Day 4: Brain Downtime

Wish 4: Considerate Mindlessness

Mindlessness is a new term I've picked up in the past two years. I think that it is when we shift down our mental gears. It happens when we don't run our brains at our regular or full capacity. In verbal communication, it results in misunderstanding.

Mindlessness happens to everybody. When we're tired, we might not make much sense. When we want to wind down, we let our TV set stop at any channel, even one where they show steak knives that can cut tin cans.

It can happen to the most admirable people we know. In my first job, I carpooled with an excellent training manager, and when it was her turn to drive, she seemed oblivious to danger. You might have an impressive boss who watches staged wresting at night. How about timid accounting managers who wear leather and ride Harley-Davidson bikes on weekends? Why would otherwise rational people paint themselves in preparation for a sporting event? Mindlessness. It's downtime for our brains.

We hear a lot about mindlessness in media today. For example, there are those incoherent text messages sent by actress Lindsay Lohan. Kids do crazy things when the video camera is on them, such that it becomes a TV sport. (A documentary simply called this phenomenon "stupidity".) A personality doesn't realize he or she is insulting a group until told so - then you know what comes next: remorseful appearances filled with apologies.

Mindlessness is not wrong in itself. It is our body's mechanism to prevent depression or burnout. When we go to see a movie, sometimes we are in the mood for a thought-provoking drama or documentary, and sometimes we're looking for slapstick. Men, here is a tip for you. A great gift for your significant other is a spa, or time alone. It's nothing short of the ultimate scheduled mindlessness for a busy woman.

But when mindlessness hits people in a social context, it is dangerous. You can't wind down while operating a crane or driving a car. You can't lose coherence and sensitivity when you're with people in a prankish mood. You shouldn't abandon thought when speaking with family or friends. What would happen if someone took a brain break while hunting?

Today, I saw kids throw a juice box at a guy in a chicken suit. Okay it does sound funny. But not when you think that this kid is just trying to earn a decent living. But just extrapolate that a bit. Two kids hold a rock over a pedestrian overpass to see what would happen to a windshield when it drops. You ask, "what were they thinking?" And the answer is, "they weren't". At the wrong time and with the wrong company, all forethought of consequences are abandoned. And mindlessness becomes a deadly weapon.

My wish today is for considerate mindlessness. It is for people to gear down in their own time, instead of when they are with others. And if they do reduce brain function in social events, let it not be a total abandonment of consideration.