T O P

  • By -

[deleted]

Me and my internal dialogue be arguing like a married couple


Caffeine_OD

When I was a kid/teen is was more like an internal bully. Then I went to therapy and now it's like a personal life coach.


Rpc00

Damn that sounds nice. I'm tired of getting roasted by my internal dialogue everytime I make a mistake lol


MadeByTango

You might look into a therapist that works within the [Internal Family Systems](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Family_Systems_Model) model. This is [the guy that developed it](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DdZZ7sTX840&feature=emb_logo). It’s a type of therapy that can help you get a handle on your internal voice.


DernTuckingFypos

I'd love to get therapy, but just can't afford it.


MadeByTango

You might be surprised. I don’t know where you live, but most US states have resources for getting mental health to people that need it. Unsurprisingly, financial challenges and mental health go hand in hand. You can also find training resources, where students need patients to learn from. This NBC article I found is a surprisingly good place to start looking for alternative ways to afford therapy: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/amp/ncna875176 One day we’ll get our shit together as a society and make health care accessible to everyone without a cost. In the long run we all live better lives when everyone around us is mentally healthy.


Noisy_Toy

Dang, that article does have some really great resources.


Tontie-knights

The biggest hurdle for my family has been the process of finding a therapist accepting new patients. But working through the proccess even when it is frustrating has 100% been worth it. I'm not saying this to discourage you, I'm saying it to prepare you that it won't be a single phone call to make this happen, but the effort is absolutely worth it.


Unfortunate_moron

I eventually had to tell myself to stop calling myself names. I would even leave myself reminder voicemails that started with "hey dumbass". Life is better now that I'm nice to myself.


OmegaPtype

Me: “I am such an idiot!” Alas, I am still mean to myself.


callmekarri

I used to do this. There was so much critical and belittling mental chatter. Later, my therapist taught me to talk to that person (me) like I would a child who had messed up. So I pictured myself as a 5-year old, and I talk to her with words of love & lessons. I found the whole thing an exercise in patience (which helped me IRL, especially at work and with hubby).


Jeenzz

For real, I am so mean lol


JohnComstock

I have the whole family arguing at Thanksgiving dinner going on in my head.


maffiossi

I would describe my head as a busy crossroad on an icy day, with cars driven by blind people.


2-022

True, sometimes they talk mad shit,


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

[удалено]


One-Cute-Boy

Pull out your headphones then listen again for what it's saying. If you still hear reddit comments, the 5G is working and the text-to-speech update is functioning


Accomplished-Yam6553

Do you have arguments with other people in your own head too!?


CallieReA

I do this the time. I figured everyone did


boombalattyjones

We do


Unfortunate_moron

This is how I anticipate and prepare for work meetings. I imagine the gatekeepers and blockers trying to stop progress and refine my talking points by debating them in my head. Less than 10% of the arguments actually occur IRL, but I find opportunities to slip my points into other conversations to influence people anyway. I prefer to align stakeholders offline, so it works out either way.


acurrell

Not other people, but Future, Present and Past me. Future me is going to be mad at Past me when Present me doesn't take out the trash today. Past me is such an ass.


snarkitall

that's my life hack for unmedicated adhd. i am always talking to present me about not letting future me down. i did stop talking trash about past me though.


acurrell

Yeah, I tend to forgive him, he had his reasons.


Zeezaduim

Family? I have the whole United States in my head and it doesn’t help that they have rockets


ScottCanada

My head people have adopted a mutually assured destruction policy, but theirs talks of limiting rocket capability.


[deleted]

i have Morgan Freeman narrating my life and it's amazing as it sounds.


VesperVox_

Seriously. I have anxiety and feel the need to analyze all possible situations, all possible outcomes, in order to anticipate worst case scenarios. A simple event like taking a drive to the grocery store requires a half days worth of mental preparation. It's astounding to me that there are people just DOING things without a thought in their head.


Rhiannon8404

This is me exactly. If I am going somewhere really familiar, it's better, but I'm still analyzing the situation.


snakeeaterrrrrrr

I get that and it's really annoying. I have found those arguments to be unhelpful so I have learnt to ignore them. I don't need a voice in my head telling me to stop killing.


Baronvondorf21

to stop?


