OK this one bugs me, cause that is NOT what astigmatism looks like. That is a streaked windshield. Astigmatism looks like things are kinda doubled or even tripled.
Lines on lights can come from several things; astigmatism is the most common. If you have it you should get glasses for it. Driving at night will be a lot easier, not just for removing the lines but also because your brain can filter oncoming lights better.
Astigmtism is when your eyeball's lens isn't perfectly spherical the way it's meant to be but is slightly squashed in one direction. Most of the time your brain can correct the effect automatically without you noticing, but the ongoing stress of doing so can result in headaches when focusing on things for too long like reading.
Close. I see the lines, but I also see what I call the "starburst" effect around every light source where it looks like the lights are exploding outwards in all directions.
Yes. Or stars even. I have that (and moderate shortsightnedness), and didn't know it wasn't normal until I was 15. Have been wearing glasses ever since. (Incidentially, I believe uncorrected astigmatism is the source of the classic depiction of stars as stars instead of just dots of ligtht)
Some people cannot see images in t heir head when they think. I know a comic book author who was unaware that people could visualize images before they were on paper.
ugggh, the lines. Fuck those lines. And especially fuck them when the road is also wet and everything just turns into the fucking enterprise at warp speed.
In GTA V Michael sees lines when he looks at the sun, suggesting that he also has a stigmatism, whereas when you play as Trevor or Franklin, they do not. But they all perceive the sun differently.
I was shocked when my doctor told me this wasn't normal.
I was getting an eye exam and he was describing this effect and He was like "do you see lines coming off of bright lights" and I was like "no, just the normal starbursts glow" and he was like "normal what now" So I drew it out , and he was like "no thats not normal... thats like... really bad"
It depends on the extent of the error. When you've lived with it your entire life, it's normal to you. You're used to them. It doesn't necessarily significantly affect you. I have small refractive error that's enough to give me starbursts, but my vision uncorrected is still 20/14, better than "normal". As such I don't really need corrective glasses for it. At night the lines are ordinary to me, they don't really hinder me.
I've gone in to get my eyes checked thinking my vision is basically fine, then get told it'd be illegal for me to get behind the wheel of a car without new glasses. Your brain does a good job of erasing gradual changes.
Sitting in my window in New York City after being put to bed at night, watching the staggered lights march up Lexington Avenue. So through window glass, yes, but I noticed it looking directly at lights such as the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
Worth mentioning to a doctor though. Can be a sign of some vitamin deficiencies, high blood pressure, medication side effects, and even in some cases a brain issue (electrical firing, auditory issues, aneurysm etc).
I did love my heavy metal back in the day, but I'm fairly certain it's the 20+ years working in datacenters that did me in. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 24/7
This just made me want to take out my contact lenses, so I wouldn't have to look at this. It'd just be a blur. The only problem is that I'd struggle with finding my contacts to put them back in.
ITS NOT YOUR EYES IF YOU SEE THIS. Its from the damn wiper blades rubbing your windshield. 2 very easy ways to confirm. Point your camera phone and see if the streaks look the same. Or rotate your head. Astigmatism lines will rotate with your head, the windshield marks will not. Posts like this drive me crazy every time I see it because it just spreads so much false information. Clean your windshield and the lines will go away. Boom, easy nighttime driving
I see then when I’m walking the dogs at night. Hell, I see them inside when I have the lights on. It’s super annoying. Stop trying to invalidate problems others experience because you don’t experience it.
What is pictured in the photo is not an astigmatism. Thats why the camera can see it in the first place. I know it exists and people experience it, which is why I detailed ways to confirm. This posts spreads false info and is confusing people without an astigmatism to believe they have one. I was previously fooled because yes, I saw those lines, but only while driving. Sorry for helping people be informed and not waste time going to the doctor to have their eyes checked
Deep down in this comment you are correct, but your messaging is terrible (to the point of self contradicting) which is why you are getting so many angry replies. It doesn't help that it sort of looks like you dropped your comment then pieced the sentences together at random.
I mean, it is my eyes, 100% sure, especially since I drive a convertible and I can still see it looking over the windshield. I have astigmatism, contacts correct for it but not perfectly, especially at the end of the day when my eyes are getting tired and drying out a bit.
What is pictured in the photo is not an astigmatism. Thats why the camera can see it in the first place. I know it exists and people experience it, which is why I detailed ways to confirm. This posts spreads false info and is confusing people without an astigmatism to believe they have one. I was previously fooled because yes, I saw those lines, but only while driving. Sorry for helping people be informed and not waste time going to the doctor to have their eyes checked
Get vision insurance before hand and it's super affordable. My employer only covers new glasses, which sucks, I'm thinking about buying a vision policy that covers lasic, getting it, then dropping the policy...
*Gets breast reduction. Finds out astigmatism somehow was caused by nerve damage in lower back and the operation cures astigmatism, back pain and a several allergies…*
If you want to talk about psychological warfare, I remember reading about this clear spray you can put on your windshield. During the day, you can see through it just fine, but at night it causes streaks that make you think your eyesight is getting worse when it really isn’t. Kinda like those little prank devices that randomly chirp every few hours so you can never pinpoint where the sound is coming from. It slowly drives you insane.
