https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/RryyWNmJNnLowbhfC/please-don-t-throw-your-mind-away
I imagine there are 4 types of thinking. The article seems to talk about the top two.
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Necessity-based thinking (Executive Control) to complete our commitments and roles; I.e., doing homework, my work, etc.
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Unstructured, playful thinking (Default Mode Network) about what-ifs and fun hypotheticals and ideas that are sometimes novel.
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Turning your brain off and being but paying attention (Reward Circuit). For example, playing Clash Royale, scrolling Instagram Reels, etc.
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Not processing (Dorsal Striatum) - I.e., watching a youtube video but you're ignoring it, folding laundry, etc.
Keeping the default mode network active as much as possible is good for exploring your own ideas and mind and utilizing its creativity. Conversely, we also need some necessity based thinking. Without of which we lose touch with reality and become unrelatable to those around us. Arguably, 3 and 4 lead to me wasting a lot of time in my life and I'd rather not have that, though I do scroll reels etc. every day.
In a sense, this blog is a form of 2). I only write when I feel like it and I write down raw thoughts without much of a filter for what the next line ought to be or having a coherent point.
The next part goes into learning deep vs wide, where the author seems to argue to learn deep and the other debater to learn wide. I think it doesn't really matter as long as I'm learning; I'll always be able to find a place for new ideas in my mind map that relates to tons of existing ones.
But I think the main takeaway is to do what you feel like doing, and as long as you have some guardrails (i.e., don't play clash royale 12 hours a day), you'll probably end up better and happier for it. I can relate to this as I'm not currently working and I have tons of random inspirations that come and go. Further, my girlfriend doesn't work and her life consists of doing whatever random project strikes her fancy next.
Sadly, I think a lot of the time doing whatever I want involves spending time with my friends or scrolling Instagram or playing games, but ever so often I do something more intellectual out of intellectual boredom or strong desire.