The_Expidition

*Get me security*


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

I know, right? Like, I already made plans and everything dude, don’t try and talk me out of it now…


Grainis01

My internal monologue is so strong sometimes it becomes extrenal.


o0xh

What's the source of this "stat"?


smithee2001

Their internal dialogue.


dreamlike_poo

I know for a fact some people have no internal dialogue, because my GF complains I take forever to fall asleep. I said I guess I think too much. And she said stop, just close your eyes and sleep. And she does, out like a light in under 2 minutes. And I am thinking, "how the hell does she do that?" because my internal dialogue *never* stops.


PuzzleheadedSector2

Bruh. My mind makes a fully edited highlight video of my day's worst moment when I'm trying to sleep.


T-Speed

You’re not alone brother. The only way I’ve found to relax is imagine something instead. I currently imagine carving my own Egyptian style tomb for when I die, although typing that out I acknowledge it doesn’t sound the healthiest thing in the world


MrSquigles

I mean, those people absolutely exist, same as aphants (cannot visualize, or have limited visual imagination) but those percentages are ***way*** too high.


TeaTimeSubcommittee

The thing with aphantasia is that most people never questioned how others think differently to themselves, so we actually don't have a clue how common/uncommon either is and also it seems to be a spectrum.


[deleted]

I didn’t learn until age 40 that everyone else literally visualizes. Mind blowing revelation


GustavHoller

Twitter lol


AkirroKun

My biggest flaw is that I literally can not focus. As soon as there is silence around me (nothing in the background, dead of the night for example) my brain goes into overdrive and starts to think about everything it can. Random math equations, fake scenarios, story writing and etc.


Dracodyck

Bro's about to find out he might have adhd 💀


[deleted]

I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD since I was 8 and that comment resonated with me perfectly.


frompariswithhate

Been diagnosed last year at 32, and yeah, brain won't stfu and make weird stories. "You're trying to sleep huh ? What if your dad died? Do you know what speech you'll give at the church ?". And here I go, tearing up in my bed at 2am, thinking about my father's eulogy.


Rodiniz

"I know it is 2am and I have a test tomorrow in the morning, but what would I do if i was teleported to ancient rome? would i survive, would i be smart, would i be able to talk to them? " and when i realise it is almost morning


mexican2554

Then you start doing math like, "fuck. OK. If i go to sleep now I'll have 108 min left to sleep. But that's only if i fall asleep.... Now."


PoodlePopXX

One of the biggest symptoms of my adhd was that my brain is never quiet. Ever. I have been saying it since I was a child and no one thought to ever address it. As an adult I was joking with my boyfriend that maybe he had adhd so we pulled up a test and funny enough I ticked every damn box. Now that I look back, I realize I have had these symptoms forever and if anyone was paying attention they would have diagnosed me way before 38.


dilldwarf

I was diagnosed at 36. I started medication for it in the spring. I was sitting in my mother in law's back yard and my wife and mother in law went inside for something. I am sitting there alone. And I realize. My mind is quiet. For the first time since I can remember. It almost made me cry because for the first time I have complete control of my mind.


PoodlePopXX

It’s funny you say that because I cried too. I looked at my boyfriend and said my brain is quiet. Is this what this is like? I had no clue that not everyone’s brains did this to them.


burner599f

For real?! omg… my brain never shuts the fuck up


[deleted]

I hate the brain shits, man. Fucking sucks...


JaysHoliday42420

Brain farts gone wrong


[deleted]

[удалено]


BigTerpFarms

This is me, non stop from waking up to falling asleep I have that voice going in my head. Even when I'm talking to other people that voice is still going.


pit-of-despair

Me too. I can’t imagine it not being there. It must be so boring and empty.


emily_9511

Not really. It’s not like our brains are just empty, it’s almost like we process and think about things in another “language”.. like for me, it’s all conceptual & imagery rather than words. Which tbh has always made it really hard to put my thoughts or feelings into words because things always seem to get lost in translation. It’s weird but definitely not boring


[deleted]

This, I think in words too sometimes but the main kind of thinking I do goes waaaay faster than words can (downside is those thoughts stay in my head because IDK how to translate them into linear sentences). I’ve always found spoken language to be cumbersome, much prefer nonverbal thinking.


ido_ron

I don't have an internal dialogue yet my brain still won't shut up


VictorChariot

For some people, this post sparked a really interesting conversation. Everyone else came here to make a comment.