It's likely the angle of the front windshield that adds to it. I get lines all the way down past my steering wheel when I'm driving but yeah if I look out the side window it's not nearly as bad.
I've got extreme astigmatism - contacts can correct it better than glasses. The astigmatism contacts have a little weight to keep them aligned so rubbing your eyes hard will make it blurry for a second but they right themselves after a couple of blinks.
When I was a young teen, they didn't have soft toric lenses for my level of correction, so I had to get gas permeable (hard) contacts. I told my optometrist, "I think something is wrong, it feels like there's something in my eye!" He laughed really hard.
When I was finally able to get into contacts it was like an absolute miracle.
You must have gotten lucky with the angle of your astigmatism. Mine needs the granularity of angle correction that glasses can achieve, but contacts can't yet. Waiting for the tech to be available with my blurry vision.
I never had glasses. I had to get my CDL for a job and learned during the new eye test at the DMV that I couldn't see shit out of my right eye and my left wasn't that much better.
I've always disliked lens flare in general. Why is it even a thing? What are they trying to accomplish? Literally no one sees lights like that, unless they have some medical situation at which it's normally correctable to an extent. I mean, We make TVs specifically to not cause this effect from glare of the sun through a window.
Lens flares are an artifact of the "anamorphic" lenses used to squeeze a widescreen image onto squarer frames of film. Not all cinema is still shot on this hardware, but the artifacts say "movie" to viewers. That's the idea, anyway.
It seems weird, but.... Kinda? Like, my brain edits them out, I never notice them unless someone else points it out to me. I've heard the reason some people don't like them is because it makes them aware of the existence of the camera, and that messes with their suspension of disbelief. But that's just how things look to me, so it doesn't impact my immersion at all.
If you only see the lines when in a car and the lines all point to/away the pivot point of your wiper blades, then that just means that dust/dirt trapped in your wiper blades have etched small, circular scratches into your windshield that create a line of glare from lights viewed through the windshield. When in doubt, take a picture to see if the camera can see the ‘lines’ as well; if they show up in a photo, it’s not your eyes that are the problem.
It's good generic advice, I think, rather than being specific to the car. If you're seeing something that might be hallucinatory, see if your phone can see it, too. And that way you're in prime position to take a quick video of the monster before it kills you, and we can make a found footage movie out of it.
DUDE that movie is so fucked up. The dread and loathing made me sick to my stomach. Took me most of the movie to realize I wasn't hearing my heartbeat during scenes but that it was added. Which wi th how low in volume it was was a lovely touch.
If there are points of light as strong as ones visible through the windshield, that would work. I figured that viewing the phenomenon on the same light sources would be more consistent and illustrative.
Use the same light sources and same light receptacles (eyes.) Lean over slightly. Just put your head out the window. Take a picture with your auto focus anti blur three lens smartphone camera? Then look at the picture on a small screen, while driving, and determine if your eyes or the windshield are the problem? Introducing an entirely unnecessary third factor. Or just kinda move your head about 1 1/2 feet to the left or right and see with your eyes what you're looking at.
My first car was a 1963 mercury comet convertible, nothing worked. I drove it home in the rain, so I had my head out the side window the whole time bc no wipers. Slow rural back streets and only like 2 miles, I could see just not through my windshield
I don't think I'm very old, just 33 but seeing people suggest taking a picture because moving their head slightly never even crossed their mind makes me feel like a fucking curmudgeon. Like "what's wrong with kids today" thoughts.
You have seen them too?! I thought it was just me. I seriously thought those people were a figment of my imagination. Honestly, this is weirdly validating knowing someone else has seen the exact same thing. The older I get, the more I realize there are way more strange people among us than I ever imagined. Some are just better at hiding it than others. Just don’t look at their hands. When you see people walking around with their hands in their pockets on a very hot day, you just know.
There are literally people who refuse to wipe, many because they think touching their ass, is gay. When I was an it director I got to work before anyone else and found the highest shit in the toilet without any paper anywhere near it or in the toilet itself.
Yeah I guess some people who stand to wipe got triggered by my comment lol. But I agree: you’re not truly clean if you just use dry TP. Also your diet is important too for a clean butt.
You just lean to one side and lift a cheek, lol. No squeezing required. Hell, you ever just 'hover' at a public toilet? Not always going full weight down on the bowl.
Last time I saw a conversation like this, some guy commented that he wipes while sitting, but from the front, and that stopped both sides of the aisle and made everyone go, wtf?
Found the person who wipes standing up. When you stand, your cheeks come together and sandwich the poop. How do you get in there properly while standing? Do you have an absurd thigh gap that keeps your cheeks apart while standing?
Actually this entire thread is based on the person's weight and abilities. People with certain body types may need to do one or the other. As long as the last wipe is clean I don't judge
I only care about my butt, and my wife’s butt. Everyone else can do whatever they want. I truly feel that every toilet should be equipped with a bidet though.
