Walking, however, can make it more pleasant to spend time with ourselves, experts say. Erin C. Westgate, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Florida in Gainesville who studies boredom, found in her research that being in transit, which included walking or riding public transportation, was one of the times when people most often reported having enjoyable thoughts.
专家说,散步可以让我们更愉快地与自己相处。艾琳·韦斯特盖特是来自佛罗里达大学(位于盖恩斯维尔)的心理学助理教授,专门研究无聊情绪。她在研究中发现,人们在路途中,包括步行或乘坐公共交通工具,是最经常产生愉快想法的时刻之一。
Walking “isn’t so demanding that it’s actually taking up a lot of your mental bandwidth,” Dr. Westgate said, which “gives us permission and license to daydream.”
“步行不是要求很高的活动,不会占用你的很多心理能量,”韦斯特盖特博士说,“这就允许我们边走路边放空”。
If the idea of daydreaming seems luxurious, it may be because our attention spans have shriveled over the last two decades.
如果做白日梦听起来是很奢侈的事情,那可能是因为我们的注意力持续时间在过去20年里已经缩短了。
We now spend an average of about 47 seconds on a piece of screen content before switching to another piece of content, according to research led by Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of “Attention Span.”
加州大学欧文分校的信息科学教授格洛丽亚·马克主持的一项研究显示,我们现在平均在屏幕上看一个内容47秒后就会切换到另一个内容。马克也是《注意力持续时间》一书的作者。
Back in 2004, however, Dr. Mark found that people could spend an average of two and a half minutes on email before turning to another work task. Continually flipping our attention from one task to another is draining, Dr.Mark said.
马克发现,然而在2004年,人们平均看电子邮件两分半钟后才会转到另一项工作任务。马克博士说,不断地将注意力从一项任务转移到另一项任务很消耗精力。
But a silent walk can help replenish our “tank” so that we have a greater reserve of mental energy, she added. In other words, disconnecting for a while can actually help us perform better.
但她补充说,静默散步可以帮助我们补充“油箱”,这样就有了更多的心理能量储备。换句话说,断网一段时间实际上可以帮助我们表现得更好。
Dr. Mark suggested taking digital breaks at other times, not just when we’re walking, and that we think about an emotional goal for the day, not just a list of tasks. For example, if your goal is to feel calm, you can write that on a Post-it note and refer back to it when thinking about how you’ll spend your fleeting free time that day.
马克博士建议除了散步的时候,在其他时候也可以断网休息片刻,可以在这时想想一天中的情感目标,而不是给自己列一个任务清单。例如,如果你的目标是保持心态平和,那么你可以把它写在便利贴上,然后在你思考怎样度过一天中短暂的空闲时间时参考这个目标。
“So many of us feel like we’re always behind and running to catch up,” said David M. Levy, a professor at the Information School at the University of Washington in Seattle, and the author of “Mindful Tech.” This can lead to a state of being “so distracted that we aren’t present at all.”
“很多人总觉得自己落后了,要跑着追赶上别人。”大卫·利维说,他是西雅图华盛顿大学信息学院的教授,也是《专注力技术》一书的作者。这会导致一种“注意力很不集中而心不在焉的状态”。
But in a future-oriented society we need opportunities to be satisfied with the here and now, Dr. Levy said, and drop the pressure to be productive. “There is great beauty and aliveness in the world outside of whatever it is we’re doing on our devices,” Dr.Levy said.
但在一个面向未来的社会里,我们需要对此时此刻感到满足,放下必须做很多事的压力。“无论电子设备上有什么,网络之外的世界也都充满了美好和活力。”利维博士说。