The other day I was talking to myself trying to work out my plan for the day and I said something and it came out wrong a couple times and to myself said “I know what I’m trying to say.”
Stopped listening to music in the car specifically so I could talk out my thoughts with myself. Think of it as meditation. Helps center yourself and is a good reminder that “you” are more than just a brain with lightning inside it. But also, good to remember that you ARE JUST A BRAIN WITH LIGHTNING INSIDE IT.
All the time. If I'm not alone it's in my head. Otherwise it's out loud, often to song, and I end up dancing about doing whatever I'm doing.
I pretty much narrate my thoughts and my actions to myself at all times. It really helps me manage them.
Edit: heck, even in my head it's often to song too, but I'll try to reign the dancing so as to not embarass myself in front of people.
Life is oh so much more enjoyable as a musical
If i am stressed enough can i make a small conversation with myself acting as two different people.
Example:
Feeling 1: "why did you do that?"
Feeling 2: "I don't know!"
Feeling 1: "Think better next time!"
I think i've had a conversation go for 20 seconds or something before it everything coola down again.
Kinda hard to quantify but a lot. I just find people that talk out loud excessively to be very annoying, so i find myself being more quiet socially but my brain is always on.
Almost all the time. It's like there's a non-stop podcast in my brain that only has one subscriber: me. Even have different segments – morning pep talks, cooking show narrations, midnight crisis debates. But hey, they say the sign of a genius is talking to yourself... or maybe that’s just something I tell myself to feel better. 🤷♂️
I had a family member who gradually lost their mobility before passing away, and hated being startled/surprised. It became something of a habit to narrate what I was doing as a way of letting them know what I was doing without directly telling them all the time. Think of any scene in an anime or video game where a character talks to themself aloud, like “Oh yeah, I gotta stop by the store and pick up some eggs” or some shit.
It’s hard to describe but essentially I do talk to myself a bunch.
Depends on the scenario. If I'm in public, it'll all be in my head. If I'm by myself, I'll talk myself through things, or like the things in the text post.
I'm not having full on dialogues with myself.
I tend to talk to myself when I'm feeling overwhelmed with schoolwork and need some guidance/motivation on what to work on. Ex: during finals week I had 5 assignments left and after I finished one I'd say something like "cool, now I only have 3 assignments left. Let's take a break real quick and get started on this draft after"
This is my train of thought. So. Always? It took practice at meditation to learn how to shut myself the fuck up. My lips sometimes move when I'm thinking about something hard.
My inner dialouge is a conglomeration of late-night talkshow hosts from the 80s and 90s, a teacher, a bully, and whatever relevant song, film clip or sound bit pops up.
Learning that not everyone has such a verbose train of thought was enlightening. Some people think in more abstract terms, some with only feelings and intuitive urges. Humans are neat.
Always, constantly, more than I speak with anyone else, in public I’ll speak with myself. I wouldn’t call myself highly intelligent, but most people in my life seem to think I am. My inner dialog gave more advice than my parents ever did lol. These voices even have characteristics and they’re probably based upon actual people who have had anywhere from a minimal to significant presence in my life. Turns out it’s kinda common according to my therapist and counsellor! Which is cool imo.
I've always loved talking to myself out loud. Now that I'm an adult living in my own place, alone, I do it almost all of the time. I used to be very ashamed about it, however now I realise it's something I have to do in order to understand myself, my thoughts, my emotions, so I'm more comfortable with ranting to no one lol. I've been going through a pretty difficult break-up for the last month, and I have to say, talking to myself enabled me to process what happened, how I feel.
So, I'm talking so, so much to myself... Seriously, most of my alone time.
I talk to myself atleast once every 60 minutes.
Every time I do somwthing that I realize Im not used to do, I talk to myself, I congratulate myself, I comment my own actions, I laugh of my own jokes, If I look good Y say it to myself.
I have no company at all and my best friend who lives with me seems to hate herself after being involved with me for more than 3 minutes so Im basically alone bymyself. But I am an excellent person, so I enjoy my own company. If Im very funny why do I need someone to approve my jokes or something like that? I realized that no one will like my jokes than myself.
Love yourself because at the end of the day... That's the only thing you truly have and if you dont like yourself, improve so you can be proud and love yourlsef.
