Here is a thought.

[+ purplekow]

I do not know if this is part of the aging process or just something I never considered in the past.  I find when I am planning something, I now think in complete sentences, almost as though I am talking with myself.  It seems that when I was younger, I skipped the middle man and went right from brain to action without stopping to think about the action in words in my brain.  

For example. I just finished a bit of cleaning up and I am planning on feeding my dogs.  As I recall, in the past, I would have just stopped cleaning and without any type of other thought, I would just move on the feeding the dogs.  Last night while baking chicken, I was watching TV and I smelled the chicken which triggered me to check on it.  Instead of standing up and going into the kitchen, I thought, hey the chicken is cooking, I should go check on it and then I arose from my chair and walked to the kitchen. For those interested, the chicken was not quite done.  

I suppose that thinking through what I am planning to do makes a great deal of sense, but for me, it just seems as though I am wasting time in thinking it through.  

Clearly, I do not condone just doing anything without a first or second thought to the action and its consequences, but this thinking about mundane tasks is new to me and has given me pause.  Perhaps my mental faculties are in decline and this is a compensatory mechanism.  Will I be writing myself notes next?  

So men of a certain age, has the way you think and act changed as you have aged? Not the thoughts and actions themselves, clearly those have changed, rather the process of moving from thought to action.   Do most people give this much thought to how they proceed in the routine matters of their life?  Am I just bored and so I now enjoy only the sound of my own voice in my head?  

[+ purplekow]

After thinking about this, I decided to google "thinking voice in my head" and it seems 30 to 50% of people think this way frequently or often.  Others think with vivid images and others with emotions.  Similarly, people also have different way of reading with about 50% of people reading by talking the words in their mind.    I never gave much thought to the thinking process other than the neurologic complexity of it all.  However, even as a physician, I do not recall ever being instructed or informed about this.  

Well to those of you who think this way, do not let me interrupt your conversation.  

[+ SundayZip]

For me it depends on the situation. If the smell of the chicken hints at burning or reminds me that it's time to take it from the oven, I act without deliberating. If I'm in a situation requiring a rational choice, I might think in sentences as I deliberate (e.g. should I order the meatloaf special or the pan-crusted cod?) This is how my brain has always been wired and don't think it's changed with age.  

[topunderachiever]

So you're thinking about thinking too much about thinking?  

[+ purplekow]

Well in actuality I am thinking if my change in thinking is a sign of future difficulty and if it is, perhaps I should make plans for that accordingly.  But, I see your point as well.  

[+ SirBillybob]

As you already know, it’s executive function, meta self-talk, quietly tapping yourself on the shoulder, mental flagging, motivation to haul your ass up. You checked on your food prep. Done and dusted. You didn’t utilize inner speech for every mouthful of your meal; that was auto-pilot. Well, unless, “I must rotate meat, rice, peas” … cyclically. 

It’s likely that this phenomenon is selective. For example, “I must write about this and see what others think.” You prolly didn’t self-reflect on it being, planfully, 5 well-written paragraphs. In fact, if you were blind-asked later to tally them you would not know the answer because it’s inconsequential. You might recall the boldface; you may have self-articulated that intention.

Edited Wednesday at 11:18 AM by SirBillybob

[+ Charlie]

I talk to myself in my head all the time. Yeah, I'm old.

[CuriousByNature]

I haven't talked in my head for quite a few months.  We had a falling out.  But I'm really enjoying the silence.

[+ sync]

On 1/26/2026 at 12:26 AM, purplekow said:

I do not know if this is part of the aging process or just something I never considered in the past.  I find when I am planning something, I now think in complete sentences, almost as though I am talking with myself.  It seems that when I was younger, I skipped the middle man and went right from brain to action without stopping to think about the action in words in my brain.  

For example. I just finished a bit of cleaning up and I am planning on feeding my dogs.  As I recall, in the past, I would have just stopped cleaning and without any type of other thought, I would just move on the feeding the dogs.  Last night while baking chicken, I was watching TV and I smelled the chicken which triggered me to check on it.  Instead of standing up and going into the kitchen, I thought, hey the chicken is cooking, I should go check on it and then I arose from my chair and walked to the kitchen. For those interested, the chicken was not quite done.  

I suppose that thinking through what I am planning to do makes a great deal of sense, but for me, it just seems as though I am wasting time in thinking it through.  

Clearly, I do not condone just doing anything without a first or second thought to the action and its consequences, but this thinking about mundane tasks is new to me and has given me pause.  Perhaps my mental faculties are in decline and this is a compensatory mechanism.  Will I be writing myself notes next?  

So men of a certain age, has the way you think and act changed as you have aged? Not the thoughts and actions themselves, clearly those have changed, rather the process of moving from thought to action.   Do most people give this much thought to how they proceed in the routine matters of their life?  Am I just bored and so I now enjoy only the sound of my own voice in my head?  

Unless you begin to experience relatable negative impacts, I don't believe you have any serious concerns.

[+ poolboy48220]

Somewhat related...when i get any sort of verification code texted to me, I say it out loud before typing it. Mentally I equate this with moving my lips when I read. 

