A thought. I was reading the follow-up to a wellbeing study I’d heard about ages ago that uses a phone app to track real-time moments in happiness.
Psychologist Matthew Killingsworth who put the project together tracked daydreaming as well. And found this:
Daydreaming is not good for well-being.
Which surprised me, and it might you. But Matt drilled down:
Minds tend to wander to dark, not whimsical, places.
This stopped me for a bit. It’s true. The majority of my meanderings aren’t rosy, unless I consciously steer them that way. This is kind of sad, but I’m sure there’s an evolutionary (or otherwise) reason for it (spending spare mental time nutting out strategies for difficult situations can keep us prepared and vigilant).
The app study covered more than 650,000 real-time reports from more than 15,000 people. Big and broad. It also found people