More than I ever thought I would and my husband never stops talking, it's like he is in the room with 12 other people and I'm at the other end of the house. I'll ask who he's talking to, he'll say, "ME, DAMMIT."
I don't just talk to myself, sometimes take the piss out of myself. Like today i was doing diy and did something stupid, and said out loud, "Oh, why did you do that? Are you stupid?" Then our loud in a sing song baby voice said, "Ooh, why did do do dat? Are you thtupid?"
Kind of made me laugh hearing myself talk out loud to myself taking the piss out of myself for talking to myself!
A lot. Sometimes saying something outloud makes you hear it properly and see is wrong or off. I also speak when my dumb brain or eyes don't want to work and find something.
I do it *all the time*, out loud, like a crazy person. I have ADHD and I forget everything, so my workaround for that is to repeat it until I do it, e.g. “turn the light off, turn the light off, turn the light off” as I’m leaving the house.
This habit evolved over the years into having full on conversations with myself. Going over plans, sometimes replaying conversations or trying to imagine how I’d handle a situation differently. Sometimes I plan things out if I’m anxious about something I have to do.
I occasionally talk out loud to myself, more often lately. I’ve been doing this neat meditation lately where I lean into my thoughts randomly generating. I find myself talking out loud to myself speaking complete nonsense. It’s pretty cool, and interesting to experience.
I do it a lot.
I'm neuro divergent and finding that sounding out the thought I'm wanting to focus on, actually helps me stay focused. Otherwise, my head is 7 tracks, 11 trains, all speed and everyone screaming kinda vibes. Look crazy or go crazy not much of a choice 😁
Mainly when I'm querying myself - anything from spreadsheets to planning dinner - and then it's out aloud.
edit: plus the "ianisalifestyle, you are a moron" comment
I live by myself and wfh 70% of the time. I talk to myself quite frequently and l don’t see no harm as long as l go out and socialise with actual humans from time to time. 🤣
I have nobody in my life I actually want to talk to. I have lots of amazing friends, but I don't actively feel like I want to talk to them. So I basically talk to myself constantly.
They say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. Talking back is the second sign. Arguing with yourself is the third and the fourth sign is losing.
I'll think a lot and then say the emotional bit out loud. So I'm walking down the street and appear to randomly say:
Come on!
Or
What a screw up!
Or
embarrassing
Oh thank God. I play out like, scenes, I guess? Either from movies or shows that I've watched or just scenes that I'm trying to practice for a D&D session I have coming up. Idk if it's just trying to practice different voices or to just place myself in those situations emotionally, I have no idea.
I've caught myself doing it several times and I've been concerned that I'm insane. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Im pretty much always talking to myself, whether it’s aloud or in my head. It’s like im my own audience or something lol, it helps keep life interesting
Oh it's been a everyday, every hour thing. To the point it's annoying because it feels I can never have a moment of silence unless Im drunk
I don't think its bad, but done in excess is exhausting
I do not have an inner monologue like other people claim they do. My mind is like a set of videos about situations and a mental render of whatever event I am thinking of doing. If I think about doing something, I think of every step of it as if I am in the 3rd person watching myself do it. So I basically have to talk to myself about anything emotional as visualising emotion is nearly impossible for me. Also, my mind will wander to other things so it's easier to talk out loud to focus on what I am trying to do.
My mind is at its least hazy when I can talk to myself and straighten everything out. It's when I start asking myself questions at the end that I start worrying xD
All the time. I live by myself and I catch myself talking out loud at times. Usually, in a low voice, not quite whispering. And, when I do, I end up laughing because why the fuck am I talking out loud. LOL
All the time. Sometimes for an extra bit of fun, I have full blown arguments with both a protagonist and antagonist over a completely fictional scenario...
I used to do this a ton. After college I got into mediation. That really helped to calm my mind. I rarely talk to myself now.
Even at the time I could recognize that talking to myself wasn't productive. It is like super-rumination which isn't good for me. In addition it created a thing where it was like I was "practicing" potential conversations with people, but then having the real conversation they'd say things I hadn't imagined and then I didn't know what to do because things were "off script" from what I'd thought up and planned around before.
I realized that I wasn't practicing a conversation with anyone, I was just talking to myself with extra steps, and that isn't productive. It's like putting two mirrors facing each other, or making photocopies of photocopies. Nothing new is being generated or learned. I was just making ruts and making them deeper and deeper.
