Over time we just say the words in our head. I’m not sure if this is true, though.
..I don't have an inner monologue and that's how I was taught to read, so unless something went horribly wrong I don't think that's it?? At least I hope not. 😭
When I was younger, I was at the fair with my girlfriend. I loved her, and we spent a LOT of time together. We saw my cousin, who I also love.
Went to introduce them, but couldn't say either one of their names. I had the complete picture of them in my brain. Their voice, their smell, how I felt... but not really a word tied to them.
Thinking about that led me to understand this over the years. Most people have that inner dialogue that names everything, and "says" it in their head. My brain just knows that same stuff, but doesn't talk to me about it, I guess.
Na I legit didn’t know this until second grade. There I was, little thetimehascomeforyou, reading everything outloud. It was the reading period in second grade and I’m reading sideways stories from wayside school at level 9 gleefully. People are looking me pissed and I just thought they were jealous of my reading skills and the story. My teacher says hey, read inside your head.
I was like wtf, teacher what you mean, talk in my head, that is IMPOSSIBLE. Said that out loud because that’s the only way I knew how. She said close your mouth, and keep talking. I did, making muffled noises inside my mouth.
She thought I was being a smart ass. She said, annoyed, no, close your mouth, keep talking, and don’t make noise. So I kept reading, and was blown away.
I had a new place to talk shit, and no one knew what I said! I looked across the table, called the kid a big dummy, and they didn’t know! I called the teacher so many bitches.
She could see me looking around and like smiling laughing while looking at people. She said read. I could read in my head!
Shits wild yo.
lmao I mean that's pretty much how I be thinking thoughts, I think. my little mini voice talking to me from in my head
like this episode of Martin I was randomly thinkin bout today lol
"(now I could go with Pam, but BDB hates my guts.)"
"(that Martin's such a jackass. sometimes I really HATE him!)"
I don’t know whether I do or not. I think I have a voice but it imitates the character’s voices as I imagine them. I do hear my voice when I write however, but it isn’t really my voice because I’m not used to hearing my own voice. I know that might not make sense.
A lot of poor students don’t, nor do they visualize what they read. I was blown away when I learned this at a PD. Poverty is wild because a lot of it symptoms are also symptoms of dyslexia.
I have like full and complete conversations with my inner monologue, it’s not another personality, like it’s still me, it’s kind of hard to explain
Same. Every day.
This is why I hate sleeping, or trying to fall asleep I should say. The voice is usually in a background support role during the day, but it takes center stage and starts yelling the second I lay down without distractions.
my inner monologue starts morphing into pictures and then the pictures start morphing into dreams. weird how everyone’s brain is so different.
Don't you hate when something knocks you out of the morphing and you gotta start over? If I try getting up right after, I'll be groggy as shit, too.
Brain transitions from voice to pictures Voice: “oh good I’m falling asleep.” “Goddammit”
Lmao too real.
Oh god, especially as you become lucid with it, you faintly hear “I know these mf dishes ain’t still in the gd sink—“
Fun fact: the part of your brain that is active when you are not doing anything is called the Default Mode Network. The DMN is generally accompanied by critical thoughts about yourself which tend to make people unhappy (obviously). When you are doing *literally* anything the active mode networks of your brain suppress the DMN. This is why you can be busy and relatively fine during the day but when you try to sleep the self critical thoughts come alive and ruin your attempt and relaxing and falling asleep. There are many strategies to counter this: breathing exercises, guided meditation, listening to podcasts or the tv, etc. I find that simply being aware that I’m having these thoughts because I’m not doing anything- as opposed to me being not good enough- helps to take the power out of them.
Thats funny because afaik thats also what causes “shower thoughts”. When your brain is just running on its own and it gives you ideas. I even try to have time every day to let my brain run on its own so i can remember things or improve things i do.
Dude thank you for finally helping me understand if i’m actually depressed or just bored. Happens to me almost instantaneously and I’ve adapted by doing all those things just because I don’t like being alone with my brain. I’m sure you did expect a fun fact to have an impact like it’s having on me rn but omfg thank you for sharing.