I mean, the ability part is valid, if you can't stand, you can't stand. And I suppose at a certain point I can see it. But I'm a big dude, like beyond the 99th percentile for height and weight, and I have a hard time imagining a weight at which you'd need to stand and were also able to do so.
Some people have a voice in their heads while they think, others do not. Once you start digging into everyone's subjective experiences of the universe, this place gets pretty weird. How we all get along is a notable mystery.
You don't have to "get along" to propagate a species. The universe at large doesn't care about humanity or our politicking. We're not even the most successful animal or organism on this planet. We're just the most "aware". But consciousness doesn't mean shit, and is arguably holding us back, or will in the future.
Some people have pictures in their heads. If you tell someone to imagine a rhinoceros, they can close their eyes and see one like it was right in front of them. Others can't.
I dont even need to close my eyes. I could imagjne a rhino standing beside me in the space i exist in. Arent subjective experiences wild?? I thought everybody could do that
I also don't need to close my eyes, but the rhino appears on my mental "screen" that floats a little in front of and above my forehead. It's like from a kid's book, with no background or anything unless I have an additional prompt for that.
I also think many (but not all) thoughts in words and can have full multi-perspective conversations with myself.
I can have an entire conversation in my head by reenacting old memories, or create completely new imaginary scenarios at places I have never been to. It can be just me or with multiple other people that I just imagined up on the fly.
I was mostly kidding, it's a blessing and a curse, I wouldn't trade it but do wish he'd stfu sometimes. Absolutely agree with what you say about explaining things, I do research and have to explain that research where having the stream of consciousness is helpful.
I'm in this very hard to describe spot between hearing an internal voice and not, such that both actually hearing a voice and not hearing one at all sound absolutely bizarre to me.
That's because fundamentally you aren't "hearing" a voice. It's called an "inner monologue" but that's a bit of a misnomer, albeit one without a solution because realistically speaking there isn't much in the way of a better name for it. If you can read silently, if you can think of words before you say them, whatever "thing" you experience when processing those words is precisely what is called the "inner monologue".
Thats what happens when add electricity to bacon Jell-o. How we process things and most of us see the same (like chair or fish) its the real miracle here
I never understood the whole "empty your mind" thing with meditation. I always thought it was just something people said because it sounded wise. Then I learned there are people who can actually do it, and suddenly meditation made a lot more sense.
I have a weird thing where I can trick my senses into smelling something that's not there. It works best with apples. If I think about it hard enough, boom. Apple smell.
That's so wild! I never thought about that, and so I've never tried it til right now. No smell, but the taste on the back of my tongue and like kiiiinda the smell, like how it feels after drinking, immediately comes up. Weird lol
no they don't - something like 20% of people do not have the internal dialogue (narrative) capacity - it simply isn't there. Some people have it running constantly, others experience it without words or only occasionally as if they were asking themselves a question or hearing someone speak to them.
Even wilder are the disorders that cause you to have voices that are not *yours*. Your brain is generating a whole another ego voice and disavowing any knowledge of doing it!
Wait till you find out about people with synesthesia. My wife for example has permanently assigned colors to words and letters. ex: M is light blue.
We couldn’t name our kids certains names because they were ugly mixes of brown and yellowish green.
Her mom also has color / letter synesthesia but her alphabet is different than my wife’s.
It occasionally came in handy on multiple choice tests. She might not remember the word but could remember what colors it was and pick the right answer.
The people I’ve talked to who don’t “hear” a voice also think the words as they’re reading them. Some people can shut it off and speed read, but in my experience, most people who say they don’t misunderstand that you don’t actually hear a voice, you imagine it. It’s the same as an extended argument in the shower.
The entire farce of people claiming no inner monologue is insane. For babies this is surely the case, but as soon as we start to learn language? Not a chance. And it's even worse because the proof it's not possible is as easy as showing them an object, asking them to keep it in mind for a moment, then tell you out loud what it is. If they can do that, then they formulated the words IN their head. There was no magical fu@$in voice, but there was absolutely inner monologue.
Yea that's a hard no. Anybody who claims to have no inner monologue is either lying OR is so horrendously ignorant of what the term "inner monologue" means that they take it as literally hearing voices and so proclaim they don't have that. And people defend this with "everybody different" or some shit. No inner monologue would make writing or typing impossible. It would make silent reading impossible. It would make forming coherent thoughts virtually impossible. EVERYBODY has an inner monologue
You're not wrong, except astigmatism isn't subjective, it's objective. It's a defect because your eyeballs aren't shaped properly, and it's correctable with glasses/contacts/lasik. That I see these light lines and halos at night is my objective experience with bad astigmatism, even with glasses. Getting into the weeds about consciousness and thought with stuff like "how do you visualize an apple in your head" is pretty interesting though!
If I close my left eye, no lines. If i close my right eye, lots of lines Both eyes open, some small lines Both eyes open but tired, more lines If I close both eyes, no lines. But I also don't drive, so I'm allowed
I mean that's a deeper philosophical discussion about the nature of human thought and how we interpret our conscious reality. My point was the original image is speaking of a very objective observable and diagnosed medical condition, so it felt like a comparison to something more subjective was a little odd.
