> What’s more, people’s negative moods appeared to be the result, rather than the cause, of the mind wandering.
This is I think one useful take away from the article... on the other hand...
> “A lot of us spend a lot of time trying to optimize the objective reality of our lives,” he told me. “But we don’t spend a lot of time and effort trying to optimize where our minds go.”
I'm so sorry but I refuse to take this seriously. The modern day obsession with optimization is off the rails and honestly is probably the thing that makes most people miserable. My man lost respect with that line of thinking.
But I don't know mind wandering/daydreaming is pretty lit. I like the distraction. Yeah, sometimes it can be a not very positive experience but I feel like these researchers either fail to address or don't discuss the distinction between daydreaming and anxious thought.
I'm 100% with you on this one. I feel like people who won't like mind wandering are heavy Type-A, control-oriented personalities, who have some external objective in mind, and are unsatisfied until that objective is completed.
I don't think I've ever experienced a negative mood due to mind wandering. If anything, negative moods for me result in more fixation on a problem, where my mind will not wander, and will just constantly come back to a single thing.