RE: Unconscious Abilities of the Mind
Hi, I'm Shawn. Nice to meet you.
The human mind is always an impressive topic to read about.
Spoiler: It's a fun thing to screw with, y'know, if you ever get tired of reading.
How the mind can adapt to almost any situation is truly remarkable.
Err.... this is so vague as to be meaningless. #justsayin'
I drive quite a bit, usually about 25-30k miles per year. I have had this happen to me several times on long trips and it scares the crap out of me every time. Here I am piloting this 4 thousand pound machine at 70 Mph down the road and don't even remember the last 5 miles. In a way I think we rely on the unconscious mind a little too much at times.
At what point would this reliance become "too much"?
Todays electronic and sensory overload leads to even more distraction.
How so?
This Auto-Pilot usually effects me most when looking at the time, then instantly forgetting what time it is. Like my conscious mind just passed it off to my sub-conscious and left me out of the loop entirely.
How are you affected?
Delegating driving, a complex task on its own, to your subconscious is apparently a very common thing. That’s frightening. Going down the road wondering if the other drivers are focused or worrying about their next social media post is what I’m concerned with now. That to me, is too much. Because now I’m distracted wondering if the car getting ready to turn across my intended path is focused.
As I just mentioned, with even a complicated task like driving a vehicle it’s amazing how many times I’m distracted. Be it thinking about something I need to do when I stop, send a text, write an email, take a note, Etc... not to mention the passengers in the car playing games, engaging on social media talking about snapchats, text messages. There’s just a lot of external distractions that feed into this autopilot mechanism.
As stated the autopilot I notice the most is when looking at the time. How many times have you looked at a clock only to have to look again right after. Is this a force of habit? Should I know what time it is, is my subconscious aware of something I may have forgotten. What caused me to look at the time just to instantly forget what time it is?