No Internal Monologue/Commentary?

[Djmac1031]

Oh god I only wish my internal dialog would shut the fuck up sometimes.

I need white noise and / or ambient music just to fall asleep anymore.

 

[AG31]

I struggle with this at night as well. What I do is use my Kindle to access YouTube, where I can find A LOT of background noise video's, some that play for ten or more hours. (not that I ever sleep that long). There are also story telling video's that are supposed to help a person fall asleep. My favorite video is the sound of a train traveling over its tracks while its raining. (be careful not to get the ones with blowing horns...WTH?)

I have a pair of panasonic clip on earphones that are unobtrusive. I sleep on my back though. Sleeping on the side of your head would get painful. But then, if there is anyone esle in the room with you, they might enjoy the background sound as well, so no need for the earphones. You might need speakers though, which probably are an easy purchase on Amazon.

The only problem is that unless you're a member, YouTube can interrupt with commercials. I find that the membership cost is worth it though.

Another technique for shutting off the internal dialogue while trying to fall asleep is to turn the TV to Forensic Files just low enough that it's hard to understand. The narrator has a wonderfully soporific voice.

 

[OddLove]

Another technique for shutting off the internal dialogue while trying to fall asleep is to turn the TV TO Forensic Files just low enough that it's hard to understand. The narrator has a wonderfully soporific voice.

I've seen every single episode of The Joy of Painting like ten times over now, so I might have to check out Forensic Files. I love Bob Ross, but sometimes I need a break.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I need documentaries that are at least somewhat interesting so when I'm not falling asleep I don't want to drive an ice pick through my ear, but not so interesting than I'll stay up and watch it with rapt attemption.

Really anything PBS will do at this point. They talk slow enough that the information is interesting, but it takes freaking donkey's years to say anything interesting.

 

[AG31]

They talk slow enough that the information is interesting

Yeah, but they're slowly speeding it up. :-(

 

[TheArsonist]

Yes, according to many people I've asked or listened discuss this topic, when they are not talking or listening, it's silent in their head. Which blows my mind.

To me the notion of a constant inner monologue sounds like a nightmare, like an intrusive thought or an earworm you can never get rid of. And asking how it's possible to think without verbalizing it internally is a bit like asking how you can possibly go about your day without constantly solving math problems or working out Tetris strategies or playing out erotic fantasies in your head non-stop. Stringing words together is one mental process, but there are lots of others, and they function just as well (if not better, like the centipede) without narrating them to yourself.

My stream of consciousness is kind of multimedia: it can include words and sentences, but it can also be sense impressions (images, sounds, flavors, emotional states, … ), actions, shapes, movements or abstract ideas and structures, depending on what my focus is.

Let's say I'm absorbed in a story idea I'm developing. I might be trying to flesh out the female MC by brainstorming possible occupations for her, with each idea flashing through my head as one or more half-visualized images, scenes or associations. For example: Something that keeps her outside, walking the streets (potential "street walker" joke there … or is it an actual possibility? – nah) … dog walker (visualizing) – no, too cutesy, romcom-y … beat cop (visualizing) – nope … tour guide (visualizing) – she's standing in the middle of a group of tourists, talking; tour guide patter, dumb jokes, crowd chuckles; is what she's saying accurate or BS? maybe she's interested in history; I've been on ghost tours, that could be sexy; how do tour guides dress? (visualizing) she's holding up her hand, having climbed on top of a bench to be seen by the whole group because she's so short (Oh, I guess she's short!); tourists can be idiots – it's frustrating, like herding cats or lemmings (possible conflict/plot development); lots of walking; (imagining/sense memory) – she's tired, her feet and throat are sore; it's raining (brr!) – she has a cold, her voice is gone, she sneezes in tourist's face (funny, build reader sympathy via misfortune) … OK, let's try another – meter maid …

I have to write it down as words to convey it in this post, but in reality it would be mostly non-verbal. Just now, for instance, I had the idea of a parking enforcement officer non-verbally first (the concept of a meter maid), and then had to remember the name for it in order to write it down. It's more like trying to fit together a hundred imaginary snapshots and links into an overall jigsaw design, figuring out which ones fit and which ones don't.

 

[Dodola]

No, my thoughts don't happen in the form of a voice constantly narrating my environment. I tend to visualize thoughts, including when I'm reading.
I do have tinnitus, though, from being around loud music for most of my life.
It's a challenge and frustrating at times, but thankfully, mine sounds like the same mixture of insects you hear in the trees at night. I consider myself lucky compared to some who hear such harsh sounds that it tests their sanity.

 

[NuclearFairy]

No, my thoughts don't happen in the form of a voice constantly narrating my environment. I tend to visualize thoughts, including when I'm reading.
I do have tinnitus, though, from being around loud music for most of my life.
It's a challenge and frustrating at times, but thankfully, mine sounds like the same mixture of insects you hear in the trees at night. I consider myself lucky compared to some who hear such harsh sounds that it tests their sanity.

Depends on where you live and what time of year. If my tinnitus was constantly screaming "Whooperwhill!" I'd prolly go crazy.

 

[Dodola]

Depends on where you live and what time of year. If my tinnitus was constantly screaming "Whooperwhill!" I'd prolly go crazy.

Oh me too, any bird sounds would not be good. Some people have beeping or rumbling. That would be rough.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

I'm interested to know this too. Sometimes my internal monologue can become external, leading to curious stares from people I didn't realize were in the same room as me.