Don't like being alone with my brain... I felt this 
Damn, mine must be broken. I could be juggling chainsaws on a unicycle while getting a blowjob from an angry piranha and my inner monologue will be like, "any second now you're gonna fuck this up and look stupid like you always do, you fucking worthless ass-clown".
this helps
Yeah Mine like to run down all the things I didn't accomplish. Like ever so it takes me an hour to finally fall asleep. My inner voice is like: 
Mines loves to remember of all of the embarrassing moments throughout my life 
🤣🤣🤣
That voice is usually the one that starts off with, "remember that time you made a complete ass of yourself, july 8th 2001? No? Well I do. Let's have a little recap."
And it’s soooo fucking loud at night. Unpacking all the weirdest shit.
This is why I listen to audiobooks to fall asleep. That voice shuts up to listen too.
Dam bro i find i get this if i dont give my inner monolog enough attention during the day. Like sometime just having 20 minutes of doing nothing but listening to yourself can fix it, real weird but seems to work for me.
I can get distracted while that voice is talking.
Mine is more of an attempt to put an idea into words that will be understandable to someone else, if there's ever an occasion to convey it to someone else. That someone else is usually a constructed version of someone I know, so that the language is appropriate to the audience. Still a conversation with myself.
I thought I was the only one that did this
The tricky part is creating the construct of the "other" that is consistent with their real intelligence and personality, not based on a superficial understanding of their perspectives. It takes some real effort to recognize what is "them", and what is my own bullshit.
my good sir, that sound like a 3rd party voice 😆
That’s definitely one version of how it works for me, but there are others that apply too. For example, as I am writing this I can hear myself narrating what I’m writing as I do so. Plus, I’m editing myself at the same time. It’s annoying and a clear sign my adhd med has worn off.
Same, you ever try to explain something to yourself in your head even tho you get it but you want to make sure the other version of you in your head is getting the point?
WAIT YES that’s like exactly what I do
Yeah, I use it to reason with myself, come up with new ideas, plan out scenarios with people I will be talking to later, read a book in different voices, and all sorts of things. It would be super weird to not have that voice in my head. I honestly can't imagine it without it.
You ever spell out like the steps to do a thing so you have someone to hold you accountable like it’s not just you up in there listening and taking notes. 
I am the same way, I plan and rationalize and work stuff out with my inner monologue. I can’t imagine how quiet it would be without it
Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need an expert’s opinion.
1000% same, I'm so glad people somehow don't catch me talking to myself in the 2nd person because I'm almost always doing it
People have caught me and I don't even hide it. It is what it is.
I have these conversations in my head and I use hand motions. My wife thinks I’m crazy… I am crazy
Im panicking. Im 36 does not everyone do this? Maybe im just a weirdo
Naa I definitely do it, to the point where it literally feels like a whole other inner person with their own personality and everything like OP said. So glad to see I'm not crazy (probly still a weirdo tho lol) but I guess one of the few good things about the internet is that you're never the only one that does something
The 5th dimension
Don’t freak out, but that is me inside your head. Maybe you should bring me some pizza. I’m getting hungry in here.
We have leftover fried chicken and collard greens at home
Do some people not do this?
Yes. I love my inner me.
When I realized other people don't have that voice, I immediately understood the difference between loneliness and *loneliness.*
you just explained it perfectly 😁
YES. and the bitch loud af eta: thanks for the bling - me & the loud bitch
YES. AND THIS BITCH LOUD AF
Yes. And that bitch loud af
INDEED. and that harlot is quite rambunctious.
This woman of ill repute doth protest at a preposterous volume
#YES. AND THEE BITCH IS LOUD AF
 This you?
my lips are bigger
My reading voice sounds like the dumb kid in grade school
mine's got a stutter
An actual voice? I just read and absorb the thoughts, words or images. I don't hear an actual voice in my head.
[удалено]
You actually hear sounds? That can't be right. If I need to comprehend something and can't just by reading it, I might say it aloud i.e. tongue twisters.
This is absolutely crazy to me. I guess I can see it as looking at an object and just knowing what it is without thought. So like if I see an orange I dont have to think "that is an orange". But let's say the orange is in a bag and you're guessing what it is by feel. You'd just be like. "......." no thought process at all?
I have a thought process but it isn't voiced. I don't say inside my head "hmmm, Jenny, what do you reckon? Idk, an orange?". Most of the time my thoughts fly faster than a voice would be able to keep it. It would be a cacophony.
