Attentional Holes, Part II

 In an earlier blog posting, I compared mental training to physical training. With the latter, increased physical capacity comes from the strategic application of training load and recovery. Without recovery, even the most tactically applied training load will generate only incremental gains in physical capacity. With the mind, on the other hand, most of us keep a steady stream of stimulus flowing in through the attentional holes (eyes, ears, nose and mouth). Down time is no longer a recovery of any sort, as most people trade one stimulus for another. For example, after a studying or work session, do you unwind by watching a YouTube video or stalking online shopping deals? If you said yes, you’re most likely in the majority – lots of mental stimulus, with little (if any) recovery.

 

The popular attentional scholar, Cal Newport, coined the term Solitude Deprivation. In his recent book, Digital Minimalism, Newport defined Solitude Deprivation as a state in which you spend close to zero time alone with your own thoughts and free from input from other minds. Reflecting upon this definition, I realized that most of my adult life has been spent in Solitude Deprivation. I assuredly periodized my physical training by alternating stimulus with recovery, though I did not follow the same protocols with my mind. When mental work was done, whether related to work or studying, I plugged my attentional holes with other, different stimuli such as random podcasts, background music or articles. My mind only recovered during the time I spent meditating or sleeping.

I found this image illustrative
(credit to: Christian Bøgelund)

For the past few months, I’ve been experimenting with reducing my Solitude Deprivation by carefully curating my downtime. Rather than absentmindedly turning on a podcast or reading a magazine article I would soon forget, I now pause to assess my mental training load. More often than not I find that when I’m most tempted to stuff something into an attentional hole, my mind is most needing some recovery time. While leaving the attentional holes unfilled may seem boring, the preliminary results have exceeded my expectations.

 

In cultivating what I initially labeled boredom, the first and most noticeable benefit was… sleep. I slept through the night for consecutive nights… which used to be a rarity. Furthermore, on those days when I unwound by plugging up an attentional hole, whether reading a book or listening to NPR, my sleep was compromised. And it wasn’t just sleep – I’ve found several other noteworthy benefits that I’ll discuss in a future posting.

 

In summary, the mind seems capable of processing a finite quantity of stimuli, much like the body. Many of us keep the mind working all day, every day, with little open space for recovery. There’s an epidemic of Solitude Deprivation, and whether it expresses as impaired sleep, anxiety, depression or what have you… I am of the opinion that we need far less mental input for our optimal wellbeing.