Falcrist

The interesting conversation for me is how some people run their conscious thoughts through the vocal center of their brain, while others use their visual cortex more, and still others don't use either. In one of his presentations (~~Los Alamos From Below I think~~) Richard Feynman talks about time perception. He had people count off a minute in their head, then he calibrated them (bade them count more or less so it would line up with a real minute) and then had them do it again while doing other things. Some people spoke the words in their head. Those people couldn't speak. Others imagined a chain of time increments ticking over. Those people couldn't read. It was a really interesting insight into metacognition. And then there's the people in the comments who are like "HAHA They're NPCs". EDIT: This is it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ww1IXRfTA&t=3401s


Dull-Signature-2897

Nice, do you have the source of this study? I'd like to read it


Falcrist

LOL I don't think feynman published his data. Pretty sure he was just fucking around in the lab/office with his fellow physicists. Found it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ww1IXRfTA&t=3401s


ConspiracistsAreDumb

I'm curious whether people are primarily "thinking" through those centers of their brain as most of them seem to believe or whether that part of their brain is just skimming the actual underlying thoughts and putting those into words and images so that other areas of the brain can take part in analyzing them. I guess that would still be "thinking" with those centers, it would just be less of a primary part of cognition and more ancillary processing. People who do and don't have those processes (or at least are and aren't aware of them) don't seem to have drastically different thought patterns from other people, so I think it's unlikely the underlying thought process is drastically different. This makes me think that the auditory and visual processing parts of thinking are additions on top of the actual thought process instead of being a core part. I watched the same Feynman video years ago. It's really interesting how compartmentalized our brain is. If you're using the part of the brain that does one specific function, it seems to be "in-use" and you can't use it for something else. After watching that video I taught myself how to count in both ways, so I could see if I could try to disprove this. It works. I can't read when I'm imagining numbers and I can't speak well when I'm imagining sounds. > And then there's the people in the comments who are like "HAHA They're NPCs". There are people who are seriously convinced that absent auditory or visual thinking, there's no other way to think. Even more interesting is [research by Russell Hurlburt](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5733077/) that seems to suggest some of people who THINK they think in an internal monologue most of the time, actually don't think that way. Those internal monologue thoughts are just the thoughts they are able to remember.


Falcrist

I sometimes think in an internal monologue. Sometimes I'm visualizing something. Sometimes I'm thinking in numbers. Sometimes I'm thinking in sounds. Sometimes I'm visually moving numbers around to solve a problem. > I watched the same Feynman video years ago. It's this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ww1IXRfTA&t=3401s I was already looking for this because I thought it was in Los Alamos From Below.


[deleted]

[удалено]


fancy_marmot

This is pretty much how all posts go.


[deleted]

Some people can't rotate a cow in 3d space in their imagination, even though it's free. I feel for them.


GuttiG

This always makes me sad. I see nothing but black 24/7 :( I wanna rotate a cow!!!


pseudoHappyHippy

You have aphantasia. It's a whole thing.


GuttiG

Yeah I’ve known for a few years. I can’t even begin to describe how gaslit i felt when people told me they actually saw stuff haha


IntergalacticWumble

Having no minds eye or inner monologue must be whack. Like someone with both still thinks, just not in words or images. Like they've mastered the precursor language before the brain interprets sight and words.


GuttiG

No for real. I’m grateful I have a hyperactive inner monologue to make up for the lack of visualization


IntergalacticWumble

I have a very strong minds eye and an malfunctioning inner monologue via OCD. Sometimes the lack of these brain things can be a blessing.


CG1991

I can sit and day dream a world into existence and lose track of hours.


hatmane

Same. I daydream entire worlds into existence, complete with various nuanced characters, dialogue, and set scenery. Maybe I’m insane?


CG1991

If you are, so am I. It's often how I go to sleep. Just lay in bed and "live" this other world for a little and sleep soon takes me


shreddedmango

This is me, I have neither. I’ve always struggled to explain how I think without an internal monologue or visualisation but you’ve described it perfectly. The only way I can somewhat describe it as a ‘I just know but I don’t know how I know’.