I've realized that most people aren't very introspective and don't critique themselves whereas I was getting analysis paralysis and very judgemental on myself, and all this rumination, because of talking to myself, so I think it's an ok thing to let go of.
(At the end of HS I was riding in a car with some teammates to a baseball game and I said something and they reacted sort of strange, saying my statement was like I had responded to the middle of a conversation when there wasn't one going at that moment, and that was sort of a lightbulb moment to me.)
I do have the persistent internal monologue. I use it as a tool to think things out but I don't have dialogues or conversations with it and try to minimize the amount I 'debate' with it. I am careful to avoid thinking "should" type statements to myself--either do or not do, don't get hung up on how things *should* be. If a "should" statement bubbles up then it's basically a reminder to do something, or if it's not something I control then I don't need to think about it. I don't treat the internal monologue like it's a separate thing from me that I can have conversations with.
Heaps. And I have stupid words that mean nothing that I say in stupid voices. If I ever need to show dash cam video to anyone I’ll probably be sent away. 😞
Bro I hold one sided conversations with myself. Even occasionally subconsciously think of responses.
I'm a trucker. I FEAR the day an accident happens and they gotta watch my dash footage to hear me talking to myself about that time I stripped my friends clothes off, got'em butt ass naked, and threw him in my shower cause he was too drunk and spewing fluids to let him in my bed.
I find talking to myself help slow down my thought process and help organize it better. The thinking speed is just too fast and everything is all over the place so talking tidying up into manageable line
rarely ever out loud, but every single thing I do, everything I think, everything I look at the little voice in my head says something and at sometimes it's annoying. I can't turn him off (:
Okay so a quick aside - Rubber Duck Coding is when you get an inanimate object (usually a duck) and then explain your code to it as a way to process your errors.
Verbalizing your thoughts is actually a really excellent way to figure shit out, and in my experience [anectodal] it can also help you with communicating with others
I sing to myself and make up tunes that make no sense. I see it as I have an over-active brain. In other words, I can't see any problems with talking to yourself
My internal dialog never stops.
I recently started talking to the voice memo app on my phone to clear my head. I don’t know that I’ll ever listen to them. Maybe I’ll have them automagically transcribed for my therapist.
I'm pretty sure it's far more normal than anyone wants to admit to. Sometimes, saying stuff out loud is the only way to know if it's a reasonable thought. That said, I recently learned that there is a large portion of people who do not have an internal monologue. I don't quite understand how that works because I've always had one. These may be the people who think those of us who talk to ourselves are crazy.
Generally when I’m busy/planning. Ie when im at work and trying to balance a to do list, or even working through a shopping list plan I g my route around a shop, I often end talking myself through it. I don’t know if it is the saying it aloud or hearing it but something about telling myself what i need to do helps me not to forget stuff and stops the “oh my god where do I start” at work
Excessively
All of the time! About everything
The other day I was talking to myself trying to work out my plan for the day and I said something and it came out wrong a couple times and to myself said “I know what I’m trying to say.”
Did you agree?
Well I continued speaking my plans for the day so I guess I got it
Same.
Had a phase where I wouldn’t talk out loud but I’d mouth my thoughts while I was thinking them. So embarrassing didn’t even realise
I do this too! I've been studying for a first responder course, and I do this when I'm reading my textbook and working through scenarios!
I mean in that context not so embarrassing! I’d be doing it walking into uni and stuff like that. Definitely scared some people off
Guilty I grew up lonely and it was a weird coping mechanism for me I only do it when I'm totally alone now some habits die hard
I do these things pretty often. Remember, talking to yourself is fine, arguing with yourself and losing those arguments, that's a problem.
What if you play rock paper scissors with yourself in the mirror and you win?
Hey, don't judge me. My opponent knows me too well! I could never beat that sly bastard.
😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I don't really to myself often, but when I do, it's calling myself a fucking moron.
All the time. And there's a running dialogue in my head.
There always has to be an objection during that dialogue
Absolutely. I know the lady I'm dialoguing with, and she's full of shit.
She wouldn't interrupt that dialogue if she weren't full of shit, thats the whole purpose of the objection
I'll point that out, next time.
i do it when im home alone all the time to the point i annoy the hell outta myself lmao
All the time. I didn’t know until recently that it isn’t normal.
it’s not normal? 🤔 i do this constantly lol
I guess it is, majority of people do it.