Though I keep telling my optometrist that I see the lines but they keep saying I don't have astigmatism so I don't know wtf is going on, it only started happening after I had something that felt kind of like a stroke (sudden blurry vision and weakness on the right side of my body) but wasn't because the 5 MRIs i got found nothing
Definitely! I found out I have an issue with just one eye, so normally everything is fine, but the more tired I get, or the more I try and read faded black text on yellow paper under yellow light, it gets real bad.
Basically, until I tire the good eye out, it all looks normal.
Also, apparently I need prismatic lenses, not regular ones (which never really helped)
Defs go see another optometrist. One that doesn't stop at "it's not this so you are fine"
Yikes, sorry to hear that! I'd definitely consult another optometrist to get a second opinion if you haven't already, maybe see if they would know if there's anything besides astigmatism that could be affecting your vision. Did they say that maybe you had a transient ischemic attack? My mom had one of those once, was really freaky since it's very stroke-like but thankfully without permanent damage, but can be a precursor to a full on stroke potentially.
When you understand there are animal and insect species that interpret magnetism or sound like sight in their brains you start to understand that the sensory perception of the universe is just a perspective built on compounding environmental conditions.
There is not just one universe. There is a universe for every perspective because they all process information with different processes and outputs.
Every understanding of existence is based on different sensory experiences.
Aphantasia or no minds eye the inability to picture anything in your head. I used to think lewrbi was crazy hard when people what talk about things they do to remeber things like imaginary journeys and such.
I'm in the middle, not that intense without effort, but I can focus and model something in detail (object, system, process). I can have extremely vivid dreams, but not always.
I use the voice when I need to imagine a voice for something but this shit blows my mind. How can people possibly think in a non visual language. It's so slow I would think I was standing still. It makes me wonder if that's what's going through my head when I'm waiting multiple beats for someone to formulate an answer to something. Sounds like hell. Imagine doing math or designing something and all thoughts had to be crammed into a language. Sounds like I can't possibly understand this right
I'm in your camp. In my personal life bubble I experience far more good connection than bad. But yes, there are undoubtedly some VERY bad actors who fuck things up for all of us and try to get us to doubt our common humanity. Often successfully...
But the reasons we don't get on are nothing to do with this kind of subjectivity. I get on fine with people who don't see lines on lights at night and who have a voice in their head, less so with racists or transphobes.
I can't do that, everything that's described in a book looks like it's happening in a black void when I try to visualize it. Books and me don't really get along because of it.
I do the same thing - especially after having a reference point. I bet that's why some people do not enjoy reading and while others consume books like crazy - their ability to play out the words as scenarios. How boring would books be if they were like textbooks where it's all informational with nothing to play out?
My daughter is a voracious reader. She was knocking out several hundred pages a day in middle school and she can't "visualize" it. It is not like textbooks and is very much a story. My other daughter can visualize and she does not have the near the same interest in reading.
Yea, when i started to think deeply about that,specifically, "What if the voice in your head speaking wasn't what you'd call your inner voice and it said very dark ideas" I got heavy chill like watching a very scary movie. Thats the closest to understanding ppl are afflicted with some kind of schizophrenia, and i have the utmost sympathy. Imagine the percentage of ppl who think its their inner voice and just follow thru.
I had no idea that people could summon images, or what it meant to have a song stuck in your head, etc. The moment I found out about images was a life-altering one. I have “total multi-sensory aphantasia”.
I had a visualization discussion with my wife. She sees images like flash cards while I can imagine manipulate and modify 3D images in my head, as well as stop conversations like a recording to see some of my surroundings. She is crazy smart but it’s helped understand the differences in our thought processes.
Everyone has inner monologue and anybody who claims otherwise is ignorant or lying. Proving they do is extremely simple. Show an object, ask what it is but tell them not to say it out loud. Wait 10 seconds and ask them to tell you out loud what it was. If they can't tell you you should get them to a doctor, brain injuries are no laughing matter. If they DO tell you, done and done, the only way to retain the answer or even formulate the wording for it without speaking is inner monologue.
It's WAY more intense than that. Some of us (myself as an example) can, and often can't stop the total scenic reinactment of memories, we build whole scenes, different voices, ambient sounds, powerful and subtle scents, and anything imaginable can happen. Like a lucid dream, but it's just Thursday daydreaming. I thought for the longest time this was everyone's ability. I was horrified to learn (in the way you first learn about people being born blind) that not everyone can do this.
Yeah had no idea growing up that a lot of people couldn’t do the “exploded diagram” thing mentally or build models and visualize things like force diagrams easily.
On the flip side I also didn’t understand that most people’s minds kinda automatically select “normal behaviors” and conventional ways of doing things. I thought it was something they had to constantly consider and reason through too.
