How does your internal monologue work?
2026-07-04 22:51 UTC
Replies (40)
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@SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 2026-07-04 22:55
Sometimes the monologue is so loud I end up accidentally vocalising (whispering) it. I think it might be partially caused by the fact I have ADHD and a monologue like this is a way to keep my brain stimulated (thought wise, but also socially) when there’s no input from the outside.
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@ada@piefed.blahaj.zone 2026-07-04 23:06
I don’t have one…
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@aceshigh@lemmy.world 2026-07-04 23:16
My mind is mostly pretty quiet. My internal monologue is used for figuring stuff out and making observations/giving myself a warning (ie: that person is lying). It doesn’t narrate anything. I only speak first person with myself. I have difficulty remembering my internal monologue so I’ve made it a habit to write down my observations and then synthesize them.
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@bloogoose@lemmy.zip 2026-07-04 23:23
Verbal internal dialogue where the talker refers to me as separate from itself.
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@potatoguy@mbin.potato-guy.space 2026-07-04 23:35
It depends, if it's a problem I'm trying to solve, if it's a presentation that I'm going to do, if I need to communicate with someone. Like I thought about responding this, while trying to observe how it works. Normally there are a lot of monologues happening at the same time and I'm probably listening to music too, so I'm like 30 seconds thinking about something, pass to another something and then the good part of the music comes. I took ADHD meds once and damn, this completely disappeared hahahaha. But, depending on the thing, if it's a concept I'm trying to tackle, normally it's just me alone passing through it, its ramifications, consequences, basis, etc. If I'm trying to talk to someone, I like to imagine them and interact with myself playing as them. Sometimes it's like yours, two of me separated from me "debating".
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@GingerGoodness@lemmy.world 2026-07-04 23:43
My internal monologue is constant. Unless I’m using my language processing capacity for something else (e.g. listening to a podcast or reading text) then my brain is full of verbal diarrhoea. I’ll count each step on my way up a staircase just to fill the dead air in my head.
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@Beehaw_Girl@beehaw.org 2026-07-04 23:46
Mine is just constant words. Constant narration of everything. With occasional music breaks, because there’s always pop music going through my head too.
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@davidgro@lemmy.world 2026-07-04 23:58
I hadn’t thought about it much, but mine is just first person, same as the way I type or talk. In fact I think much of my internal monologue is actually pretend or planning conversations.
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@davel@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 00:03
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Gs4Jw_ePI
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@agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-04 23:14
My base thoughts are non-verbal. Sometimes I describe it like shapes in a hyperdimensional vector space. My internal monologue is basically just practicing translating these base thoughts into language, to explain concepts to others.
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@southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-05 01:22
I probably shouldn’t answer this tbh. I have three main “voices”, plus a couple of situational ones. As you say, a talker that’s mostly “me”, my conscious self. A listener that isn’t just a listener that’s essentially my subconscious throwing up images and memory in response to my conscious self. Then there’s the other self, the third thoughts, the meta mind, whatever you want to call it. That third voice is observing the “conversation”, and making commentary and corrections as needed. Like “that’s not how that really happened” when images flash up that are nebulous. Or “no, that’s not who you want to be, stop being a dick” when my conscious self is under stress. Or “go fuck yourself” when thoughts triggered by mental health issues come up. Plus, and this isn’t some kind of bullshit DID thing, I have fictional characters in my head. There’s this thing I do when I write or DM where I kinda spool up a virtual machine in my head where a character “lives”. These aren’t real entities, they aren’t split off from me, they’re just a construct that’s useful. They can be “deleted”, they don’t take over, nothing like that. I can, however, have conversations with them if I do a bit of mental prep work to sort of fake forget that it’s just my imagination playing a game with itself. I used to participate in some Mastodon writing prompt hashtags and I’d sort of interview my characters with them sometimes surprising me with what they said. Alas, the instance I used shut down without warning, and I didn’t have a recent backup, so I lost most of it. While I was writing that paragraph, one of my characters got switched on for a second and grumped at me. I know it’s not a person, it’s all imagination. But it is a fucking trip anyway. Yeeeears ago, I was running a game. It included a deity coming back to life. During the process, I had been wrapping my head around what they’d be like, and one of the players had communed with the deity a good bit. During a session, the player had their character call on the god to manifest. My ass just started talking as the deity. Full on zero conscious control over what came out. It felt creepy but cool. This imaginary part of myself took over, my voice changed, I stood up and moved around, but none of it was “me”. My conscious mind was starting to freak the fuck out a little because it felt like the imaginary thing was taking over. That wasn’t the last time it happened, but I’ve never been able to make it happen. Well, not to that degree anyway. I guess what I’m saying is that my internal monologue isn’t a monologue. Shit gets loud up in here.
