I wonder if 1,000 years ago, people’s minds wandered into the future or past as often as ours do today?
I suspect not. Of course they had concerns for their well-being, relationships, politics, wars, and many other things to deal with which we do not.
But they didn’t have (I don’t think) this ‘default mode’ of being ‘always on’ which is exacerbated by our current culture and all it’s available forms of media.
For example, today you might speak with hundreds of different people every day, or even thousands, depending on your work. Or, today you might consume 10X or even 100X as much information per day.
Just how much do our minds wander today?
Well, try sitting down and paying attention to your thoughts for ten minutes and you’ll see for yourself 🙂
Matt Fried 