A tweet is lighting up the Twitterverse regarding whether or not people have an inner monologue and I can’t even right now.
I mean, doesn’t everybody?
Apparently not.
In a mere 240 characters, some guy named Kyle from Seattle, WA, with the twitter handle, @KylePlantEmoji, has made me rethink everything I thought I knew about thinking, and now my brain hurts.
He tweets:
“Fun fact: some people have an internal narrative and some don’t”
Fun fact: some people have an internal narrative and some don’t
As in, some people’s thoughts are like sentences they “hear”, and some people just have abstract non-verbal thoughts, and have to consciously verbalize them
And most people aren’t aware of the other type of person
— Kyle? (@KylePlantEmoji) January 27, 2020
Fun Fact: I am so confused right now.
Because my inner voice? Never shuts up. I have conversations with myself in the car, in the grocery store, lying in bed.
As I write this? I’m also having a secondary conversation going on in the background of my mind about whether or not I’m going to make tacos even though it’s Taco Tuesday, but I’m so sick and tired of tacos.
I have a running commentary from sun-up to sun-down.
At the grocery store yesterday? I had a full on debate in my head over whether or not the brand name free-range eggs were really worth the 10 cents more than the no name brand. I stood in front of that display case for at least a minute arguing with myself.
And this isn’t the way everyone’s brain works? How can you NOT have an inner voice?
I mean, what’s going on in there? Are you just listening to yourself breathing? Do you have moments of complete and utter silence? Is your mind blank?
What.Is.Happening.In.There?
I didn’t actually believe that when you ask someone what they’re thinking and they respond with “Nothing,” that they are truly thinking NOTH-ING. How is that even possible?
And I’m not the only one with questions. There are literally thousands of comments, retweets, and likes on Kyle’s post. And it would seem that he is RIGHT. Some people have an inner voice. Some do not.
Let’s pause for a moment, shall we? So those of you who do can take a moment to discuss it with yourselves.
There are people who are clearly normal, like me:
I have a never ending internal narrative that goes on and on about raccoons and lasagna and I wouldn’t change a thing
— Roxi Horror ?? (@roxiqt) January 27, 2020
SOME PEOPLE DONT HAVE A VOICE IN THEIR HEAD?????(
— el? stream manic (@starryxdjh) January 27, 2020
My brain is just a god damn podcast that never ends
— BERNIE 4 ’20 (@ZeroHand_Love) January 27, 2020
You telling me thinking isn’t always just a silent conversation with yourself? Like when someone thinks out loud on TV some people just take that as a metaphor?
— jonah did my homework (@_pequod) January 27, 2020
Wait so some people don’t have to suffer through the voice in their head going on a constant monologue?? Is that what it means to achieve inner peace??
— ? (@howd9rk) January 27, 2020
Maybe? I have no idea. Obviously I know nothing about inner peace. But apparently, my husband does. Because my husband? He has NO INNER MONOLOGUE. And I don’t even know him. NOTHING IS REAL.
@DaddyFiles has come to the same revelation about his spouse, and boy, do I get it.
I was today years old when I found out not only are there people without an inner monologue, but I’M MARRIED TO ONE. We’re in bed right now staring at each other like strangers. The last 14 years are a lie. Nothing is real. This is the most damaging article ever written. https://t.co/yKJwUvIfMn
— Daddy Files (@DaddyFiles) January 31, 2020
The others? Those people who claim that they don’t have an inner voice, just abstract thoughts? They are out there. Crazy, I know.
i think i’m the second one because i can’t understand what the first one means
— u???o? (@morggmariee) January 27, 2020
I’m sitting here trying to imagine what hearing your own voice in your head constantly narrating your every waking moment feels like and I’m so fucking glad my mind doesn’t do this. https://t.co/uh4xHXBFe8
— JeanNA Toss A Coin To Your Skinner (@JeannaLStars) February 2, 2020
This is so wild to me I can’t imagine thinking in actual sentences and hearing an internal monologue. People really think in sentences???? https://t.co/McreMtBK5a
— WitchyTwitchy ? (@witchytwitchytv) January 27, 2020
as a nonverbal thinker, so many of these responses are leaving me floored. i cannot imagine having a constant stream of word-babble. ?
— james? (@felixiro) January 28, 2020
I honestly thought inner monologue was just something they invented for movies. Some of you actually have to put up with that?! ? https://t.co/uqDNqHwRWs
— Chaz Hutton (@chazhutton) January 31, 2020
Nope, it’s not just in movies Chaz. Inner voices are REAL.
And lest you are one of these non-verbal types thinking, “Y’all are crazy,” which, clearly you won’t because apparently you don’t have an inner monologue, let me just leave you with this little tidbit. In an informal twitter poll, 59% of people think in words.
Let’s try:
— Nopety nope (@LJDEM) January 27, 2020
What about you? Do you have a narrator streaming a running commentary in your head? Or not?
I’m a verbal thinker, today I was wondering a joke I’d heard for example, here’s the joke: a doctor examines a patient: doctor” I’m sorry sir, we took a test and it looks like you have updog.” Patient: ” What’s updog?” It took me forever to get it but when I did my inner monologue said “you know like what’s up dog?”
But I don’t always have thoughts running through my head.
I think things over in my mind but its not like a voice i can hear out loud in my head. I can also control when i think and when i dont. I can easily sit quietly and just observe things with no noise going on inside. So when you say inner monologue do you actually mean you can hear a voice in your head or do you mean just constant thoughts