Oh boi yes. I can build whole epic orchestras in my head with all kinds of instruments, sounds and singing chores in dozens of harmonic layers. But damn ,it takes like a thousand times more effort to bring just a piece of it on paper. And I can only play 2 instruments and my singing is horrible. I wish there was a way to just download it from my mind.
I hate how this just made me think "yeah, it's kind of like AI art my brain makes using my memories as training material." I hate it because it's true... but at least I can get hands and winking right, get rekt AI.
I like that. "Kind of like AI "art"" because it's a good description of how mine sometimes feel. I hate it because AI though. Mostly just appreciate it because it's correct (for me)
Yeah that pretty much describes my experience. I can remember extremely vivid details about practically every memory. When my family reminisces about old memories from 30+ years ago, I can remember what we had for dinner that day, what the weather was like, which seat everyone had at the dinner table, what was on TV that night, etc. I mostly keep my mouth shut about it, people get annoyed about it.
People often comment on my recollection of the past and minute details. "I remember this thing that happened because this thing also happened at the same time this other thing was happening, plus this thing that didn't happen, but also reminded me of all the other things that happened."
There's a memory quote for remembering things that basically equates to building memories like learning the floorplan of your home. You build a room for them and know where to look when you want to recall them
This kind of thing makes me wonder if, for example, my purple is the same as your purple. Maybe that difference is why there is not one colour that is everyone's favourite.
I can't see images very well in my mind, but sometimes my brain randomly shows me a texture attached to a physiological or emotional response, like spikes that feel scary or smooth blobs that feel exciting. I have no idea why and have never heard of it from anyone else.
My brain does tactile fuckery for me too, however its fuckin hard to describe. When I think back on a book/story I've experienced it comes with a physical sensation of eating: like a good satisfyimg story has the mouthfeel of taking a big bite of super tender meat and the after-meal sensation of fullness. Never thr taste tho
My brain also likes to add little noises to things moving like blinking lights or the arms of a clock. Again h/ever i feel the vibration un my ear instead of hearing it
I think it's the reverse order for me. I sense the texture/pattern first and it elicits a response that I didn't feel beforehand. It kinda feels like the texture IS the response and I'm feeling that response vicariously sorta.
Same for me, but from the other side. I’m aphantasic so when I heard people say “picture it in your minds eye”, I didn’t know that was actually a thing
I wonder if I’m the same. I can’t really see pictures in my mind. I can kind of imagine, like, a really damaged photo version of the thing sometimes. I really don’t know how to describe what happens in my mind when someone says that. It’s not a vivid image at all.
I can remember things I've seen before. Visualize the road I've driven on thousands of times and such. But other then that? No pictures in my heads, just voices and concepts of things. It's curious how different that works for different people.
See what's fascinating is we're both capable of solving the same problems, and getting the same results, but I can't fathom how you do it, nor I suppose, could you fathom my way? Interesting. Sometimes I wish I could turn it off, there's some things parts of my brain really likes to remember vivdly... I do not.
Yeah. Funny thing is that my brother has a super vivid minds eye and he gets wild dreams, nightmares, and visits from sleep paralysis things. Hearing him talk about that stuff makes me happy with my void
I’d argue that our results will be similar, but not the same. Your designs would include elements I’d never consider and vice versa. It’d be great to find people like you and me and have them to solve a problem together. I bet there’s a synergistic aspect of it, like having a whole mind, you know what I mean?
I think they meant more basic problems like math questions or logic problems that only have one answer. As soon as you go past the very basics into anything that requires creativity to solve you're going to have different results for a hundred different reasons
My favorite "brain buster" is that given the diversity here on earth, it is possible the laws of physics are relative to only our section of the universe. So, we could eventually find somewhere in the universe where gravity is not a force.
My husband cannot internally visualize. He thought "picture this" was just a thing people said, not something people can actually do. He didn't find out until his 30s...
Tbh, knowing has helped us a lot in communicating better. Just knowing how the other thinks, like what the actual process is like for them is so helpful when we disagree. It reduces misunderstandings, too.
Still, I sometimes have to remind him that when he says things, I see them. But he's gotten a lot better at remembering over the past ~10 years since we found this out!
I've got that! I can't see anything in "my mind's eye". Except traumatic things. I can construct a vivid image of every traumatic event that has occurred in my life. But if I try to picture my children it ends up just being amorphous blobs that share some similarities and then just audio descriptions of what they look like
I honestly still kinda don't believe people who say that when they "picture" something, they literally see it, indistinguishably from if it was actually there.
It's a spectrum. Some people see the image as if they were looking at it with their eyes, all the way down to just a simple representation of the object or nothing at all
For me at least, its very distinguishable. It's completely separate from real vision. I can't visualize something into what my eyes are seeing. And for most people, visualization isn't as vivid or detailed as reality.
And now I'm over here trying to figure out "where" my visualizations are, lol.
Right? I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle, but language, or at least what words I know, seem completely insufficient for describing my level of visualization. I can't *see* the things I'm picturing, but it's not like *nothing* happens when I visualize things.
It's like my brain cavity is a stage and my mind sits behind it looking down. If I think red ball, it appears on stage. If I say red ball with yellow star it appears on the ball without transition. The picture is IN my head.