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@Today@lemmy.world 2026-07-05 01:58
I don’t have one. No sound and no detailed images.
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@antrosapien@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 03:34
My monologue hums… And when there’s some event /work/(or anything like late for a bus or work or something), it starts narrating the environment and condition with counting repetations(like steps, seconds) sometimes counting up and sometimes oscillatiory count(like in evens; 1-2–1-2–1-2–1…)
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@formlessoedon@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 04:26
Usually pretty normal but I have a problem where I look at something & start relating it to other things & then like 30 seconds later I am thinking about war crimes. It was already bad before 2023. Most vivid images I have ever “seen” & they can happen while driving. It reminds me of how I used to be more imaginative as a child. Except that was fun. I have been limiting coffee intake which helps but I do kind of enjoy being pissed off & constantly visualizing maps so sometimes I do it on purpose which leads to Deliberate Site Vandalism since I can’t direct that energy at anyone around me. So I guess I also have two mode. Snide narrator who is very uncharitable to me & The Visions.
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@BCsven@lemmy.ca 2026-07-05 04:59
Its only there if I need to work out something for talking about with somebody or for a written output, but generally my thoughts are visual or concepts without language attached.
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@ButteredBread@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-05 07:28
Weird. I have a monologue right but it is not actually a monologue and I can just make another voice in my head to tell it to shut up or talk to it physically. There’s also like how it insults me often and sometimes I get mad at it. Other times it’s just mixed with my perseption of myself so more like me telling stuff to myself. I’ve also gotten more than 3 “characters” or roles but does not happen that often. When I read or write it’s also there. I am very sure it repeats rhe sentence multiple times when I write and thqt, mostly to slow itself down, like I already know what imma write ofc. Then of course I have images and sequences or “videos” to call them in any way. That’s also weird because it’s kinda ehat I have the least control over. I am often grossed out at this imagenery or however you spell that. Other thing I don’t have much control over are the songs and all that in my head. Then there are the concepts. Often I first think of a concept and then the monologue translates it to words, another way I already know what imma say. Sometimes it doesn’t get translated to words and I think I am not thinking but if I take a closer look I was still thinking. There’s also when my monologue talks and I do not realize like it’s more unconsious, happens when I am focused in other thoughts at times probably i don’t remember when it happens. I also think that I might not actually been having a monologue but just concepts at those times.
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@arxaseus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-07-05 07:34
Just one monologue. The voice is completely different from my RL voice.
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@sudoer777@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 07:59
Mine is constantly going off all the time, like I’m preparing an argument of some sort (which usually has nothing to do with what I need to be doing) and need to process all the information I can to make sure everything lines up. If someone talks for more than 5 seconds my own internal monologue kicks in until the person stops or like 30 seconds pass and I realize it distracted me. Makes it difficult to read as well. The only time this doesn’t happen is if I’m intensely focused on some self-driven programming project.
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@dosse91@lemmy.trippy.pizza 2026-07-05 08:17
When I’m not thinking about anything, it just plays music, all the time. When I’m thinking, it’s kinda like the reasoning of an LLM, it talks about possible ways to solve something, how things could end, and says things like “oh right, if I do X, I need to do Y”. The strangest thing is that despite me being italian, most of my inner monologue is in english, especially when I’m playing games or programming; and it’s not in my voice, it’s a generic male voice that kinda sounds like Morgan Freeman.
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@daggermoon@piefed.world 2026-07-05 08:33
Mine is very chaotic. It’s basically me fighting off OCD thoughts combined with maladaptive daydreaming.
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@nullify3112@lemmy.world 2026-07-05 08:38
I don’t have one. Ask me anything.
