John HWait, is this true??? Do most of you (at least the neurotypical ones) really not have a mental jukebox playing most of the time? Really??? I’m *reeling* at this suggestion
Thanks for feedback on the mental jukebox thing. It sounded a bit overstated, but interesting to hear different people’s experiences. “More research is indicated” 😁
Well let’s start that research now, with a highly scientific poll. “Please boost for reach” (and to offer me some always-needed validation), etc.
Which applies to you most closely?
(NT = neurotypical, ND = neurodivergent, including suspected/self-ID)
NT, have a mental jukebox
NT, no mental jukebox
ND, have a mental jukebox
ND, no mental jukebox
Poll ended at .
I spoke to E and she said she might get a song stuck in her head for a time each day, but most of the time “it’s quiet in there, silent, apart from my own thoughts”. “Quiet”??? “Silent”??? What is this witchcraft?
Ausir@considermycatjohn I'm not neurotypical and it's quiet for me (I can't hear my thoughts either because my thoughts are generally not verbalized, I don't have an internal monologue)
CatButtes 
@ausir @considermycatjohn I am neurotypical and this describes me - no internal monologue and no internal jukebox…
Daggs@considermycatjohn To be fair, it's never actually silent - it's just that it runs Audible instead of Spotify. 😅
Artholomew@considermycatjohn ND here, and I basically cannot get songs stuck in my head. Sounds can't get a grip and just bounce off. It's certainly not quiet because my thoughts are a whirlwind but there's no accompanying sound of any kind.
Esther Lim 
@considermycatjohn NT, definitely not quiet but no music usually unless I’m thinking about music.
This is like when I found out ppl don’t have a running commentary (or multiple). 😅🙊Just quiet??!!
Sylv@considermycatjohn NT: 0 replies, seems about fedi
Grounded Gryphon@considermycatjohn
My mental jukebox isn't running constantly, but a good chunk of the day.
My mental jukebox isn't running constantly, but a good chunk of the day.
FlowerMouse@considermycatjohn I'm always jamming to my mental jukebox tbqh, sometimes I start really getting into it and start head banging or dancing xD
ElisabethHobbes, author@considermycatjohn always have a so g playing in my head. Right now it is one I’m teaching my class for the Christmas play which is particularly galling.
Also I have different playlists for the kitchen, bathroom etc.
Also I have different playlists for the kitchen, bathroom etc.
Cassandra@ElisabethHobbes @considermycatjohn
I am intrigued that you have a bathroom playlist 🤔
@Cassandra @considermycatjohn for in the shower or bath mainly. 😀
Ember is so tired of people. 
@considermycatjohn almost always have some song(s) playing
kinda like tinnitus in that it's always there (that i notice), but can be drowned out by concentrating on something else, or having other audio playing
Psy Chuan 
@considermycatjohn ADHD, can't turn the jukebox off and it's controlled by the same entity that did the Salt and Pepper Diner Tom Jones prank
Not a Spring Onion@considermycatjohn Great, reading that toot started "Cruel Summer" from Ace of Base again...
Milda Matilda Games@considermycatjohn most people can only hear music when its actually playing? That's wild. While I definitely do have one, I can also turn it on and off whenever I want.
Dylan@considermycatjohn my mental jukebox comes and goes. It can be set off by hearing a song but often they arise spontaneously for no other reason than by brain is not otherwise occupied. So doing things that require little to no concentration, like showering, where I may break out in song, hum, etc. I’m generally neurotypical.
Bradd@considermycatjohn I don’t have a lot of control over what my mental jukebox plays 😹 but when I’m working on craft projects it can get pretty intense in terms of realism and immersion. I have trouble holding visual images in my mind, though. My mind’s ear is way stronger than my mind’s eye.
Wolfie Rankin@considermycatjohn I have no idea
SibrosanI have no idea whether I should be considered neurotypical or neurodivergent, nor whether that bears any relevance to my ability to think of music and have it play in my mind.
Echo Beach, far away in time...
Oni, little mouse@considermycatjohn Less jukebox more DJ with a goofy sense of humor
ND
neil breen’s fetlife account@considermycatjohn it’s pretty much constant. It comes in handy sometimes, like the time I was walking home after a few drinks and was annoyed that I’d forgotten my headphones, so I mentally put on an album I was very familiar with and ‘played’ that all the way home
Awkward Ada 🏴👩🎨@considermycatjohn Can’t pick a box. Always thought I was NT but from what I have seen in recent years I suspect I am ND but at 55 never been diagnosed or tested. I do have a mental jukebox. Sometimes it plays good stuff, sometimes it remembers a lyric which I then spend awhile trying to link to the correct track. Sometimes it latches onto a really irritating song (ear worm).
Krisztián@considermycatjohn maybe you should do another poll based on whether people had musical education/can play instruments 🤔
phii (local floofgirl cutie)@considermycatjohn aaaa fuck i accidentally voted #2 instead of #4 😅😅
Erwin Rossen 🔸@considermycatjohn I have no clue what this all means.
Will@considermycatjohn I was dumbstruck by this the other day, I couldn't believe my partner doesn't!
Nae@considermycatjohn ND, my mental jukebox is stuck on random and full volume and cannot be fixed.
kaukamieli@considermycatjohn I don't kinda know, and I don't know what that mental jukebox thing is either, so an explanation on this kind of thing might lead to better answers.
