Why we zone out

You are sitting in the class. The teacher says Today's topic is very important.

You nod. Five seconds later....you are mentally living in Switzerland, running a cafe with your golden Retriever (that you don't have...you are afraid of dogs?) wondering whether penguins have Knees and how will the giraffe sleep with their long necks and planning whether what you will say if you meet your celebrity crush and the things you would do if you got a chance to go on a date with your crush.

Then suddenly Can you answer this question three? .Your sould returns to your body at approximately 5 minutes later. You blink. Shit. Which chapter are we on?

Congratulations. You have just zoned out. We all have done it.

Driving somewhere and realizing you dint remember the last ten minutes but still somehow going in the right path. Reading the same paragraph four times because your eyes are reading but your brain has already left the chat(literally). Walking into a room and forgeting the reason.

Despite how it ridiculously sounds, coming out is completely normal. Psychologists often refer to this as mind wavering. When attention shifts away from the task in front of you towards your won thoughts, memories,plans it imaginary situations.

In fact research by psychologist found that people's mind wander nearly half their walking lives. Their famous smartphone study reported that people were thinking about something other than what they were doing for 47% of the time.

Which means...if you are reading this while thinking about dinner then you are proving the study right.

So why does it happen?

One explanation is that Default Mode Network a network of brain regions that becomes active when we are not intensely focused on an external task.

Think if it as your brains screen saver. The moment your attention is not urgently needed, your brain says Di you remember that one embarassing thing you did 16 years ago? I do...let's relive and cringe. Or Let's imagine us winning and Oscar for absolutely no reason.

And mind wavering is not always useless. It helps with creativity or future planning or problem solving and reflecting in oast experience. Many people repostt getting their best ideas while showering or walking or staring our of a bus window.

But. It also has terrible timing. During lectures. Meetings. Conversations. Scholdings. Exams.

Basically every Situation where you will generally appreciate your brain staying where your body is.

Psychologists also found that boring repetitive or familiar tasks can make zoning out more likely because they require less concious attention.

Your brain gets suspeciously bored very quickly. The trick is not to eliminate mind wavering. Your goals is to notice the surroundings.

The moment you realise you have been mentally decorating your future beach house instead of listening to your professor... congratulations. You have already returned.

Your body attended the lecture. Your brain was in a paid leave.