[+ Gar1eth]

I conduct conversations with myself all the time. So far it's only one-sided. No one answers back -yet.  (I'm not crazy. My mother had me tested)

[+ purplekow]

On 1/28/2026 at 3:11 AM, SirBillybob said:

As you already know, it’s executive function, meta self-talk, quietly tapping yourself on the shoulder, mental flagging, motivation to haul your ass up. You checked on your food prep. Done and dusted. You didn’t utilize inner speech for every mouthful of your meal; that was auto-pilot. Well, unless, “I must rotate meat, rice, peas” … cyclically. 

It’s likely that this phenomenon is selective. For example, “I must write about this and see what others think.” You prolly didn’t self-reflect on it being, planfully, 5 well-written paragraphs. In fact, if you were blind-asked later to tally them you would not know the answer because it’s inconsequential. You might recall the boldface; you may have self-articulated that intention.

The bold face was not planned, it just happened and I was surprised when it did.  I just did not bother to undo it.  Further research on this does suggest that there are some people who think out loud in their brain most if not all the time.  I believe they are talking about higher brain functions not autonomic responses, otherwise, they would probably have to spend all their waking hours thinking breath, heart beat, heart beat, heart  beat, breath.  Saving grace there would be it would be a very short period of time before they either figured out how to do it without thinking about it or...well breath, heartbeat, heartbeat......................sure you can cut the line.....................................................

[+ PhileasFogg]

On 1/25/2026 at 11:26 PM, purplekow said:

I do not know if this is part of the aging process or just something I never considered in the past.  I find when I am planning something, I now think in complete sentences, almost as though I am talking with myself.  It seems that when I was younger, I skipped the middle man and went right from brain to action without stopping to think about the action in words in my brain.  

For example. I just finished a bit of cleaning up and I am planning on feeding my dogs.  As I recall, in the past, I would have just stopped cleaning and without any type of other thought, I would just move on the feeding the dogs.  Last night while baking chicken, I was watching TV and I smelled the chicken which triggered me to check on it.  Instead of standing up and going into the kitchen, I thought, hey the chicken is cooking, I should go check on it and then I arose from my chair and walked to the kitchen. For those interested, the chicken was not quite done.  

I suppose that thinking through what I am planning to do makes a great deal of sense, but for me, it just seems as though I am wasting time in thinking it through.  

Clearly, I do not condone just doing anything without a first or second thought to the action and its consequences, but this thinking about mundane tasks is new to me and has given me pause.  Perhaps my mental faculties are in decline and this is a compensatory mechanism.  Will I be writing myself notes next?  

So men of a certain age, has the way you think and act changed as you have aged? Not the thoughts and actions themselves, clearly those have changed, rather the process of moving from thought to action.   Do most people give this much thought to how they proceed in the routine matters of their life?  Am I just bored and so I now enjoy only the sound of my own voice in my head?  

I find the conversations I have with myself are the most intelligent ones I have all day

And I don’t just think the sentence, I say it!

see ya in a couple weeks!  We can tell ask my young guests if it makes us more or less sexy 🤣

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 1/25/2026 at 9:26 PM, purplekow said:

So men of a certain age, has the way you think and act changed as you have aged? Not the thoughts and actions themselves, clearly those have changed, rather the process of moving from thought to action.

Most of my thoughts are in complete sentences and have been since pre-school.

Some quirks as I've aged:

In Jr and Sr high school, I air-typed many of my thoughts on an imaginary typewriter with my fingers. I stopped doing that before university.

Now, I occasionally find my self proof-reading my thoughts for better grammar.

[+ purplekow]

2 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

Most of my thoughts are in complete sentences and have been since pre-school.

Some quirks as I've aged:

In Jr and Sr high school, I air-typed many of my thoughts on an imaginary typewriter with my fingers. I stopped doing that before university.

Now, I occasionally find my self proof-reading my thoughts for better grammar.

Wow that is a lot of work.  Mostly I just do, but this actually thinking thing is exhausting and can be even more so I see. 

[jeezifonly]

For me, it's a form of rebellion against acronyms, emojis and memes being the limits to expression of complete thought these days. 

 

[+ poolboy48220]

12 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

Now, I occasionally find my self proof-reading my thoughts for better grammar.

I do that with emails and texts and so on. Years ago I read something: Don't write so you can be understood. Write so you can't be misunderstood. I really took that to heart.

[nate_sf]

On 1/25/2026 at 9:50 PM, purplekow said:

Similarly, people also have different way of reading with about 50% of people reading by talking the words in their mind.  

This would be me. And if I know the person whose words I’m reading (such as reading a text or email from someone) I often hear their voice in my head while I read. 

Needless to say, I’m a relatively slow reader. I wonder if there’s a correlation between hearing the words while reading, and being a slow reader? 

[+ purplekow]

I took a speed reading course while in high school.  Likely a waste of the little money for discretionary activities that my parent's had.  The main technique was to scan down the middle of the page and not focus on individual words per se.  Their contention was that the mind would unscramble the words.  It did help to speed up my reading, but required continued practice, which took the joy out of reading and so I did not continue it.  Trying to picture the words painted or to hear the voice of the character while peaking in on their activitiss, gives reading much of its joy.  As with many things, fast may me fun but a slow thoughtful imagination provoking trip through the experience will allow the full sensual experience to unravel, bit by bit. And when a crescendo of anticipation is reached, a change in tempt to further thrill the senses can result in a climax of great intensity.  

[mike carey]

1 minute ago, purplekow said:

It did help to speed up my reading, but ... took the joy out of reading

I didn't ever try to learn speed reading, I see it was a decision well taken.