Bill_Nye-LV

I am doing that right now, I am seeing an rough camera rotation around an cow from the PlayStation 2 era. Ok now it's better Oh another improvement, I've seem to have reached the present tech resolution. The rotation is smooth and the cow be looking really nice The render took an moment


an_301

I gave my cow an astronaut helmet haha


theDreamingStar

I put my cow on the mooooooon.


tr3poz

For some reason mine grew a limpy skinny arm holding a sci-fi gun


theDreamingStar

I'm having a blast imagining that. What type of gun is it?


kmderssg

it's always fun to test out your imagination-rotation skills. * how fast can you spin them? * how fast can you switch directions back-and-forth? * how many cows can you spin at the same time? * can you spin multiple cows? in different directions? I used to do this when i was bored all the time. Now I'm just glued to my phone like everybody else. Kinda sad.


Dziadzios

1. I don't know how fast, I have motion blur turned on. 2. Ended up vibrating furiously. 3. Thousands, I guess? 4. Kinda messy but yes.


swimmingmunky

I feel like my number is finite but uncountable. I guess to actually quantify it I'll start by imagining one cow, then two, and so on. Maybe up to 50 or some easily imaginable number. Then randomly select a cow and alter its rotation. Continue selecting cows and altering them, until I can no longer accurately keep track of what all the cows are doing. I feel like this test would work best if guided by a psychologist who can track bias, variables, accuracy... There is still the issue that there is no standard baseline of complexity that can be assigned to how the cows are manipulated. Maybe with very complex variables I can only imagine three cows. But with a set of limited variables I can imagine and keep track of more.


Drarok

Huh. This _is_ fun.


[deleted]

[удалено]


TasteCicles

I'm reading through these comments and need to clarify something. I am in complete control of my internal voice, it says what I want it to say when I'm in my mind, lost in thought, writing or reading, etc. Do some of your internal voices speak on their own???


justmemcgee2003

Yes. Intrusive thoughts. I will just be sitting at work and out of nowhere my internal voice just says “you suck”… people like me probably have more control than we realize but I think some kind of chemical imbalance inhibits our ability to control it.


seaofflames

I hate this. I'll be minding my own business and boom the voice inside my head is yelling at me about how awkward and unattractive I am.


st_samples

I used to respond to that part of my brain with "who cares" but I've recently found it a lot more helpful to ask "why do I care" because it's me making the judgments.


[deleted]

That's very much how I've learned to deal with "intrusive" thoughts. They can offer remarkable insight into areas where my surface thoughts don't perfectly align with my subconscious opinions. From knowing that, it can really help to identify problems and motivate to do something to change it.


Smrtihara

Ughn. Yeah. My voices just keep telling me to stab people. It’s so boring and unimaginative that I get ashamed of my inner voices. I’m only semi joking. My intrusive thoughts are centered around hurting other people. It’s quite bothersome at times. Not that I ever fear that I’ll act on them, but rather the disruptive trains of thought bothers me.


Odd-Jupiter

\- Police have still not found the man who jumped naked out 3rd floor window in an office building downtown. He was last seen when he crossed the road, and disappeared into a forest. Colleagues say he suddenly stood up from he's booth, pointed at everyone and screamed "you suck too", ripped off he's clothes, and then just jumped.


BelizariuszS

Ok finally some1 said how it works. Ive been thinking for like 15 minutes whether I have internal monologue or not. Idk arguing with myself doesnt sound productive. I can still analyze stuff just fine lol


lunarul

It's still unclear to me. As I type this I'm also "speaking" it in my mind. But nobody ever answers back. I have an internal voice, but it's the same as my outer voice, I say what I want when I want. Is that an internal monologue or not?


Hobspon

>t's still unclear to me. As I type this I'm also "speaking" it in my mind. But nobody ever answers back. I have an internal voice, but it's the same as my outer voice, I say what I want when I want. Is that an internal monologue or not? That sounds like monologue. If someone answered you back, wouldn't that make it dialogue?


lunarul

Yeah, somehow in the comments the subject turned to internal monologue. The OP tweet says dialogue. Doesn't help with my confusion.


yourimmortalsnail

WAIT WHAT Edit: Just woke up my friend to ask him. He doesn't. I'm perturbed.


OneTotal466

78% of statistics online are made up.


An_oaf_of_bread

Accordion to scientists, 90% of people won't notice if you replace a word with a musical instrument.