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@Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 2026-07-05 09:05
Depends on what I’m doing. It’s usually one voice, but if I’m trying to think through something or if my ADHD is turned up, I get what I call “the committee.” For thinking through something, different perspectives all chime in, and I like to imagine it like some kind of round table debate. I “talk” with myself through ideas, and sometimes I change my mind about what I do because ultimately I know the most sensible talking point is the right one. If my ADHD is behind it, though, then it’s more like a room full of people all pointing out different things at the same time. One’s complaining that the noise outside is too loud. Another’s distracted by the birds out the window. Another voice is debating what I should eat next (even if I’m not hungry.) Yet another is trying to remember the lyrics to a random song. Then the “responsible adult” of the group is trying to get everyone else to STFU and focus on the task at hand. I find that caffeine goes a long way in getting the committee to chill and listen to each other. It’s not too surprising that stimulants get them all in line, but it’s still interesting to experience.
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@pwxd@lemmy.zip 2026-07-05 10:53
My internal monologue is usually just like a commentary, or at random times I just talk it out loud cause I find it nice to just speak; sometimes, my mind never talks at all and uses visual to think which what I do most of the time, it’s quite nice to have a break from the noise.
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@SelfHigh5@lemmy.world 2026-07-05 11:03
80% song lyrics, 10% how I would respond if I wanted to invite conflict, 5% random shit, 5% schemes/ideas.
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@Supper@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-05 11:18
It keeps telling me to feign the emotions and facial expressions that is most suitable for the conversation. Since I can remember, It’s helped me learn appropriate facial expressions for different occasions; by watching other people. My wife says that my inner voice is dark, and not normal for others. I honestly don’t understand why others are happy, sad angry et al.
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@doomsdayrs@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 11:26
For me, well its a pre-verbalization of anything I am about to do or say. Even typing this out I am speaking each word. If I am getting into bed, I think “I need to do xyz”. sometimes its inquisitive, such as when I debate over choices ranking them over each other, or when I am processing what someone says or does. “Why did they do that? It could be this or that”. When I was younger I had developed a minor personality split in order to compensate for neglect and bullying. They were nice to talk to, and helped me processs emotions and feel not alone. They merged back into my main personality sometime in highschool.
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@mystrawberrymind@piefed.ca 2026-07-05 11:50
No monologue for me. Just image and sound. For example, when thinking about a situation, I’ll just imagine it as a moving picture, but there’s no internal narration to it. I don’t think in sentences. I just think about the image or feeling and then process it somehow. I’ve discussed this topic with others before, and they don’t really get it lol. Well it’s equally weird for me to think about it their way, constantly having an internal monologue.
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@MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2026-07-05 12:01
Just me, internally wording things i want to say/write.
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@Hexarei@beehaw.org 2026-07-05 12:36
For me it’s like there’s a council in my head, but they’re all me. One takes the center and the rest are all around, in the “room” in my head. Each one is a specialist at a different thing, which includes one of them who is always putting on a performance of a song. So far I’ve identified: A singer A problem-solving orchestrator (gets all the others to collaborate) A lover (occasionally pines for affection, loves being cutesy) A joker (shouts jokes over the rest of the voices) 3-5 non specialists that just deliberate about things A writer (functions as my inner monologue when I’m writing something) My wife will poke fun at me because sometimes I’ll end up narrating my own thought processes with “we” and she’s like “Got a mouse in your purse?”
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@MrOtingocni@lemmy.world 2026-07-05 14:56
It’s layered. At the base level it’s just a mix of a kind of old tv static and what sounds like a creek bubbling. It’s the pre-verbalization soup- textured with sub-thoughts, half-impulses, emotional currents. It’s noticeable background noise but not particularly loud. Above that is another layer of multiple streams of wordage. Just kind of nonsensical whispers that flow around non-stop. Sometimes there are also impressions of images but nothing definitive. Above that is the focused wordage, or the internal monologue. Usually it’s proposed point or observation by one “me” and counter-point or add-on by another “me”. There’s no set number of "me"s. Occasionally it’s a construct of some other people I know. Just tangential rambling mostly unless I am really trying to sort something out, then it’s more structured. This is also where the music and images play.