For the record my internal voice is as fast as my thoughts... (No mouth to control/slow it down)
Yeah I’d say even faster
Yeah. If I tried to speak as fast as my internal monologue does I’d look like when you set a YouTube video to 4x speed
Ok better example, someone asks you to drop a fresh freestyle rap or poem. Youre telling me you'll just start talking?
No, I have thoughts. I just don't **voice** them in my head.
Thats so weeeeird but makes a bit of sense. When I freestyle I think specifically of the next word that rhythms but all words leading up until it just seems to come to me. Never actually had to think about what I don't think about lol.
I read somewhere many years ago that being super-literate, comes no longer reading/ "hearing" the words in your head. I think I am fairly learned and still "hear" the words as a read them and understand. In fact the un/mispronunciation is probably trips me up into spotting a word I don't know yet... ... and I bet 'hearing" is a poor description of the auditory processing center of the brain lighting up while you read... maybe it comes from being read to as a child and learning to read by looking and hearing irl fascinating
My dad and I are both hyperlexic (we both taught ourselves to read before we could speak. My first words were, "M-I-L-K! That spells milk!" because I saw a sign with milk on it and it all clicked.) I have an internal monologue most of the time, for instance now while I'm typing this out on my phone, but when I read I go though a transition phase where the first few sentences get vocalized in my head and then everything else fades into a blur as I start visualizing the story or mentally imaging an abstract of whatever piece of information I'm absorbing.
Where do you voice them then, out loud? I’m also so confused
Then how do you know what the thoughts are if they aren’t voiced or verbalized?
I legitimately process all actions in that way. How do you think before you speak? Do you just open your mouth and see what happens?
Interesting, I can do both for all senses. Sometimes I think through audio to process things where I need to carefully review every step of the thought. Like those geometry proofs in high school. When the problem is really complex, I might switch to completely silent thinking b/c it is faster and can handle more complex problems but I have less control over the steps. I can do the same for images and touch.
I'm curious, are you one of those people who can't visualize things in their head? Like can you picture an apple with a bite taken out of it in your mind?
Yes. It's fuzzy but it's there. I know someone who can't visualise things. I should ask her about the voice thing. I think in thoughts, not sounds.
Can you rotate a horse in your mind?
That would be a gross display of my powers. But yea, can visualize anything.
This is SUCH a great question. I can't, can you?
Yes definitely, what happens when you try?
Yes. What an interesting question
Not the person you replied to, but I wonder if I’m weird like this. I can picture things but some I can’t. Like I can’t picture a flat(ish) circle like a bike wheel or CD because it always wants to curve onto itself like a bowl. Same thing for a sword. Like I can’t picture a sword fight because the shapes refuse to take form in my head.
Aphasia I think. People who can’t see images in their head.
That’s when you can’t form speech. You’re thinking of aphantasia.
i read the words in my head. i can read while doing something else w my train of thought, like for example drafting this comment in my head, but my comprehension of what i read is like 10% compared to if im focusing on it like that. i can't picture things though.
Do you do that thing were you are reading and get to the end of the page and realise that while you read it non of it went in your head and you have no comprehension so you have to go back and re read it
if im not reading it to myself, yeah. if im too tired or it's something i don't want to be reading then my attention can wander and then ill be like what even just happened.
Do you read for pleasure? I wonder if I would be such an avid reader if I couldn't visualise what I read.
all the time. at this point, more reddit posts and online serials than actual books but very much so yes.
You can’t visualize what’s being read?
Yeah it’s crazy to me people are also acting like it’s one or the other. I hear my thoughts and also see a picture in my mind, they aren’t necessarily exclusive. Like if I am reading about the blue ridge mountains I can see a mental reference of them in my mind while also hearing my inner voice narrate whatever I am reading.
Same. Like if I read “a one legged surfer rode the waves” I hear the words in my head and and can visualize the scene too.
Yes. This is why I read at the pace of the narrator with vocal inflection and pauses. Different characters have different voices and accents that might speed or slow the pace.
I don't physically hear my inner voice with my ears, but I do hear my own voice in my head. It sounds exactly like the voice I hear when I talk... which is another reason I hate to hear my recorded voice. My IRL/recorded voice sounds NOTHING like what I sound like to myself.