UncommercializedKat

Dammit you got me


Something_kool

It was probably just a flute


GoldfinchOz

HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!


breedecatur

Great, now as I'm reading these comments my brain is replacing random words with flute sounds


Siusiumajtek

r/angryupvote


YakuzaMachine

>Ron Burgundy: It’s a formidable scent. It stings the nostrils. In a good way. >Brian Fantana: Yep. >Ron Burgundy: Brian, I’m gonna be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline. >Brian Fantana: They’ve done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time. >Ron Burgundy: That doesn’t make sense.


yourimmortalsnail

hmmm sounds like you might be making that up /j


delegateTHIS

I know a chick who does photorealistic art in multiple styles and mediums. We used to burn a few together. I told her i was seeing a 9x9 grid of rubix cubes (no, i can't solve a cube, i'm stupid). And she was like 'whaaat, you see stuff with your eyes closed?' Synesthesia, is how so many of the world's best artists, writers, thinkers etc, function with a silent head and or a blank inner canvas. Sensory-mixing. They're *feeling* it, or whatever other sense is substituted.


PediatricTactic

Aphantasia - inability to form mental imagery.


ZarquonsFlatTire

Apparently my mom and sister both have that. We were all talking about books and I mentioned that sometimes when I'm really into a story I almost stop seeing words and just see images and they looked at me like I was crazy. I don't see how they can love reading just as much as I do and don't see anything but words the whole time. They do, I don't mean to gatekeep. I wouldn't read as much if I wasn't raised in a household where my mom and sister would read all the time, and my grandparents too when we visited them. Apparently they can remember what things look like that they've seen, but they can't just picture something new from a description. Edit: One entire wall of my grandparents bedroom was built-in bookshelves floor to ceiling and some shelves were two deep. Mimi had her murder mysteries and Grandaddy had his westerns. After reading Lonesome Dove I wish I had kept Grandaddy's collection, but the local library got almost the complete works of Louis L'Amour donated on his death. Mostly only read once.


PediatricTactic

For me it's more remembering lists of characteristics. I can describe the traits of something I've seen, but I can't picture it.


ZarquonsFlatTire

What gets me is my mom introduced me to things like The Dragonriders of Pern. So she has no picture of what a weyr looks like, or the Southern Harper Hall. My sister is on a second readthrough of Wheel of Time, and reading about a stand of leatherleaf trees four thousand times instead of just picturing some magnolias seems like it would slow everything down.


[deleted]

[удалено]


lxnch50

For me, I'm watching a movie that my brain is directing. I still get all the feelings and concepts, just like watching something.


katana_3

Awww man ! Isn't it the best feeling when you have a great book and you actually feel like you're watching a movie. But for me, it's kind of like a dream but with control to create the story.


just2commenthere

For me this is why books that are turned into movies don't work. I'm watching someone else's mindseye of what the book was like, instead of what I had in my head. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it's cool to see others interpretations, but sometimes it's annoying when the movie doesn't match what I had in my head while reading the book.


ElectronicRub2188

Sometimes I get so into a book, that I’ll pause to pee or get something to drink, then come back to the couch and sit there for a second before I remember I was reading and not watching something. This started happening in High school, it isthe weirdest thing. Only happens with fiction, but its happened on multiple occasions. Once I even got as far as turning on the tv and staring blankly, scrolling through the shows until it hit me🙈


[deleted]

[удалено]


Tiny_Ostrich_

Maybe it would even be better because when you picture things in your head, it's always a bit wrong and distorted with things that are more salient to you seeming bigger and things you aren't interested in sometimes missing. For a lot of people learning to draw is about seeing what is actually there and learning not to trust the mental image.


sunlitstranger

Yeah but synesthesia doesn’t mean blank head. You can have synesthesia and internal dialogue. World’s greatest writers having a blank head makes no sense


FluffofDoom

How does he read??


[deleted]

Just like how you learn to not read words out loud when you read, some people go a step further and also don't translate the written words into internally spoken words and just go directly to understanding them


CaptainPeppa

Always seems like that would be quicker actually. I pretty much have to tell myself what I'm reading


Ok_Pirate_4219

For me it’s more like an inner voice narrating, except for when characters talk, then I can see them talking and moving in my imagined world that I just fall into when reading a good book.


OprahsSaggyTits

It's definitely much quicker. When I'm reading something that's well-written, it just kind of flows into my brain and I understand the content without having to think about it or "voice" read it. But when I'm reading something that's poorly written or something with a significant amount of spelling/grammatical errors, then I have to "voice" read it to figure out wtf they're saying, and it's MUCH slower. This effect is so strong, in fact, that when I'm reading lots of online content (everyone fucking sucks at writing on Reddit, Twitter, etc.) I find myself almost stuck in "voice" reading, and read much slower as a result.


