Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
How is it possible to drive home and have no memory of the trip? I’m sure you’ve done this. I certainly have. Sometimes I pull into the driveway and realize I have no awareness of large parts of my drive home. I can do this while walking, too. I walk across campus and seem unaware of the people and objects I’m passing. Apparently I can both walk and drive on autopilot.
But can we really go on autopilot? There are two ways of explaining the experience of driving home and having no awareness of your trip: One is that we were aware as we drove or walked past obstacles, but simply forgot those objects quickly as we continued onward. The other is that you really were on autopilot. You were driving without awareness, while zoned out, and failing to notice the world around you or the obstacles in front of you.
I’ve become convinced that we really do go on autopilot when we drive and walk. We can avoid obstacles but fail to notice what the obstacles were or even that there were obstacles. We can move to avoid something hanging right in front of our faces while walking but fail to notice that it was actually money hanging on a tree.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201404/the-dangers-going-autopilot
😱
But can we really go on autopilot? There are two ways of explaining the experience of driving home and having no awareness of your trip: One is that we were aware as we drove or walked past obstacles, but simply forgot those objects quickly as we continued onward. The other is that you really were on autopilot. You were driving without awareness, while zoned out, and failing to notice the world around you or the obstacles in front of you.
I’ve become convinced that we really do go on autopilot when we drive and walk. We can avoid obstacles but fail to notice what the obstacles were or even that there were obstacles. We can move to avoid something hanging right in front of our faces while walking but fail to notice that it was actually money hanging on a tree.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mental-mishaps/201404/the-dangers-going-autopilot
😱