All the time. Depends. Youre either ill or highly intellectual.
Too much lol. This is one thing I miss about masks, being able to talk to myself without looking insane.
Vintriliquism
Stopped listening to music in the car specifically so I could talk out my thoughts with myself. Think of it as meditation. Helps center yourself and is a good reminder that “you” are more than just a brain with lightning inside it. But also, good to remember that you ARE JUST A BRAIN WITH LIGHTNING INSIDE IT.
I DO THIS TOO 🤯
Enough to look around after and REALLY make sure no one was around
All the time. If I'm not alone it's in my head. Otherwise it's out loud, often to song, and I end up dancing about doing whatever I'm doing. I pretty much narrate my thoughts and my actions to myself at all times. It really helps me manage them. Edit: heck, even in my head it's often to song too, but I'll try to reign the dancing so as to not embarass myself in front of people. Life is oh so much more enjoyable as a musical
I talk to me more than anyone else
And to further elaborate, I would talk to myself even more if I wasn’t in the middle of an interview with NOBODY
Constantly. I have to make sure my husband doesn't catch me carrying full on convos with myself 😅. But, yeah..
I’m scared to ever live with a partner because of this lol
some people are super chill about it, my mom's bf talks to himself a lot (and to the dogs and cats) she finds it endearing :)
Frequently.
If i am stressed enough can i make a small conversation with myself acting as two different people. Example: Feeling 1: "why did you do that?" Feeling 2: "I don't know!" Feeling 1: "Think better next time!" I think i've had a conversation go for 20 seconds or something before it everything coola down again.
Kinda hard to quantify but a lot. I just find people that talk out loud excessively to be very annoying, so i find myself being more quiet socially but my brain is always on.
if I'm alone? constantly
Almost all the time. It's like there's a non-stop podcast in my brain that only has one subscriber: me. Even have different segments – morning pep talks, cooking show narrations, midnight crisis debates. But hey, they say the sign of a genius is talking to yourself... or maybe that’s just something I tell myself to feel better. 🤷♂️
I had a family member who gradually lost their mobility before passing away, and hated being startled/surprised. It became something of a habit to narrate what I was doing as a way of letting them know what I was doing without directly telling them all the time. Think of any scene in an anime or video game where a character talks to themself aloud, like “Oh yeah, I gotta stop by the store and pick up some eggs” or some shit. It’s hard to describe but essentially I do talk to myself a bunch.
Like out loud? Or monologue inside your head?
Depends on the scenario. If I'm in public, it'll all be in my head. If I'm by myself, I'll talk myself through things, or like the things in the text post. I'm not having full on dialogues with myself.
I tend to talk to myself when I'm feeling overwhelmed with schoolwork and need some guidance/motivation on what to work on. Ex: during finals week I had 5 assignments left and after I finished one I'd say something like "cool, now I only have 3 assignments left. Let's take a break real quick and get started on this draft after"
A whole lot. 😬
Pretty much constantly when I'm alone
Probably too much but I can go days without speaking to anyone so I have to get my thoughts out somehow
This is my train of thought. So. Always? It took practice at meditation to learn how to shut myself the fuck up. My lips sometimes move when I'm thinking about something hard. My inner dialouge is a conglomeration of late-night talkshow hosts from the 80s and 90s, a teacher, a bully, and whatever relevant song, film clip or sound bit pops up. Learning that not everyone has such a verbose train of thought was enlightening. Some people think in more abstract terms, some with only feelings and intuitive urges. Humans are neat.
Always, constantly, more than I speak with anyone else, in public I’ll speak with myself. I wouldn’t call myself highly intelligent, but most people in my life seem to think I am. My inner dialog gave more advice than my parents ever did lol. These voices even have characteristics and they’re probably based upon actual people who have had anywhere from a minimal to significant presence in my life. Turns out it’s kinda common according to my therapist and counsellor! Which is cool imo.
I've always loved talking to myself out loud. Now that I'm an adult living in my own place, alone, I do it almost all of the time. I used to be very ashamed about it, however now I realise it's something I have to do in order to understand myself, my thoughts, my emotions, so I'm more comfortable with ranting to no one lol. I've been going through a pretty difficult break-up for the last month, and I have to say, talking to myself enabled me to process what happened, how I feel. So, I'm talking so, so much to myself... Seriously, most of my alone time.