If I rotate the ball the star kind of blurs into a yellow band unless I concentrate and spin it very slowly. I've never put this much thought into it, I'm curious to see if anyone else's results are different.
I mean, sure he can. But it probably wouldn't help with the boredom. He'd just think something like "now the cow is facing left. Now it's facing forward. Now it's facing right." while he 'sees' nothing. He does have a strong mental sense of smell, so he might smell the cow while it rotates, haha.
That’s funny cause I like to explain my empathicness as like being color blind but in reverse. Where people tend to have a sorta color about them. But I also recently learned that my empathicness is more a ptsd coping mechanism from my brothers beating me up till I was about 22 because I unconsciously wanted to know what someone’s state of mind was incase they get angry randomly. So it’s all just the brain telling us stories.
It's not that I can't visualize sheep jumping a wall and count them, it's just that I'm way too ADHD and will change the channel in my brain before I could fall asleep to that.
My sister's sheep all pile up on the other side of the fence. My sheep leave the area, but I tend to follow them and the whole counting thing falls apart.
I'm on the other end of this spectrum. I can let machines run in my head, imagining where mechanical problems will occur and what can be done to improve that. Well, I worked as a mechanical engineer and machine designer for almost twenty years and both abilities have complimented each other
On the aphantasia scale I see posted sometimes (1: Full, realistic visualization/5: nothing.), I think I'm a 4.5. I can sometimes kind of bring an image up, but only rarely, and it's very very vague when it does happen.
I can picture endless things in my mind. Doesn't help much when I'm given the task to locate an object I didn't place down. My mother used to ask me to grab things from the basement and I couldn't locate them. I had a visual from endless possibility of what a can of corn inside a pantry "should" look like, but no. Couldn't find the damn corn because it "could" look like anything. It also didn't help that my mom was terrible at explaining where I should start looking. Multiple pantries to search
cellocalypse
Oh and FUCK THOSE BRIGHT ASS GODDAMN HALOGEN WHATEVER LIGHTS THAT ARE UNSAFE FOR EVERY OTHER DRIVER THAT ISN'T THE OWNER OF SAID STUPID LIGHTS
SgtDefaultGN
Huh.
122andan8th
OK this one bugs me, cause that is NOT what astigmatism looks like. That is a streaked windshield. Astigmatism looks like things are kinda doubled or even tripled.
MasterChristopher
It has become increasingly more difficult to drive at night because of this...
BellerophonM
Lines on lights can come from several things; astigmatism is the most common. If you have it you should get glasses for it. Driving at night will be a lot easier, not just for removing the lines but also because your brain can filter oncoming lights better.
BellerophonM
Astigmtism is when your eyeball's lens isn't perfectly spherical the way it's meant to be but is slightly squashed in one direction. Most of the time your brain can correct the effect automatically without you noticing, but the ongoing stress of doing so can result in headaches when focusing on things for too long like reading.
GrenithTheSkald
Close. I see the lines, but I also see what I call the "starburst" effect around every light source where it looks like the lights are exploding outwards in all directions.
viila
Depends on what exact kind of refractive error your eyes have. If it's on single axis you get single spoke, multiple axes you get multiple.
TanithRosenbaum
Yes. Or stars even. I have that (and moderate shortsightnedness), and didn't know it wasn't normal until I was 15. Have been wearing glasses ever since. (Incidentially, I believe uncorrected astigmatism is the source of the classic depiction of stars as stars instead of just dots of ligtht)
thatunpleasantfeeling
Some people cannot see images in t heir head when they think. I know a comic book author who was unaware that people could visualize images before they were on paper.
wideshoulderedbeast
I have a friend who has the stigmata
SoGrosslyIncandescent
ugggh, the lines. Fuck those lines. And especially fuck them when the road is also wet and everything just turns into the fucking enterprise at warp speed.
LutraLazuli
For me, it's more of a starburst type of astigmatism, and yeah, even when I am outside of the car at night
Sk3tz0
It's JJ Abram vision
iMcFly
In GTA V Michael sees lines when he looks at the sun, suggesting that he also has a stigmatism, whereas when you play as Trevor or Franklin, they do not. But they all perceive the sun differently.
dlshark
Wait, really?! I never played GTA V but that’s an impressive level of detail!
iMcFly
Yeah! Just found a short 30 second video showcasing it here: https://youtu.be/dpnb5eEtXDw
lightfoot2
People don't?
Emberskyes
You can see at night???
dreadfroggy
People don't see the lines?
LordHosk
I was shocked when my doctor told me this wasn't normal.
I was getting an eye exam and he was describing this effect and He was like "do you see lines coming off of bright lights" and I was like "no, just the normal starbursts glow" and he was like "normal what now" So I drew it out , and he was like "no thats not normal... thats like... really bad"
Incognitomodeactivated
The plot twist you really needed. I looks neat drawn out but must be a hassle in the day to day stuff.
viila
It depends on the extent of the error. When you've lived with it your entire life, it's normal to you. You're used to them. It doesn't necessarily significantly affect you. I have small refractive error that's enough to give me starbursts, but my vision uncorrected is still 20/14, better than "normal". As such I don't really need corrective glasses for it. At night the lines are ordinary to me, they don't really hinder me.