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@cynar@lemmy.world 2026-07-05 15:30
I have an internal mindscape. It’s closer to a layered interactive data stream than anything else. One of the ‘nodes’ on that is my speech center. Unless I block it, it tries to turn the data stream into a word stream. They then loops into the auditory ‘node’. That then tries to process it the same as someone else talking to me. It lets me use all the filters and processing tools I built up as a child. It is excellent at finding holes in my ideas, the same way I would mentally pull apart what I was being told by someone else. It also lets me crystallise ideas into a form that can be passed to someone else. I can suppress my inner monologue (unless I actively require it, e.g. for writing this message) but generally I don’t. It’s useful when I need to deep dive a problem. My brain can outrun my word stream, and dropping it can let me attack problems without the limitations of language caging me.
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@whatiswrongwithyou@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 15:56
Insults, low humor and slurs are screeched at full volume in the cadence and rhyme scheme of a one hit wonder song from thirty years ago and I just smartly choose to not externalize any of it.
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@myszka@lemmy.ml 2026-07-05 22:54
For me the internal monologue is exactly the same as my ‘external’ monologue when I tell people about myself or do something together with someone and explain my actions. So it’s always first person singular, for example: “I’ve reflected on this multiple times but still don’t quite understand it”, “Okay, I need to turn right now” or “God I’m so freaking tired of this shit! I’m done. Fuck them all”. There’s no internal split and if I was saying what I’m thinking out loud in front of someone, it’d sound completely normal.
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@Faux@lemmy.ml 2026-07-06 09:46
Sometimes I just talk to myself. Sometimes I talk with a random character. I can feel agency (or illusion of Independent agency) from anyome at this point, whether I want an anime waifu to “talk back” or to play out a dialogue I’m supposed to have with an IRL person soon. And sometimes I talk with my inner companions. There are a few characters I have built stable, genuine relationships with over years. Btw. at some point I started seeing my mind as a process rather than an entity (or set of entities). And like in other complex processes, it would be strange if we couldn’t observe any internal contradictions in it.
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@AceFuzzLord@lemmy.zip 2026-07-06 09:54
If it’s not music lyrics/no lyrics music, some other thing I have on my mind that isn’t something I came up with, a remix of something I have seen, or a memory and/or dream, I usually end up having fantasy conversations where it’s me but using someone else’s voice. Specifically because I don’t currently like my voice and think I sound like a gremlin.
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@CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml 2026-07-06 16:01
No monologue, no images, no sound. Just… concepts. It’s a bit weird. Even weirder is that I can actually conjure images while asleep (or about to sleep, or barely just woke up). I loved books as a kid, but never understood why people preferred them to movies where you could actually picture what is happening on the page. It took me until my mid 20s to figure out my experience was different to other people’s. I can get lost in my imagination, it’s just not visual or auditory
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@Tabitha@hexbear.net 2026-07-06 18:05
I usually stop thinking so the voices argue with each other instead of me
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@peatbogman@leminal.space 2026-07-06 19:07
When I forget what I’m doing my brain makes a sound like an engaged phoneline from the 1990s
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@Juice@midwest.social 2026-07-06 19:52
I have a voice that declares something as fact. Then I have a voice that is skeptical. Then I have another voice that is skeptical of the skeptic. Finally I have a voice that wants more info/evidence. I do not make it through all four voices with every thought, and the first voice fucking hates me
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@sunsofold@lemmy.zip 2026-07-06 22:05
Layers of depth in a fluid is the best metaphor I have. The ‘top’ ‘layer’ is the ‘loudest.’ It has the word-thoughts. If I want to solidify ideas and plans into an expressible form, it happens here. Almost everything that comes out of my mouth is formed into word-thoughts first, and then repeated aloud. If I want to ‘rubber duck’ a problem, I do it here. Sometimes ‘bubbles’ come from below and disrupt the structure of these thoughts. The next ‘lower’ ‘layer’ is the image space. Things I am actively imagining are here. Images, 3D forms, music, conceptual mapping, etc. The next ‘lower’ is the semi-conscious. Thoughts I haven’t established fully into expressible thoughts or images are here in half-graspable form. Sometimes it feels like something lower pushes elements up into this space as ‘important.’ Sometimes those things are pushed up strongly enough they press into the layer above. I can sometimes sense things happening deeper down, parts that are processing inputs in ways my metacognition can’t perceive. Across the whole space is a certain turbidity representing emotional disruptions and physical mental hindrances like lack of sleep, etc.