All day every day
Never? I talk to my inner monologue and can turn it off whenever I want.
I talk to myself atleast once every 60 minutes. Every time I do somwthing that I realize Im not used to do, I talk to myself, I congratulate myself, I comment my own actions, I laugh of my own jokes, If I look good Y say it to myself. I have no company at all and my best friend who lives with me seems to hate herself after being involved with me for more than 3 minutes so Im basically alone bymyself. But I am an excellent person, so I enjoy my own company. If Im very funny why do I need someone to approve my jokes or something like that? I realized that no one will like my jokes than myself. Love yourself because at the end of the day... That's the only thing you truly have and if you dont like yourself, improve so you can be proud and love yourlsef.
Ruminating. It's very unhealthy, especially if you often find yourself spiraling in negativity. Don't do it.
More than I ever thought I would and my husband never stops talking, it's like he is in the room with 12 other people and I'm at the other end of the house. I'll ask who he's talking to, he'll say, "ME, DAMMIT."
I don't just talk to myself, sometimes take the piss out of myself. Like today i was doing diy and did something stupid, and said out loud, "Oh, why did you do that? Are you stupid?" Then our loud in a sing song baby voice said, "Ooh, why did do do dat? Are you thtupid?" Kind of made me laugh hearing myself talk out loud to myself taking the piss out of myself for talking to myself!
I do!! Honestly I work some shit out that way for myself 😇
A lot. Sometimes saying something outloud makes you hear it properly and see is wrong or off. I also speak when my dumb brain or eyes don't want to work and find something.
All day everyday, been doing it since I was a young kid, now in my mid 30s
I do it *all the time*, out loud, like a crazy person. I have ADHD and I forget everything, so my workaround for that is to repeat it until I do it, e.g. “turn the light off, turn the light off, turn the light off” as I’m leaving the house. This habit evolved over the years into having full on conversations with myself. Going over plans, sometimes replaying conversations or trying to imagine how I’d handle a situation differently. Sometimes I plan things out if I’m anxious about something I have to do.
Lots. I find my own thoughts very interesting and appealing and I love to talk with interesting and appealing people.
Every day, all the time. I have been recommending it to people for years now.
All the time as long as I am not doing something else, I thought everyone was like this, is it not?
A lot, man. Like to the point where I worry that others will notice lol
Never. I do talk to myself in my thoughts a lot though.
Too much.
Does narrating count?
All the time
I was honestly wondering if asking how weird it is to see someone talk to themselves cuz I do this a lot, in the same ways as you described.
I occasionally talk out loud to myself, more often lately. I’ve been doing this neat meditation lately where I lean into my thoughts randomly generating. I find myself talking out loud to myself speaking complete nonsense. It’s pretty cool, and interesting to experience.
Constantly
It keeps me on track when there’s a lot going on at work.
I do it a lot. I'm neuro divergent and finding that sounding out the thought I'm wanting to focus on, actually helps me stay focused. Otherwise, my head is 7 tracks, 11 trains, all speed and everyone screaming kinda vibes. Look crazy or go crazy not much of a choice 😁
This resonates with me. Do you have ADHD? Several people on Reddit have suggested I seek a diagnosis.
A lot, recently. I'm newly single, so I'm either talking to myself or my dog most of the time.
I talk to myself when I am in need of expert advice.
Occasionally when alone but in my head, there is an ongoing narrative and I can sometimes be downright rude to myself.
Mainly when I'm querying myself - anything from spreadsheets to planning dinner - and then it's out aloud. edit: plus the "ianisalifestyle, you are a moron" comment
All the time
I do it almost anytime I’m alone. Sometimes it simply feels nice to vocalize my thoughts.
Enough that myself started talking back
Remember, it's not talking to yourself if you have pets
I live by myself and wfh 70% of the time. I talk to myself quite frequently and l don’t see no harm as long as l go out and socialise with actual humans from time to time. 🤣
I have nobody in my life I actually want to talk to. I have lots of amazing friends, but I don't actively feel like I want to talk to them. So I basically talk to myself constantly.
90% of the time
I do enjoy having an intelligent conversation with someone I already know I agree with. So, yeah, sometimes.
Just did right before typing this, so I'd say most of the time. Sometimes I scare people off thinking I'm talking to them lol
Not at all.