SirButcher
I see smeared bright patches, haha.
etopsirhc
wait, you dont?!
Artoris
When I finally got my glasses I was floored at how bad my vision had been.
Skuggen
I've gone in to get my eyes checked thinking my vision is basically fine, then get told it'd be illegal for me to get behind the wheel of a car without new glasses. Your brain does a good job of erasing gradual changes.
rossonerinho
same. I was accident waiting to happen. when I drove at night for the first time after I got my glasses I couldn't believe the difference.
Klaustrophile
People see lanes?!!11!
AyatollahBahloni
I remember seeing lines on lights at night as early as age five.
gonzar09
From the inside of the car, or when looking right at them without a glass filter?
AyatollahBahloni
Sitting in my window in New York City after being put to bed at night, watching the staggered lights march up Lexington Avenue. So through window glass, yes, but I noticed it looking directly at lights such as the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
gonzar09
Hi from LI, neighbor!
ToSisPoS
So that high-pitched ringing that I always hear in my ears, that’s not something everyone hears?
LinkWieldsTheTriforceOfCourage
Or when told to wear EarPro while at concerts, working on cars, or at construction jobs.
LinkWieldsTheTriforceOfCourage
I'm pretty sure most Gen-X and Millennials have Tinnitus, neither generation listened when told to keep their head phone volume low.
ToSisPoS
That’s the neat part; I hated listening to music.
krisiteenie56
Worth mentioning to a doctor though. Can be a sign of some vitamin deficiencies, high blood pressure, medication side effects, and even in some cases a brain issue (electrical firing, auditory issues, aneurysm etc).
SilverFoxChaser
I get tinnitus when my BP gets high.
WhiskyBravo
I did love my heavy metal back in the day, but I'm fairly certain it's the 20+ years working in datacenters that did me in. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 24/7
RedTailedHawk
ironymus
One of only a few situations where my OCD doesn't scream for symmetry but for asymmetry to break this optical illusion
ParaspriteHugger
b0stark
This just made me want to take out my contact lenses, so I wouldn't have to look at this. It'd just be a blur. The only problem is that I'd struggle with finding my contacts to put them back in.
vanderzee
thanks, i hate it!
Treforce
Trippy
ThrowBlah
MeatPopsicleMultiPass
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1b29zemM3dmdlbDczd2Q0djc0dmVuYzBvMzJ0dG9hemtwNzFlNm81MCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/r284mhlzpmw9i/200w.webp
ChazzK
My actual astigmatism wishes to strangle you now
super3dcow
ITS NOT YOUR EYES IF YOU SEE THIS. Its from the damn wiper blades rubbing your windshield. 2 very easy ways to confirm. Point your camera phone and see if the streaks look the same. Or rotate your head. Astigmatism lines will rotate with your head, the windshield marks will not. Posts like this drive me crazy every time I see it because it just spreads so much false information. Clean your windshield and the lines will go away. Boom, easy nighttime driving
Onisa
The astigmatism example has a wiper scratch in the bottom corner though. Cleaning may prevent false astigmatism but it won't remove it.
ToenailClippingsJar
Sod off.
I see then when I’m walking the dogs at night. Hell, I see them inside when I have the lights on. It’s super annoying.
Stop trying to invalidate problems others experience because you don’t experience it.
super3dcow
What is pictured in the photo is not an astigmatism. Thats why the camera can see it in the first place. I know it exists and people experience it, which is why I detailed ways to confirm. This posts spreads false info and is confusing people without an astigmatism to believe they have one. I was previously fooled because yes, I saw those lines, but only while driving. Sorry for helping people be informed and not waste time going to the doctor to have their eyes checked
Donfolstar
Deep down in this comment you are correct, but your messaging is terrible (to the point of self contradicting) which is why you are getting so many angry replies. It doesn't help that it sort of looks like you dropped your comment then pieced the sentences together at random.
universeHacker
I mean, it is my eyes, 100% sure, especially since I drive a convertible and I can still see it looking over the windshield. I have astigmatism, contacts correct for it but not perfectly, especially at the end of the day when my eyes are getting tired and drying out a bit.
MentalHealthBot
I typically don't use windshields when walking down the street. Am I walking down the street wrong?
ilhares
You are so amazing bold about being wrong on this.
super3dcow
What is pictured in the photo is not an astigmatism. Thats why the camera can see it in the first place. I know it exists and people experience it, which is why I detailed ways to confirm. This posts spreads false info and is confusing people without an astigmatism to believe they have one. I was previously fooled because yes, I saw those lines, but only while driving. Sorry for helping people be informed and not waste time going to the doctor to have their eyes checked
Bladedrummer
Mine came on with age. I love night driving and this sucks. Even wearing glasses it's not great. I'm thinking about getting surgery...