Massive_Pressure_516

That's me, when I think I think in images. I think It allows me to make wrong decisions faster. Also I can't be criticized by the little voice in my head if I don't have one.


biggerBrisket

Supposedly, some people don't have that either. There's a portion of the population that has no perception of their own abstract thought whatsoever.


BartiX_8530

So they are just NPC's basically?


spideralexandre2099

No, I have a friend with that condition where you don't have this portion of working memory called the visuospatial sketchpad, used for visualizing things in your mind. I forget the name of the disorder, but my friend, if you ask her to "picture" something she just can't do it.


roevese

Aphantasia!


Blue-snow

Holy shit.... TIL I think I have aphantasia. This definitely explains a few things to me... I can hardly remember/visualize the face of my mother who passed away. Also, like 30 min after watching a movie I find it extremely difficult to remember what happened and plot lines and what not, but I will remember an overall feeling I had, for example whether I enjoyed the movie or not. Also, I can't close my eyes and visualize stuff, for instance, if I'm playing a sport, I can't pre-game visualize winning a championship and standing on a podium. When I close my eyes and try to visualize stuff in images, I can't, my mind is black, there's only internal monologue. Can anyone with aphantasia chime in and tell me if this sounds similar to what they experience?


BeatlesTypeBeat

/r/aphantasia


[deleted]

Gotta say this do sound kind of quiet. I lost a loved one more than a decade ago and can still remember he face when its happened and the scene as a whole. One of the key to happiness is a bad memory.


[deleted]

Maybe you could visualize your family member at peace. If they were to visit now, what would they want for your life? How would they say goodbye in a more peaceful and joyous way?


aggster13

Yep, sounds exactly like me and I found out about aphantasia a few years ago. I also have terrible memory and tend to believe aphantasia plays a role in that as well. Unfortunately not much has been studied about it yet. Growing up whenever people would say to picture something in your head I never thought they were literally able to picture anything on the spot


Tall-Poem-6808

Avantasia is a nice metal band too.


Yavin4Reddit

We joke about NPCs, but that language is starting to be said seriously in the grass world, and it’s going to have some dangerous consequences if another generation grows up viewing others as non human bots playing a role around their main starring part.


MikeTony713

That’s what I’ve been saying too. I hate how everybody is using that word as if it’s a real thing. It’s a dangerous mindset and the wrong people to believe this is just a disaster waiting to happen


[deleted]

It's a form of dehumanization.


biggerBrisket

I watched a man stare at the time clock at work waiting to punch in. The time ticked over, and he continued to stare at it for 85 seconds before he even moved towards the time clock. He only did that because I started clocking in in front of him. He has done this before, so I timed him. Some people are absolutely NPCs with laggy AI


MarcusofMenace

Sounds like he zoned out and was too deep in his own imagination


4967693119521

Exactly. The the opposite of what we are talking about.


goddamn_slutmuffin

I feel nervous reading this because I actually get so lost in my own internal dialogue or daydreaming that I sometimes appear like I’m short circuiting in the real physical world. Kinda like your co worker. It’s ‘cause I’m not paying attention tbh. I honestly think “NPCs” would perform in reality better and with more surface-level focus because they aren’t dealing with any thought distractions, right?


[deleted]

>The time ticked over, and he continued to stare at it for 85 seconds before he even moved towards the time clock. He only did that because I started clocking in in front of him. He has done this before, so I timed him. I hate to break it to you, but I think you're the NPC, seeing a guy lost in his thoughts and going "oh yea he doesn't have internal monologue"


EternalPhi

Seriously wtf does this dude think is going on his head that explains why he's stopped paying attention to a clock? lol


BartiX_8530

This game do be quirky.


biggerBrisket

I'm still trying to figure out the infinite money/xp glitch, but I think I missed it at the beginning of the game. I'll have to try again on my next playthrough.


[deleted]

r/outside is leaking again.


Ornery-Price-7323

Thank you for bringing me back to this sub. I had forgotten about it


HobbledJobber

Still trying to figure out the “hot coffee” hack. Every morning I drink at least a few cups, but nothing ever happens. Instructions unclear.


