...a mind quite vacant is a mind distressed.

Sometimes I wonder if people have their brains removed without noticing – when you fill out forms you have to tick a little box to say that you either do or don’t want them to send you more information, perhaps there’s a little box somewhere asking for consent to remove the ol’ grey matter and people just tick it on auto…

Seriously though, I’ve lost count of the number of people that will stroll onto a forum and ask questions which they can easily answer for themselves. ‘Where can I buy such-and-such?’, ‘Do you have a section on blah?’ – if people actually used their brains they’d see useful buttons on websites such as ‘Search’ – and even internet browsers have a search button. Do people really not think to type their query into a search engine and see what comes up? Are they honestly that daft, or are they just lazy? I used to think it was sheer idleness, but now I’m not so sure.

How many times has someone used the last of the milk/tea/paracetamol and then, when asked why they didn’t mention it or buy more, said ‘Oh, sorry, I didn’t think’? Too many times to count, and I’m well aware that I also do it on occasion. The human brain was built to think – when we’re not thinking, then what on earth is it doing? You meet some people whose brains appear to be permanently switched off – you know the ones I mean, they have a slightly glazed expression and need verbal prodding during conversations to make any kind of contribution – if a brain isn’t used, does it start to atrophy?

It’s an interesting concept, and a very realistic one. If you spend six months studying in a library and doing precious little else then you’ll find that your conversational skills start to atrophy – it’s reasonable to assume, therefore, that if you cease using your brain then a similar thing will happen.

Is there a point to this little rant? Not really, although if you find it takes you more than thirty seconds to formulate a reply to ‘Hi, how are you?’ then you probably need to take heed and start exercising your brain a little.

03/03/2004 ©