GaffenNov 8, 2022

Hello.

I'm looking for any credible #research on #Flow and #FlowState for an article I'm writing. Specifically anything that looks at the links between flow and #learning, flow and positive #MentalHealth, and improving #focus and #mood. I'm exploring ideas around flow's relationship with the enquiring mind, and general self determination. The argument I'm trying to make is that excessive exposure to experiences that 'fake' flow states (such as gaming or TV) can have an effect on our ability to conduct independent thought and creativity.

I'm not trying to argue that gaming or movies are bad, but that excessive consumption of media can stunt creativity and wellbeing.

Any resources or references highly welcomed!

...I guess Society of the Spectacle is pretty relevant here too, might flip through it again 🤔

Show threadMarc JonesNov 9, 2022
@gaffen just a thought: isn't flow a construct, and therefore reliant on report rather than a direct measure? If so, are games really not flow? Isn't it possible to be in a flow state while engaged in detrimental/maladaptive behaviour? Very interested in what you find out. I'm not a cognitive psychologist, but more an interested bystander.
Show threadGaffenNov 9, 2022

@marcjones You actually just highlighted something pretty important for me, I just realised - highlighting where the idea came from haha:
https://kolektiva.social/@gaffen/109314041826214079

So, I'm still working through the episode, but you may very well be right. I'm very new to the concept as a whole myself but the discussion in that podcast turned some very visceral cogs for me and made me want to explore the concept in more depth.

Gaffen (@[email protected])

For reference, the kernel of the idea came from a combination of inputs, including @[email protected] 's wonderful episode on creativity here: https://shows.acast.com/blindboy/episodes/talking-to-a-psychologist-about-creativity In combination with some thoughts around system justification.

kolektiva.social
Show threadGaffenNov 9, 2022
@marcjones I guess to more directly answer you though, depending on the definition I suppose you could definitely look at is as, rather than 'genuine' flow, a case of positive/motivational flow and passive/demotivational flow?
Show threadMarc JonesNov 9, 2022
@gaffen Csikszentmihalyi's book is very readable. I get where he's coming from but I just feel like it could be yet another tool used to bash the neurodivergent (like grit, growth mindset, learned helplessness). Will check out the podcast episode! Thanks!
Show threadGaffen
@marcjones Yeah, that's definitely not the argument I'm trying to make at all. My interest is more around a kind of societally encouraged burnout - the popularity of streaming and its effects on personal motivation. I'm also leaning toward linking it to the phenomenon of system justification (based on this reading https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2017/06/system-justification). Flow is actually a lesser part of the thesis but I wanted to poke around in the idea for relevance/potential offshoots. Essentially that we are overloaded continually and this reduces scope for independent thought and creativity. That mixed with the desire for stability leaves us in a position where people sometimes justify the incumbent system because it's just too exhausting to grapple with something else, even conceptually.
Nov 9, 2022 at 2:11pmWeb
Show threadGaffenNov 9, 2022
@marcjones Sorry, I'm composing most of this whilst I'm working - so I myself am having trouble coming into that flow state to properly get my thoughts together 😅
Show threadMarc JonesNov 9, 2022
@gaffen oh, welcome to my world!
Show threadMarc JonesNov 9, 2022
@gaffen ooh, yeah, got it. You might want to check out Adam Gazzeley's The Distracted Mind. Very interesting book.
Show threadGaffenNov 9, 2022
@marcjones Thanks, and bookmarked!