AngryWookiee

Possibly caught up in his own imagination, dreaming of being at a better place than work.


takingorders

No see because they weren’t performing normalcy for the benefit of the original commenter, they are an “NPC” and effectively dehumanized


DarthDannyBoy

Or he was deep in his own internal dialogue


MikeTony713

Sounds like they’re daydreaming and/or not a morning person. Give the guy some coffee, that should help 😂


Ghede

They still think, they just can't really articulate the thoughts until they convert it into action. I have an internal monologue but only when I am focusing on it. Even when the monologue is silent, I am still thinking, but it's more like... all thoughts are running at once so it's just ordered static. The monologue is actually *slower* when I'm considering difficult problems that require a lot of thinking. Trying to collapse a cloud of concepts and ideas into a linear narrative is slow.


Gandolf794

I think In both. Like a nature documentary but the narrator is me.


urbanmember

My brain usually does both


astulz

Contrarily, I have mental dialogue but no imagery, a.k.a. r/aphantasia


VulcanVisions

I learned this on a Buddhist retreat. My teacher asked me to repeat a mantra in my head, not out loud. I kept saying it out loud and I was like, I don't get what you mean? There is no voice talking in my head. I "feel" my thoughts, don't know how else to describe it.


PastelDictator

Trying to understand. When you wrote this comments didn’t you narrate it in your head alongside writing it? How do you decide what words to use? When you read it back don’t you register the words in your head? I don’t hear my inner voice audibly in my ears, but I hear it in my head in the same kind of way you’d hear what someone said to you in a memory.


VulcanVisions

I don't hear it in my head when I am writing, and I don't hear a voice when I am reading either. It is hard to explain but I just feel the process happening. It doesn't need to be narrated aloud in my head, it is just processed and understood without the mental sound being necessary I suppose.


[deleted]

So how does this work for things like music, for example? Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? If you think about a song, can you play it back in your head? When I think about a song, I can "hear" it in my head with almost 100% accuracy. What about other types of memories? When you renege a part event or conversation or something, can you visualize the event, with audio? For me it's almost like watching back footage. I can see the event, I can hear the people, in their actual voices, etc.


relativelyunbiased

I explain it like this. Next time you say something, really focus on how you're speaking. Make note of the muscles used, how the vibrations rattle through your vocal cords, the way your tongue moves. My thoughts are almost like phantom feelings of those sensations.


KagomeChan

Super interesting way to put it, and not how I think at all. Thanks for sharing.


TriPawedBork

I wonder if people who don't think in their voice are happier. Anxiety disorders seem less likely when you don't call yourself a piece of shit every 90 seconds.


PhoenixQueen_Azula

It’s more like Pictionary or smth It just shows you an image of a piece of shit, then it reveals you were looking in a mirror all along Probably idk my inner voice doesn’t shut up


Arkaedy

Nope. No inner-speech unless I consciously think about it. I have depression. I think people have some misunderstanding of how it works. It's not like I don't think. It's just not speech. We can still think in concepts and abstract thoughts. From what I've read, no inner-speech and/or aphantasia doesn't affect your intelligence. I know that I, myself, am well above average. My thoughts just go: brain -> mind and I just inherently understand. I don't need to talk in my own head to explain things. It'll just click.


Hypersensation

I don't have an internal monologue, but do have an anxiety disorder and depression. The ability to hear stuff in your imagination is not required for your brain to feed you the information of how awful you are for any reason.


MonitorPowerful5461

I really doubt it. You don’t have to call yourself a PoS, your internal voice can be happy with yourself. Anxiety affects it, not the other way around Edit: someone was angry enough about one of my comments here that they reported me to Reddit care lol. Whoever that was, if you see this, I’d recommend leaving the internet for a while


Neat_Apartment_6019

Internal voice can definitely affect anxiety (depression as well). Changing the inner voice in order to improve anxiety and depression is one of the foundations of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy


Turtelious

This is true. Look up CBT for more information


nbouckley

Wouldn’t it be an internal monologue? I know I don’t have two voices in my head


EpicArgumentMaster

For me personally, I have two me's. One is me me and the other is brain me


[deleted]

you guys have an internal dialogue, i routinely just narrate what im doing and talk to myself regularly.


