Chit-Chat

[pshaw_raven]

Today I Learned That Not Everyone Has an Internal Monologue and It Has Ruined My Day

I have wondered about this for some time now. I have a very detailed, almost constant internal monologue, which meditation is helping to break up and change the tone of. Some of that constant internal chatter is part of my anxiety and I'm trying to challenge it, but that's another post.

One time I took a women's studies lit class. One of the professors said, like she was stating a fact, that when people read, most people assume a male voice for the narrator. Like, in your head, the voice you hear speaking is a man's voice. At this point in my college career I knew better than to speak up, so I just kind of sat on it, but I asked some of my friends about their "internal narrator," and most of them just looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out my ears.

When I read, no matter who the narrator is, I hear my own voice. Harry Potter? Sounds like me. Stephen King novel? Also sounds like me. French art theory? C'est moi. Book written from the POV of an animal? Yeah, still sounds like my own voice.

I wonder what it's like to NOT have that. Like you just use an entirely different way of conceptualizing and relating to the world. Kind of cool.

Comments

[8hyenas]

I'm loving reading people talk about this article! Such a unique thing to learn about someone. From this (yes, I do have a internal narrator/dialogue) I learned that you actual "hear" your voice. Mine doesn't "sound" like anything. Because I have an absolutely awful ear for voices and tone. It doesn't sound like me, or anyone else it's not audio. If that makes sense. Now, it does sound like me in my speech patterns. But other than that I can't say that it has a sound, because I don't think in sounds.

Also my voice is more of a prodding sort of "well, get up. get up now. ... now." and rarely do I speak in full sentences to myself. I'd say I only talk internally about 10 paragraphs a day if you take out my constant reminding of a to-do list.

[pshaw_raven]

I guess mine is a sort of unending run-on sentence. I don't really hear it, so much as it's background thinking that goes on more or less constantly. I could be focused on doing a particular task, but there's a bit of my brain still yammering, "So if I started seed trays too late last year maybe this year is too early, maybe I should go look this up, when is Mardi Gras this year? I bet it's going to be really hot this summer, I should build a greenhouse, it should be climate controlled" etc etc etc.

I don't have a great ear for voices, but if it's someone I know well and have heard talk a lot, I can sometimes "think" in their voice, like practicing a conversation. Because I definitely rehearse conversations ahead of time, then flub what I was going to say anyway, and feel like a total idiot. :D

[raptorish]

This sort of thing is endlessly fascinating to me.

When I read or write, I do sort of "hear" the words but... not exactly. I don't hear a voice at all, and yet I have a sense of hearing them. Very hard to explain.

Beyond that, I don't have an internal narrator throughout my day. I only think in images and concepts, really. If words DO come to me, I literally start talking out loud to myself, most of the time, unless it would be inappropriate. The only other time I think in words is when I'm composing a piece of writing in my head, or re-reading something in my head.

[pshaw_raven]

Sometimes I do find it easier to think in images. But often there's still a background buzz of verbal thought that goes with it. It's like my brain figured out one day that it can talk to itself and hasn't stopped since. It's less like a voiceover in a movie and pretty much like what you said about talking to yourself. Except silently. Maybe like when you're trying to memorize something and you repeat it to yourself.

[we_are_spc]

When we read, it do sound like us, but the voice changes to fit the character, 'specially if we know they be male or female before hand.

Some of us think in concepts, others words; be dependin' on the person.

Also, Heyos again. Since it be the bio-job's second week I'ma be here a bit. We switchin' out so we can all do it if we must.

~*~*~*Craimar*~*~*~

[pshaw_raven]

Kinda thought you all might be busy with the new job.
I can grasp how someone would think in concepts, but then I tend to frame that as "chunks of words," so maybe I don't have quite the right idea.

[we_are_spc]

Tha's how we think when we type, sometimes.

Pick up sentenc, flop it on screen.