While it can help me work through thought processes, I sometimes wonder if it can be a distraction too.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Oh me too, any bird sounds would not be good. Some people have beeping or rumbling. That would be rough.

For me it's always been been a soft background high-pitched ring.

 

[Dodola]

For me it's always been been a soft background high-pitched ring.

Mine is cicadas, crickets, frogs?, etc.
All the things that make up the choir in the trees on a warm summer night.
It's most bothersome when I'm in a quiet environment. I can tune it out when there's noise around me, and I sleep with a small fan running, for the motor noise.
I wish the 40s me could have a chat with the 20s me and have a do-over.

 

[Erozetta]

So, my husband and a friend have both aphantasia and no inner monologue and I've talked to them both about this before. They both say roughly the same things "thoughts are sort of abstract words and ideas, not images, not sounds, just words."

I still don't understand.

I have a vivid visual imagination and a constant inner monologue (which sometimes gets me in trouble because I will bust out laughing at some random thing in my head and have actually woken myself up laughing a few times.)

I cannot imagine what thoughts are if they exist as only words that you can't see or hear. And I asked about feeling the thoughts and they had no idea what I meant.

It should also be noted that they are just as perplexed that I have a literal series of dialogue going constantly in my brain alongside detailed images.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Mine is cicadas, crickets, frogs?, etc.
All the things that make up the choir in the trees on a warm summer night.
It's most bothersome when I'm in a quiet environment. I can tune it out when there's noise around me, and I sleep with a small fan running, for the motor noise.
I wish the 40s me could have a chat with the 20s me and have a do-over.

It's a life long thing for me. I didn't even know that hearing a constant ringing wasn't normal until I read about it as an adult. So I wouldn't even know who to go back in time to and have a chat with.

 

[TheArsonist]

I cannot imagine what thoughts are if they exist as only words that you can't see or hear.

I would suspect that "abstract words" is just a metaphor, and doesn't necessarily mean that it's always verbalized.

You talk about your husband. When you think of him, is there more going through your mind than his name (or some statement about him) or the image of his face/body? If there is, you're having a thought that isn't expressed in words or images.

And of course, I've never met or seen your husband, so I have no concrete notion of the man. To me, he is only an abstract idea of a "husband": he has no face, no name. But I can still think and reason about him.

Or to take another example, what does the number 5 mean to you? Is it just a word, a picture? To me, neither of those really capture the "five-ness" of the number, the quality that things that are five have in common. There's a mass of associations that are independent of the symbol or a mental image, something that is recognizable regardless of the label or visualization.

Finally, if you ever struggle to find the right words to say what you mean, it shows that you're having a thought that is separate from any internal monologue.

 

[Erozetta]

I would suspect that "abstract words" is just a metaphor, and doesn't necessarily mean that it's always verbalized.

You talk about your husband. When you think of him, is there more going through your mind than his name (or some statement about him) or the image of his face/body? If there is, you're having a thought that isn't expressed in words or images.

And of course, I've never met or seen your husband, so I have no concrete notion of the man. To me, he is only an abstract idea of a "husband": he has no face, no name. But I can still think and reason about him.

Or to take another example, what does the number 5 mean to you? Is it just a word, a picture? To me, neither of those really capture the "five-ness" of the number, the quality that things that are five have in common. There's a mass of associations that are independent of the symbol or a mental image, something that is recognizable regardless of the label or visualization.

Finally, if you ever struggle to find the right words to say what you mean, it shows that you're having a thought that is separate from any internal monologue.

For me, there's always sound or words or images or feelings associated with thought.

And generally, when I struggle to find the right word for something it's less a lack of options than an overabundance of them going through my head and working out the reasoning of why yes or no to that option. Like... Okay, so, someone asks me a question, "What's a word for..." And I think about the phrase or term or feeling, or whatever they asked about and I see the options all around me and I ask questions about context to narrow down the right ones or the ones that might lead me to the right ones.

When I think of my husband, I will literally see the word "husband" in my mind. Sometimes it's his name, or the word has videos in each letter not dissimilar to the marvel studios movie logo, all of him, or I'll have his voice in my head or feel his hand on my shoulder even when he's not there. There are always things associated with him when the thought of husband slips through my mind.

I don't have any moment where there's not an image, sound, feeling, or such around thoughts. That's why I can't imagine what they mean when they say it's just words. They don't see the words, they don't hear the words, or feel anything associated with the words, or taste the words... How do the words exist without any of that connected to them?

It's literally constant images, words, thoughts, sounds. It doesn't always make sense, but there will be an image, sound, or word that goes through my mind.

And if someone asks me something I don't know, I just see myself standing in a black void, echoey and vast.

Edited to add: My brain is the equivalent of "Toon Town" with a Clive Barker aesthetic, and I don't know how to turn any of that off.

 

[AG31]

They both say roughly the same things "thoughts are sort of abstract words and ideas, not images, not sounds, just words."

I still don't understand.

You've had the experience of casting about for the right word to express something, right? Is it sometimes not accompanied by an image? What if you couldn't get right to the word for an abstraction, like
Ambiguity or Possibility or Identity or Meaning or Continuity or Paradox? Unless your mind immediately sees an image (and some people's minds do), you are experiencing what we aphantasics experience when we think. We deal in constructs, concepts. No words or pictures.