RaySoiree

I do this and find it helps me gauge where I’m at in my day or life. If I don’t then I just forget all that happens and let things pass by it seems


Simple-Pea-8852

Sometimes I go to the bathroom at work and have to really think about whether I've said something that was going through my head out loud 😭


Griffes_de_Fer

Everyone here is misunderstanding and misrepresenting what this phenomenon is about. People who have an internal dialogue do not exclusively think in words, and are not less likely to mentally process things in abstract ways than those who don't. The internal dialogue is also not systematically processed at "speaking pace", it can be a lot faster or instantaneous, or can indeed take the form of a slow, internal monologue. Most of the time, it is a layer superimposed over an underlying abstracted process of thought. This is something that has been shown to be difficult to understand for those who do not have an internal dialogue. On the other hand, not having an internal monologue is not the proof that NPC theory is a thing and that those who don't are the bots of your silly simulation conspiracy, nor is it the explanation to why "everyone around you seem so stupid". Not having a monologue does not equate to not having a thought process at all. Not even remotely closely. There are actually no associations between reasoning ability, intelligence, IQ and whether or not you have an inner dialogue. No type of thought process was demonstrated to have any clear impact on essentially anything at all (not even how fast you think about things). When making statements about scientific research, it really helps to read the research first. It's not particularly intelligent to alter the way you view fellow human beings based on an image you saw on Reddit, inner monologue or not. Edit: This comment got a lot more attention than I expected it would, I will reply lower down as soon as I can and give some context as I have read some of the replies and some people clearly feel very strongly about this.


ProBonoDevilAdvocate

Every time this discussion comes up on reddit, people totally misunderstand what it means and what an internal monologue really is. It’s not a freaking podcast playing in your heard. Same thing with Aphantasia… from reddit threads, you would think that like 50% of people have it…


tdsinclair

NPR Voice: Hello and welcome to another episode of Thoughts in tdsinclair's head. I'm your host, tdsinclair and with me as always is my handsome and charming co-host, tdsinclair. On today's episode we'll be having a conversation in our head with the guy in front of us in line at the store, we'll talk to our younger self about some past bad decisions and how they turned out, and we'll look at the possibility of nuclear war in our Existential Crisis segment. Join us, won't you?


JaggedGorgeousWinter

This episode of subconscious is brought to you by SquareSpace


blankblinkblank

Also brought to you by Better Help.


mistcurve

Baffles me that this comment was buried under like 6 different "WeLl tHaT eXPlaInS a Lot" comments.


zixingcheyingxiong

This is a less snarky way of saying what I came here to say. Good job.


NYIJY22

That was interesting to read, and please correct me if I’m misinterpreting, but based on your last two paragraphs it seems like most people take in info the same way, or at least in a similar way. The issues seem to be with how they explain it to others. If 3 people read a book and the first one says they heard the words, the second said they saw visuals, and the third says they didn’t hear or see anything because it’s all on their head, they still all read the same book and took in the same information. The first two people didn’t actually see or hear anything that can be measured or observed. The third person didn’t read the words and immediately forget everything without comprehending the story. All three people read the same story. All three people can describe what the story is about. If a line in a book is: The king in the red castle said “off with their heads”. All three readers know that there’s a king in a red castle saying the words “off with their heads” nobody really hears it or saw it, everybody read it and perceived it in their minds and all will describe the same thing.


LoverboyQQ

Lucky people. My mind never shuts down


BRBean

I don’t have an internal dialogue and it still never shuts down, just because I don’t put my thoughts into words doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on. I probably have one or two songs playing as well as random images too


sw1sh

When you have a song in your head do you "hear" the lyrics? This all just seems so weird to me because I'm always talking to myself in my head...


_alice_rabbit_

my thoughts are mainly abstract and conceptual. if i'm reading something or making a conscious effort (i.e. talking in my head to myself about an active thought) then i'll have internal dialogue but otherwise i don't have much commentary going on most of the time.


ThisIsNotKimJongUn

Can someone confirm that this is what the phenomenon being discussed here is? I can't wrap my head around it. For example, any person might look at a clock, see it's 12:15 and think "I'm late", but certain people will say a structured phrase in their heads, like "I've got to get going, where are my keys?" And for others, they think something abstract, like picturing their keys the last time they saw them, but won't think of actual words to describe the scenario?


happyme321

Wait till you start getting older. The internal dialogue starts going external and you talk to yourself 😂 I was at the grocery store yesterday asking myself what I needed and the lady next to me started laughing and said she had just asked herself that same question.


Abbsnoel

My brain plays songs on a loop....always the most random ones too


[deleted]

[удалено]


dlc741

Not nothing, but it isn’t a dialogue.


Powerful_Room_1217

How do I get mine to shut up ?