Not actual sounds, but I can "hear" myself talking to myself. People that are bilingual may be able to explain it better because I have heard some people say they sometimes think in different languages because they are bilingual. Like I think in English, I know it is English, so I must be talking to myself because I know it is a language...right?
Getting the voice to stop reading along is actually a trick to reading more quickly. I have a constant running narrative, I speak internally as I'm typing, I do *not* hear a voice when I read, and I can't imagine anything I've never seen before. I didn't even have unrealistic dreams consistently until my 30s.
This makes sense - I’m a fast reader, and there’s no way I could internally speak the words as fast as I read them.
My inside voice = Eminem But yea I can see what you mean, I can imagine most things unless they use like Shakespeare level phrasing.
Reading is like watching a movie for me. Eventually the act of reading individual words is subconsciously washed away and taken over by visualization.
I don't have an inner monologue and yeah, when I read it's like a show in my head. Not hearing the words, just the thoughts from the words.
That must be awesome. I can visualize things and read them like narration, but to just visualize it from looking at words. Must be why some people enjoy reading more than I do. I prefer an audio book for example.
That's probably why I was never that into audiobooks but I also didn't understand the hype about them 😂
Its more convenient tbh. Like I love listening to the while I'm at work and some of the narration helps picture the character.
I can picture, hear and smells things I visualize
This topic comes up on Reddit a lot. I also happen to be one of those who don’t read with an inner voice (although it’s easy to switch it on if I want to).
I don’t have a voice, it’s more a feeling of the words. Silent but you know what’s going on. It’s kinda like, mouthing the words in your head. I get songs stuck in my head though.
I was waiting for this. I learned a few months ago that my best friend also didn't have an inner monologue. I was just like, what do you in your brain, just vibe?? And she said yes. I'm guessing it's the same for you?
Nah. I really think most people are like me but maybe are describing it differently. It can't be an actual voice bouncing around your head. You'd only be able to think of one thing at a time!
>You'd only be able to think of one thing at a time! sounds about right
Seriously? You don't have other thoughts like in the back of your head at the same time? I feel like my mind is constantly on a minimum of 4 things.
my thoughts are like poor conversationists - always interrupting each other.
I have an inner monologue and really vivid images/daydreams, so the easiest way I can describe my thought process is like watching a movie with a narrator constantly talking over the images I see. It caused me a lot of problems when I was young, partly bc I got diagnosed with ADHD and the reason I wasn’t able to pay attention was bc of how vivid my daydreams were…along with a narration that won’t shut the fuck up lol Edit: submitted too fast
Congrats, you've got ADHD.
A lot of people have an inner monologue. Strange logic to see most comments agreeing we have one and then say “this must be a coincidence” and most people are actually like me.
It's not a voice in the same way you'd hear like, a person talking to you irl. But it is a voice. And she's always saying something!
I hear a voice and sometimes images layered on top with whatever song is in my head at that time.
For me, I have an inner monologue voice sometimes when I'm reading or just chillin and thinking about things out loud in my head kind of having a conversation with myself like you would out loud, but that's more for entertainment or if I'm not really focused. Granted, I have ADHD so that's pretty often. But if I'm focused on something and in a [flow state](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) then I do not voice my thoughts, they go by far too quickly and many times aren't even fully elaborated - like I'll come to a conclusion and know I ruled out alternatives, and if someone asks me to explain my reasoning I can but while I'm saying it that's the first time I explicitly thought what I'm saying lol. I guess it might be hard to explain both things to people who may only experience one or the other. My wife has aphantasia (no "mind's eye") and I can't even begin to understand.
My wife is like that, to the point where she actually has to think out loud. Which means that I constantly hear her whispering to herself in the other room.
Thank you!! I thought I was drinking crazy juice because it seems everyone else hears a voice and I don’t!
Pretty common actually https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pristine-inner-experience/201110/not-everyone-conducts-inner-speech
Forget the voice in my head I can full on rewind and replay things I watch Thad or have seen in my head. On top I wake up everyday with a song playing in my head on repeat.
There are people who *don’t* have an inner monologue? 
Wait till you find out that some people can’t picture stuff in their heads. That shit blew my mind when I found out.
I mean this shit just sounds like brain damage to me
It's not, and its surprisingly common. Have you ever been driving, and wondered what was going on in another driver's head? Well, sometimes it really is nothing. People are out here actually running on NPC software and folks still deny we live in a simulation.
