We live in a modern society where information is constantly available. We are able to instantly access what is happening in distant countries and can instantly see how millions of other people feel about it. This is causing more and more of us to become mentally lazy.

Instead of thinking for ourselves, we allow others to tell us how to think. The more we do this, the worse our thinking abilities become. Like any muscle, if you don’t use it, it gets weaker.

What is mental laziness?

Mental laziness occurs when we allow our thoughts to become automatic. Sometimes, that’s a perfectly good thing. For example, once you have been a qualified driver for a while, your reactions and movements become automatic. You simply go about your travels without giving much thought to the situation or the decisions you make.

This is best in situations where you have to act quickly because your mind works on instinct. In situations that may require deeper thought or critical thinking, mental laziness is not a good thing.

Mental laziness involves avoiding deep thought, usually because it requires too much effort. Mentally lazy people tend to take what they are told to heart and do not just implement their own ideas or discussions.

This is a major reason for the spread of fake news. Instead of reviewing information themselves, mentally lazy people share news without a second thought. Sometimes, people go so far as to only read the headlines of news stories before sharing them, because reading the article requires a lot of personal reflection.

Instead of taking the time to consider the world around them, people who suffer from mental laziness usually make choices based on their whims and reactions. They take a “do it first, think about it later” approach.

Mental laziness can manifest itself in many ways. Some people may become risk takers and rebel against rules because they do not care to think about the consequences of their actions or the reasons behind the rules. Other mentally lazy people may behave in unhelpful and uncomfortable ways, such as grooming themselves or watching where they go.

Factors contributing to mental laziness

Lack of goals

An important factor that contributes to mental laziness is a person’s lack of long and short-term goals. Having something to aim for and feeling ambitious pushes us to be more mindful. Ambitious people constantly search for purpose in what they do, finding connections between their current activities and their hopes for the future. Without these goals, you will become mentally lazy because nothing has much meaning.

He is afraid

As for physical laziness, it is often caused by the fear of trying and failing. Saying you can’t be bothered is an easy way to mask the anxiety caused by the fear of not succeeding. Mental laziness is similar.

We avoid thinking about things in case we don’t actually understand the concept. We feel embarrassed when we discover that we do not understand something, and we are afraid that others will think we are stupid. Instead of challenging ourselves to think about something, even if it’s a difficult topic, we often wait for others to find the answer for us.

poor wellness

When we feel tired, our brains don’t work well and we may become mentally sluggish. We are isolated and unable to focus. This means that we tend to rely on automatic thoughts more than deep and critical thinking. Many studies, including this one, conducted in Finland, prove that our ability to think is strongly influenced by our sleep schedule.

Similar studies, such as this one conducted in California, show that our diet also has an effect on mental laziness. Fast food affects our attention span, and poor diet makes proper thinking difficult. We all know the struggle of trying to concentrate at school or work right before lunch. Our bodies need energy and nutrition to process information and create deep thoughts.