Unless it be somethin' like a comment, then it just be single words. But if we wantin' to be writtin' fast like, then it's chunks an' shit. Be faster tha' way.

~*C*~

[expandranon]

I don't generally "hear" an internal voice except where the narrative calls for it. I can make myself hear a narrative voice while reading if I want to, but that takes extra processing or simply forces me to read at the pace of the spoken word and that makes me read slower.

I do, however, have conversations with myself in my head. I find it odd that internal me smokes a lot.

[pshaw_raven]

Sometimes I can "do" voices for a novel, but as you said, it takes extra effort. Sometimes it will come more naturally, like with Harry Potter - since I've seen all the movies a couple of times, it's easy to hear the actors' voices when reading the books.

Better internal you smoking than external you, right? :>

[expandranon]

I'd definitely prefer my internal me smoke than real life me.

I used to envision unique characters with their own voices when I read, but I've gotten lazy over the years. When I read the Expanse series, I just had Danny Devito play James Holden. :P

[evilpettingz00]

I would be surprised if any of my friends didn't have an internal monologue. It seems a certain type would and that type is the type I most relate to.

That said, I wouldn't be too surprised if my husband doesn't have one. He also does very little reading. I suspect people with internal monologues are more likely to be readers.

[pshaw_raven]

I get the same feeling - I was an avid reader from childhood, so perhaps it's something people learn to do when they do a lot of reading.

[dorchadas]

I could get the "some people can't visualize things" article, but the "no internal monologue" one is totally outside my experience. I can't even imagine what that's like.

Though someone I know mentioned she doesn't have one, and it's part of the reason she's always talking to herself. If she tries to think though things it's little "emotion clouds," in her words, so to reason things out requires externalizing them.

[pshaw_raven]

The "emotion clouds" sounds slightly similar to something Fox said, which is that he tends to take information and think about it in big blocks, not necessarily line by line.

[zenbaker]

There are people who dont do this?

Oh, Wow..

[pshaw_raven]

Yeah, a few days later and it's still messing with my mind.

[yarrowkat]

i definitely do have an internal monologue that is just its own voice, some sort of internal parallel to my own voice, but like expandranon upthread, i do not read in a voice. i read much faster than a spoken conversation (it's actually one of the reasons i've never been able to get into audiobooks; they're so SLOW compared to if i just read the actual book). every now and then i find a book where the narrator's individual voice is so strong it dominates my internal reading voice/rhythm. sometimes that's interesting; often it's kind of irritating. i just finished Ta-Nahesi Coate's The Water Dancer and on the one hand, it's lyrical and beautiful and does an exquisite job of delivering the voice and patterns and rhythms of 19th century Virginia, and on the other hand, whoa was that frustrating, to have to read it in that slow voice.

[pshaw_raven]

I actually hadn't considered the speed of reading. I'm a fairly fast reader, but sometimes I realize I haven't absorbed what I've read as well as I'd like, so I go back and re-read, so that obviously slows me down, overall. I don't actually listen to audiobooks, so I'm going to try getting one from the library to see how that works.

[cdayzee]

I can very much relate! My internal monologue isn't constant but it's very present. I don't know what it's like to have a quiet mind. I think lots of people who identify as introverts are like this.

I hear my own voice also when reading.

I tried talking to my husband about this once but he had no concept of an internal monologue. He said his mind is usually blank. I was like you never have a random thought. He's like sure but not often. This also translates into falling asleep. He can literally drop right off whereas I don't. I cannot understand how a person can do that.

I heard something one time: our internal dialog takes on the voice of the parent who chastised us most often. So in that case, my internal voice should be my mom.

[pshaw_raven]

Fox said he tends to think more in blocks of information, or as another commenter mentioned hearing about "emotion clouds." Both of us have "chatty" minds though, but he's a little better and shutting his internal voice up than I am.

And oh yes, do I ever hear that Mom Voice. It's been better lately, as I'm trying to actively challenge and defuse it. But boy is it there. :P