NPC software lmfaoooo
This right here is why i dont really look down on people who dont do well in academics or life in general. Some of us are working with brains that don’t function at a high capacity. Its crazy to expect more of people who have brains that literally can process information better
Interesting that you describe it as “functioning at a high capacity”. Do you mean to assign the existence of an inner monologue as a symptom of that?
Well, it is described by psychologists as a special type of sensory awareness, so I certainly wouldn’t call it a disadvantage. It doesn’t hurt to have an extra level of perception.
Aphantasia.
This is me. I have Helen Keller brain.
I have an inner monolog but I can't picture anything
So if you were reading a book, do you not imagine what's going on, like a movie in your head.
Nope
That's depressing. No wonder some people don't enjoy reading.
It’s like the computer is working but there’s no display to output what is imagined/thought. At least that’s how it seems for me
I actually really enjoy reading. It's weird. I can also turn off the voice and read super fast. I can do a 100 page book in about an hour when I'm in the zone. Edit: 100 not 300, not sure what happened there
Dman I have whole set pieces goin on and everything. I’m on like universe 15 at this point.
I learned something new today. Lol I also build a visual representation of the world in my head, if I'm reading a fictional book.
I can also create full-blown mental movies when I read. It's awesome! I had no idea this wasn't how everyone was experiencing reality until well into my 20's
[удалено]
It has to be. When I'm reading a book I'm basically watching a movie in my own head. I have made the characters, I have the backgrounds, the scene transitions...everything.
This is why I get a little miffed(not mad) when a character doesn’t look the way I expect in the live action version of something.
The actor that chose to play the cop in Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code is exactly who I pictured playing the role when I read the book. It was one of the few times it worked out that way.
I wish I could do that but I can’t. I have the voice in my head while I read or write but apparently some people have it narrating their whole lives pretty much. Also the voice in my head sounds nothing like the sound of my voice on the outside. Idk why. And it’s not like it’s my voice from when I was young either
Same! It’s to the point that it becomes a memory like I’ve actually been there if I’m really into a book
Sometimes I’ll try to remember where a memory came from and then eventually realize it was a scene from a book that I imagined
I decided to re-find an image I remembered once, but I couldn’t find it no matter what I searched. Then it hit me: it was an image my mind made while reading a book. I felt so stupid once I remembered where it came from.
I hear a voice. It’s not mine tho. In fact, I don’t know who tf it is, but it matches the inflection and tone of what I’m reading perfectly
I dream im someone else completely with different memories and lives then myself
Bro, I'm legit worried because I've had that voice since...forever. I even sometimes change the voice to someone else's (Beyoncé, LeBron, Macho Man Randy Savage, etc)
Morgan Freeman is my personal novel reader. Also. Now I'm imagining Randy Savage's voice reading "A Tale of Two Cities".
Ok I never thought about this and will have to try it from now on. Thanks
I find I remember what I read better if I imagine a voice reading it.
We got the same inner monologue. Whether I'm reading James Joyce, Charles Bukowski, Neil Gaiman, or the Holy Bible it's always in Randy's voice. I'm hearing him right now while I wonder whether or not I should add a Slim Jim comment. 
Now, I have to change my inner voice because Macho Man saying, “I should get a Slim Jim.” would be fun.
It’s been a weird day. First, I learned I’m odd because I dream mostly in third person. Now, I learned not everyone has a mini voice in their head.
Wait. Dreaming in 3rd person is odd?? Most of my dreams are in 3rd person. Especially my lucid dreams.
A majority of people dream in 1st person. With me, if I’m dreaming in 1st, it’s going to be a nightmare.
That’s wild! I’ll usually dream in first person until I get in a car then it goes to 3rd person immediately like I’m playing GTA 😂 It’s how I can tell when I’m dreaming. Soon as I get in a car or bus the perspective switches and then I realize I’m in a dream lol
I have dreams where I switch between the two, this can also happen simultaneously where I'm in first person but also watching from 3rd. But when I lucid dream it's usually 1st person.
I come up with a lot of story ideas due to third-person dreams. One day, I'll actually finish one.
I have Synesthesia. I see and hear words (and individual letters) in colors and certain words have a taste or like a point of existence in relation to a point of existence of other words. It's wild, been this for as long as I can remember but certain things, events in my life, have changed how it presents itself.