@kaukamieli There was an earlier post in the thread with more details, though clearly more nuanced investigation of how people experience/describe “mental music” is needed, as “mental jukebox” is clearly being read in different ways by different people
@considermycatjohn Right. So yes, I have a mental jukebox. I can choose my own theme music.
But it's more like I can... Think music? It's not involuntary? But it's enjoyable. I'm also somewhat of a musician myself.
But there is also the visual thing, where you can actually "see" what you imagine. It was a big internet moment a while back when people learned that when someone says "picture a beach in your mind" they literally mean that. And you have aphantasia if you can not. I think these are related?
I've heard rumors that some people don't even have inner thinking speech thingy.
@kaukamieli Yes, a couple of people have mentioned having no inner monologue, so it’s definitely A Thing, even if probably rarer than claimed by some excitable internet statistics
Artemis@considermycatjohn We're plural and one of us never learned language? She tends to communicate with music/media clips during the day... providing us with a soundtrack during our day
And if we forget something going to sleep at night a terrible iron on iron scratching sound to reminding us to get up and go check, has prevented many disaster so far
Angela Glansbury 🚽@considermycatjohn
I haven't voted in this because I don't know if I am NT or ND. However I do have a constant mental jukebox and I am on fedi, so 🤔
I haven't voted in this because I don't know if I am NT or ND. However I do have a constant mental jukebox and I am on fedi, so 🤔
@floppyplopper Haha! Yes, not many NT people on fedi, I am being STAGGERED to learn 🤣
Aria Burrell 🇨🇦@considermycatjohn I first read this as "have a mental juicebox" and still would have answered the same way.
Hybrid1930@considermycatjohn The question is, do you also have music videos?
@Tea_Dalek Not generally, but I grew up before MTV became big in the UK 😁
@considermycatjohn Well, acting as a soundtrack to a moment in a movie, then 😆
(((Baslow)))@considermycatjohn
Didn't vote, because you didn't provide an "other" option and I increasingly find myself questioning the model(s) within which such terminology is framed.
I very much doubt that or differences are matters of having/not having this or that feature or practice so much as rather more complicated differences in the proportios of factors we bring to bear while we negotiate the rugged terrain of our lives together.
Didn't vote, because you didn't provide an "other" option and I increasingly find myself questioning the model(s) within which such terminology is framed.
I very much doubt that or differences are matters of having/not having this or that feature or practice so much as rather more complicated differences in the proportios of factors we bring to bear while we negotiate the rugged terrain of our lives together.
@baslow That’s fair enough. My “most closely” language was a stumbling attempt at recognising that, but in the end this was a four-option, 25 characters per option Masto poll 😁
Nile@considermycatjohn Are the individual answers public?
@hairyears No. I only see the same results as everyone who votes.
Pagan Witch@considermycatjohn I really need "occasional jukebox" or "rare jukebox" option xD
@the_luck_witch Ha, yes. I find myself wondering what the range of “mental jukebox” experiences is: from short/occasional earworms, to a very frequent / continuous (which is how I think the term is used in the ADHD community), to something closer to intrusive thoughts that people find very hard to control
Sally CliffordND, mental jukebox *and* mental poetry anthology (useful when stuck without a book).
@Schiehallion Oooh, that one sounds genuinely useful 😁
@considermycatjohn It is - until I get bits from poems I haven't learnt completely going round and round and round...
Steve In Ashland@considermycatjohn don’t know if I’m NT or ND (not fully either?) but definitely the jukebox. Usually Glenn Miller, Dave Brubeck, or Vince Gauraldi.
Clair (KD3BCC)@considermycatjohn ND sans jukebox, but I make up for it by listening to music at every chance.
august@considermycatjohn I wake up every morning with a different song playing in my head.
PC@considermycatjohn music helps me through my day. Used to always have headphones w music at work. Drive with them, shop with them, cycle with them. Music keeps me focused and energized.
Jette@considermycatjohn not sure if I'm NT or ND. every time I read lists of "autistic traits" I find myself saying "I do that - but that's just normal, isn't it?"
anyway, the music in my head is often drowned out by the constant conversation in my head - conversation with myself that is
anyway, the music in my head is often drowned out by the constant conversation in my head - conversation with myself that is
Debbie Goldsmith 🏳️⚧️♾️🇺🇦@considermycatjohn I can play music back in my head but usually I have to do it consciously — it takes a little bit of my attention. Sometimes it goes on its own. The song is random but will come from a category I think of. The songs/tracks are usually ones I’ve heard a lot.
Ezra Ingram 🖖🏽@considermycatjohn naw, this isn't true. Though I think of mine as a mental mp3 player.
@considermycatjohn Sad, but true. 🤷
artsyhonker / Kathryn@considermycatjohn Seems suspect, a lot of musicians live with a mental soundtrack. Though in fairness a lot of musicians aren't neurotypical...
Moyra@considermycatjohn I reckon I'm neurotypical, I do have random music going on mentally a lot of the time if I don't have the radio on but I am a musician. I also listen to music far more than I have the TV on. I can complain of earworms but can dislodge them quickly. Make of that what you will!