Be it in the library or in shops, I often hear old folks talking to themselves. Is it a habit they’ve likely always had or is it something to do with aging?
I talk to myself all the time and I am only in my thirties. I think it’s partly because I work from home and therefore spend around 8-10 hours talking to myself or the dog at home, or sit in total silence. It’s hard to break that habit when I’m at the shop or other public space. Many elderly people also live quite lonely lives, so maybe that’s why?
I spend most of my time alone and have such a strong internal dialogue going on that it does the same basic thing without me making a noise. My mother in law verbalizes all of her thoughts, and always has even when surrounded by people. It reminds me of my internal dialogue!
I don’t think it has anything to do with being lonely, just how someone processes their thoughts.
I’m like you, but my wife is like your MIL. It’s caused some issues for sure.
One big one is her thinking I’m being dismissive when she points out potential issues in a plan I tell her. I’m not dismissing them, I’ve just already recognized and addressed those issues in my internal dialog.
I think the lonely part means I’m not used to having to suppress my internal voice going external anymore. Are there people that don’t have an internal dialogue going on at all times?
Exact same situation here. I figure it’s only a problem if the dogs start talking back.
Who else is gonna listen?
Sometimes saying things out loud helps people make sense of them, I don’t know all the science behind it but I’m sure there is a good reason.
Define “old people”.
I’ve doing that since my late 20s at least.
Anyone older than whoever is saying it. Also known online as “boomers”.
Like narrating actions (“I’m buying these cookies”) or carrying on conversations with themselves, or ‘thinking out loud’ (“I wonder if it will rain today?”) kind of stuff?
I’ve heard both, some external thought processes, some rambling about nothing much at all
I talk to myself when I need expert advice. Just kidding, I talk to myself to slow my thought process way down.
I’m in my 60s. I’ve only been living alone for about a year and a half, but I do find that talking to myself (or the cat) is preferable to going ages without saying a word. I don’t do it when I’m out in public, but I could easily see it becoming a habit after enough years of it.
I’m honestly more concerned about farting loudly becoming a habit, since I don’t have to worry about farting quietly 90% of the time.
Farting is the best.
For me, it’s because I was born with a defective give-a-shitter and that thing died completely about a decade ago.
That’s not even a joke.
But you run into it a lot. It isn’t just older folks, but it amounts to people being prone to it gradually losing their filter for it. When you’re younger, you tend to care more about perceptions. At some point, that starts going away because you realize it isn’t worth the energy it takes, and you have less energy anyway.
Because I have a screw loose and no one else will talk to me. Now stop asking.
you will get there. they don’t give a fuck anymore :) also it’s more thinking out loud
I’m middle aged or early middle aged, I talk to things all the time, other day train stopped but the doors weren’t opening because driver must be slow or something, so I jut said “come now door, open up”. Woman next to me just looked at me like with concern like i need psychological help.
What’s the big deal, I know door is not going to respond. Life is just fun pretending that it can. I’ve talked to things since my 20s.
You know how the technicians at NASA keep finding new and creative ways of using the Voyager hardware well beyond it’s operation lifespan, presumed hardware limits and original intent? As you get older you realise you have a few bytes of very short-term storage in the air between your mouth and ears and you might as well use it.
Why? Because I get good answers.
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It’s almost certainly a mixture of things you’re seeing - some mental health issues occasionally, some is lifelong and normal, some is just when aging you don’t care as much who sees you doing what in your younger days might have seemed embarrassing, in your old age you also have stored a lot more information and context and talking through them helps organize thoughts a little better.
There’s more reasons, but you can see there’s a mixture of reasons why it’s occurring, and each time you see it it’s probably a differently weighted mixture of all these things. My wife has always talked to herself to work things out as she’s planning, also announcing what she’s doing in the next few moments or hours to herself, she also complains about whatever is wrong out loud no matter what it is, but most notably she does this FAR more often when she’s stressed.
I’m 31 and I’ve been doing this (soliloquy) since my early childhood.