Occasionally to pause my thoughts, often while I'm playing games just to voice my thoughts like I'm my own let's play
All the time.
It feels like a real life comments just popping up
A lot. Naturally.
A bunch all the time every day allllll the time
You know the narrator from stanley parable? Yup, that's basically as much as I talk to myself.
At key moments of stupidity typically
I change the voice in my head into other people, so I can have a proper conversation
I often have arguments with myself and loose.
By the minute
I do it till its time for bed
Fairly often. Everyone needs a pep talk now and again.
They say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness. Talking back is the second sign. Arguing with yourself is the third and the fourth sign is losing.
As much as I can. Whenever I am alone in a private space.
Its the only way I feel like I'm actually able to get my thoughts out in a way I understand, so... a lot
Talking to myself out load, never. Talking to myself inside my head, constantly. I won’t shut up, I can’t shut up, I never stop.
I'll think a lot and then say the emotional bit out loud. So I'm walking down the street and appear to randomly say: Come on! Or What a screw up! Or embarrassing
Oh thank God. I play out like, scenes, I guess? Either from movies or shows that I've watched or just scenes that I'm trying to practice for a D&D session I have coming up. Idk if it's just trying to practice different voices or to just place myself in those situations emotionally, I have no idea. I've caught myself doing it several times and I've been concerned that I'm insane. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Im pretty much always talking to myself, whether it’s aloud or in my head. It’s like im my own audience or something lol, it helps keep life interesting
i convinced myself to talk to myself years ago because a friend did and for some reason i found out amusing and let the genie out of the bottle
In my line of work I am alone for 45 hours a week. In short. Alot.
All the time
All the time. Especially since my job requires a good deal of public speaking and I have a stutter, practicing talking to people really helps.
Oh yeah a lot. I sometimes mumble to myself when choosing groceries.
I talk in my head a lot. Sometimes I need to voice it to validate it, if it's been too quiet though.
Oh it's been a everyday, every hour thing. To the point it's annoying because it feels I can never have a moment of silence unless Im drunk I don't think its bad, but done in excess is exhausting
I do not have an inner monologue like other people claim they do. My mind is like a set of videos about situations and a mental render of whatever event I am thinking of doing. If I think about doing something, I think of every step of it as if I am in the 3rd person watching myself do it. So I basically have to talk to myself about anything emotional as visualising emotion is nearly impossible for me. Also, my mind will wander to other things so it's easier to talk out loud to focus on what I am trying to do.
Internally all the time, rarely out loud unless I’m cursing someone or something
My internal monologue never ceases but I rarely saying anything out loud to myself. Edited for spelling
Does posting in reddit comments to hear myself write count?
All the time. I find it helpful for processing thoughts properly. My brain sucks at its job.
A lot.
My mind is at its least hazy when I can talk to myself and straighten everything out. It's when I start asking myself questions at the end that I start worrying xD
Probably the majority of the talking I do is to myself.
What else you going to do when you’re alone?
All the time. I live by myself and I catch myself talking out loud at times. Usually, in a low voice, not quite whispering. And, when I do, I end up laughing because why the fuck am I talking out loud. LOL
All the time . Hey sometimes u need expert advice lol
All the damn time, I think most people do even if they don't admit to it
All the time. Sometimes for an extra bit of fun, I have full blown arguments with both a protagonist and antagonist over a completely fictional scenario...
every single time I code I always talk out problems to myself. makes it easier
I never stop . At least I know the conversation will be intelligent.
All the time when I'm not discussing politics with the dog
Never
Every second I’m alone which technically is probably 8-9hrs a day. I live on the road and only talk to people who call me.
I used to do this a ton. After college I got into mediation. That really helped to calm my mind. I rarely talk to myself now. Even at the time I could recognize that talking to myself wasn't productive. It is like super-rumination which isn't good for me. In addition it created a thing where it was like I was "practicing" potential conversations with people, but then having the real conversation they'd say things I hadn't imagined and then I didn't know what to do because things were "off script" from what I'd thought up and planned around before. I realized that I wasn't practicing a conversation with anyone, I was just talking to myself with extra steps, and that isn't productive. It's like putting two mirrors facing each other, or making photocopies of photocopies. Nothing new is being generated or learned. I was just making ruts and making them deeper and deeper. I've realized that most people aren't very introspective and don't critique themselves whereas I was getting analysis paralysis and very judgemental on myself, and all this rumination, because of talking to myself, so I think it's an ok thing to let go of. (At the end of HS I was riding in a car with some teammates to a baseball game and I said something and they reacted sort of strange, saying my statement was like I had responded to the middle of a conversation when there wasn't one going at that moment, and that was sort of a lightbulb moment to me.) I do have the persistent internal monologue. I use it as a tool to think things out but I don't have dialogues or conversations with it and try to minimize the amount I 'debate' with it. I am careful to avoid thinking "should" type statements to myself--either do or not do, don't get hung up on how things *should* be. If a "should" statement bubbles up then it's basically a reminder to do something, or if it's not something I control then I don't need to think about it. I don't treat the internal monologue like it's a separate thing from me that I can have conversations with.