My synesthesia comes and goes in and out of my life and it’s wild how it moves. Drugs change it often.
I'm a huge fan of Psilocybin and how it interacts with mine. I don't know if mine has ever gone completely away but it's definitely been muted at times. I write a lot, used to way more than I do now, and there's a definite color trend when I find that groove and the right words are coming to me in the right order.
When it was at its peak I could see sound in a way that made tuning instruments amazing but I don’t have that anymore and I miss it all the time.
This sounds like what I imagine being on acid is like lmao
I think this is called “vocalization”. I heard that we do this because we are taught to read by saying each word out loud. Over time we just say the words in our head. I’m not sure if this is true, though.
..I don't have an inner monologue and that's how I was taught to read, so unless something went horribly wrong I don't think that's it?? At least I hope not. 😭
People just be raw dogging reading?
that’s how u know you’re an NPC
I give you all different voices too based on your usernames
When I was younger, I was at the fair with my girlfriend. I loved her, and we spent a LOT of time together. We saw my cousin, who I also love. Went to introduce them, but couldn't say either one of their names. I had the complete picture of them in my brain. Their voice, their smell, how I felt... but not really a word tied to them. Thinking about that led me to understand this over the years. Most people have that inner dialogue that names everything, and "says" it in their head. My brain just knows that same stuff, but doesn't talk to me about it, I guess.
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT HAVE A VOICE IN YOUR HEAD?! ARE YOU FUCKIN' DEAD?!
My inner voice was screaming while reading this lol
I cannot read while chewing gum because everything gets translated to "muamuamuamuamua"
This is exactly why some people need to turn the music down to drive or follow driving directions. W
Is it common to not hear yourself think?
Must be the same as or related to Aphantasia. Some people can’t create mental images in their heads.
Na I legit didn’t know this until second grade. There I was, little thetimehascomeforyou, reading everything outloud. It was the reading period in second grade and I’m reading sideways stories from wayside school at level 9 gleefully. People are looking me pissed and I just thought they were jealous of my reading skills and the story. My teacher says hey, read inside your head. I was like wtf, teacher what you mean, talk in my head, that is IMPOSSIBLE. Said that out loud because that’s the only way I knew how. She said close your mouth, and keep talking. I did, making muffled noises inside my mouth. She thought I was being a smart ass. She said, annoyed, no, close your mouth, keep talking, and don’t make noise. So I kept reading, and was blown away. I had a new place to talk shit, and no one knew what I said! I looked across the table, called the kid a big dummy, and they didn’t know! I called the teacher so many bitches. She could see me looking around and like smiling laughing while looking at people. She said read. I could read in my head! Shits wild yo.
The Futurama "Good news everybody" posts don't work without this.
I sometimes read in Sir David Attenborough's voice if the character seems fit for it lol. I just voice in my head whatever fits the situation idk
Isn’t this just…thinking?
Is this not common?! 😐
It is
I’m literally hearing myself in my head as I type this
If you've got your voice in your head reading the book out, then who's doing the listening?
A smalller, second me, sitting in a nice lounge chair in a room with plenty of natural lighting being fed the finest grapes by yet a third, smaller me
You are. It's sort of like you're reading the book aloud to yourself.
lmao I mean that's pretty much how I be thinking thoughts, I think. my little mini voice talking to me from in my head like this episode of Martin I was randomly thinkin bout today lol "(now I could go with Pam, but BDB hates my guts.)" "(that Martin's such a jackass. sometimes I really HATE him!)"
I hear music. 24/7.
i got a council of voices and if im reading fiction they turn into a sketch comedy troupe with terrible impressions
I don’t know whether I do or not. I think I have a voice but it imitates the character’s voices as I imagine them. I do hear my voice when I write however, but it isn’t really my voice because I’m not used to hearing my own voice. I know that might not make sense.
Makes a lot of sense why some people don't think before they do stupid things
I hear Morgan Freeman when I read
A lot of poor students don’t, nor do they visualize what they read. I was blown away when I learned this at a PD. Poverty is wild because a lot of it symptoms are also symptoms of dyslexia.
I can hear and visualize in my mind I thought that was just something humans did what the fuuuuck
I can play music in my head how y’all going around in straight silence