On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 4:13 PM, Ben Kovitz <[email protected]> wrote:
> Say, does anyone else here edit Wikipedia as "therapy"?
>
> I'm in grad school now, and my head has been spinning from the frequent
> context-switching: jumping between one in-depth class and another and
> another, without finishing one thing before starting another, and
> without having time to dig in enough depth to satisfy the need to "get
> to the bottom of it". Until a few days ago, the noise in my head (a
> rhythm of non-stop interruption--"cogitus interruptus", you could call
> it) had gotten so intense, it was becoming hard to function.
>
> At times like these, I've occasionally turned to Wikipedia. Hmm,
> something needs doing. Let's just do it. I can work it over until I'm
> content. Each little editing project is short: from a few minutes to
> an hour. There are no deadlines. I just follow my inspiration for
> what to work on as it comes. If I get stuck on something, like not
> being able to find a fact, I just leave the article in better condition
> than I found it and call my little project "done".
>
> Saturday morning, I started an article about a topic in one of my
> classes. Just summarized what was in the book. And then spent the
> weekend merrily editing whatever I felt like editing. It's now Monday
> morning, and my head is clear. There is no more noise in my head!
>
> Who needs drugs or doctors when you've got "edit this page"? ;)
Well, that's not really therapy. And I know you don't mean that. But I
can't think of the right word either.
What might be happening is that when you have a lot to learn or
absorb, and your brain is "full", you need a period to consolidate the
learning in your brain (laying down the neural pathways and so on),
and similar to the way this happens in sleep ("sleep on it" isn't just
a saying) you are "clearing" your mind while doing (relatively)
mundane tasks. Some people go and take a walk, others play sport, or
clean the house, or sleep, while some edit Wikipedia. :-)
The closest I can find is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_consolidation
Though this category has some interesting stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Memory_processes
Carcharoth
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