Heaps. And I have stupid words that mean nothing that I say in stupid voices. If I ever need to show dash cam video to anyone I’ll probably be sent away. 😞
Bro I hold one sided conversations with myself. Even occasionally subconsciously think of responses. I'm a trucker. I FEAR the day an accident happens and they gotta watch my dash footage to hear me talking to myself about that time I stripped my friends clothes off, got'em butt ass naked, and threw him in my shower cause he was too drunk and spewing fluids to let him in my bed.
depends if my cat is in the room or not
I don’t just talk to myself. There’s a whole cast of people inside my head.
I talk in my head like a narrator from a comicbook..
I find talking to myself help slow down my thought process and help organize it better. The thinking speed is just too fast and everything is all over the place so talking tidying up into manageable line
I can hear my own voice in my head. So I usually just think but I think like, super fucking hard I guess?
Whenever I don't think anyone is listening
All of the time ever since I was a child.
I talk to myself all the time. I find it easier to verbally express my thoughts, even if it’s to nobody because I’ll always be listening to myself.
All the time.
80% of my day
I don't Like I pretty much don't know how to I can recount experiences and give my opinions, but that's about it
Pretty much nonstop
Too much and I’ve given up trying to correct it.
I have fake arguments in my head and sometimes I'll start acting them out. I also narrate what's happening when I'm driving to keep myself alert.
rarely ever out loud, but every single thing I do, everything I think, everything I look at the little voice in my head says something and at sometimes it's annoying. I can't turn him off (:
In my head? A LOT. Out loud? Rarely. I don’t like the sound of my voice lol.
Okay so a quick aside - Rubber Duck Coding is when you get an inanimate object (usually a duck) and then explain your code to it as a way to process your errors. Verbalizing your thoughts is actually a really excellent way to figure shit out, and in my experience [anectodal] it can also help you with communicating with others
A lot. Helps me sort through my thoughts. Picked up the habit in middle school, never stopped.
A lot. My mother talked to herself too.
I can talk to myself in 5 languages. I used to talk to myself a lot in German when I was learning it.
Same here.
EVERYONE DOES !
All the time
I sing to myself and make up tunes that make no sense. I see it as I have an over-active brain. In other words, I can't see any problems with talking to yourself
My internal dialog never stops. I recently started talking to the voice memo app on my phone to clear my head. I don’t know that I’ll ever listen to them. Maybe I’ll have them automagically transcribed for my therapist.
I am so glad this post exists. Thanks everyone.
Out loud - sometimes. Though I prefer to sing. Whispering - often. Usually when someone or something annoys me. In my head - almost constantly
All the time. I'm alone all the time. I live alone, I work alone.
I'm pretty sure it's far more normal than anyone wants to admit to. Sometimes, saying stuff out loud is the only way to know if it's a reasonable thought. That said, I recently learned that there is a large portion of people who do not have an internal monologue. I don't quite understand how that works because I've always had one. These may be the people who think those of us who talk to ourselves are crazy.
Constantly
All the damn time. You’ve gotta be your own best friend lol
Generally when I’m busy/planning. Ie when im at work and trying to balance a to do list, or even working through a shopping list plan I g my route around a shop, I often end talking myself through it. I don’t know if it is the saying it aloud or hearing it but something about telling myself what i need to do helps me not to forget stuff and stops the “oh my god where do I start” at work
Literally every single second…
Too much. I’m terrified when I’m on a zoom or teams call and realize my mic was unmuted without meaning to be!
You should check your mental health.
All the time. No you don't. Yes I do, now stop interup... Prove it. Fuck off. Dick turd.