CyberHexx
Get vision insurance before hand and it's super affordable. My employer only covers new glasses, which sucks, I'm thinking about buying a vision policy that covers lasic, getting it, then dropping the policy...
VikingsAreNinjaPirates
No need for surgery. If pick-up truck LED headlights get any brighter then the radiation scarring on your corneas should do the trick.
SloppyPotter
I don't know how getting a pair of big tits will help but sure.
5WattBulb
They actually as a cushion in case they hit someone while not being able to see properly, duh
SmashySashimi
Nonono, the line was “I’m not sure bigger headlights are the answer.”
MrOne2
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1dHA4N3hoaDQwdmpjZmJxZnZic3hreHR3bjdjYjcwdXY4dTE1c3k5NSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/2xIOiAPXonois/200w.webp
Bladedrummer
Baby my big pair of tits are all natural
sharK11
do they help with you vision?
UncleIrohny
*Gets breast reduction. Finds out astigmatism somehow was caused by nerve damage in lower back and the operation cures astigmatism, back pain and a several allergies…*
textilelover
Mine came on with Lasik surgery. God forbid it's raining at night. I can't drive anymore. It's terrifying.
Bladedrummer
Oh fuck really?
textilelover
it sucks.
FuManLu
Mine also came with Lasik. It's manageable but it's there
YouLookingAtMe
Yup, mine too but it’s manageable in my case.
Erumun
i find it weird it's worse looking out through the front windshield cause it i look out without the window it's much less severe.
blackssei1293
If you want to talk about psychological warfare, I remember reading about this clear spray you can put on your windshield. During the day, you can see through it just fine, but at night it causes streaks that make you think your eyesight is getting worse when it really isn’t. Kinda like those little prank devices that randomly chirp every few hours so you can never pinpoint where the sound is coming from. It slowly drives you insane.
FuckGlitter
It's likely the angle of the front windshield that adds to it. I get lines all the way down past my steering wheel when I'm driving but yeah if I look out the side window it's not nearly as bad.
zebulorg
I've got extreme astigmatism - contacts can correct it better than glasses. The astigmatism contacts have a little weight to keep them aligned so rubbing your eyes hard will make it blurry for a second but they right themselves after a couple of blinks.
youngfarty
When I was a young teen, they didn't have soft toric lenses for my level of correction, so I had to get gas permeable (hard) contacts. I told my optometrist, "I think something is wrong, it feels like there's something in my eye!" He laughed really hard.
When I was finally able to get into contacts it was like an absolute miracle.
Froggie243
You must have gotten lucky with the angle of your astigmatism. Mine needs the granularity of angle correction that glasses can achieve, but contacts can't yet. Waiting for the tech to be available with my blurry vision.
zebulorg
Jeez yeah one of mine is like 110°
PonyMadness
Lasik was a complete game changer for me. Had it done in 2011 and my eyes are still perfect.
JustHereForTheKicks
Just had mine done in December. 20 20 vision and my astigmatism is gone
Bladedrummer
I gotta wait one more year. They want your eyesight to be stable for 2 years. I've only had glasses for 1 year.
PonyMadness
I never had glasses. I had to get my CDL for a job and learned during the new eye test at the DMV that I couldn't see shit out of my right eye and my left wasn't that much better.
BenderBendingRrrrrrodriguez
It's not astigmatism, it's my personal cinematic lens flare.
SpaceForGold
Side note, please go to the optometrist
PandaStonetree
I've always disliked lens flare in general. Why is it even a thing? What are they trying to accomplish? Literally no one sees lights like that, unless they have some medical situation at which it's normally correctable to an extent. I mean, We make TVs specifically to not cause this effect from glare of the sun through a window.
fantabuloustimewaster
Lens flares are an artifact of the "anamorphic" lenses used to squeeze a widescreen image onto squarer frames of film. Not all cinema is still shot on this hardware, but the artifacts say "movie" to viewers. That's the idea, anyway.
Misteree8
I had a florescent light streak in the shape of the black wing(xmen).ah fun times just stairing and imagining stories.
JustHereForTheMemes0321
Facts 💯 same
Donfolstar
Get ready for shaky cam!
WackyWavingInflatableArmFlailingTubman
Ive been laser cutting my eyes until I see stars like the James webb
bluemyles
They are friends, they follow me and keep me safe in the night.
kiddk00l
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1b3gzOG92Y3k3NHJ0cXl3bG83NWYzOWxyNnNyNTFpbTk1MjMxdTR4diZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/C57VcLg3P2R0rXRKsf/200w.webp
FellaWithUmbrella
My Life – Directed by J. J. Abrams
Hypothesist
lot of hype and no pay off
MapleSyrupMafia
At least it's not Michael Bay.
E34generation525i
I'm the ugly guy so I'd have a hot girlfriend to look forward to.
Hypothesist
you think your the lead in the movie?
Atlasraven
I have a lil eeeeeee in my eardrums to go along with it.
blackssei1293
Sounds like Tinnitus (no pun intended)
SkittlesPower
Experience complete. Pain felt.
Recovering9gagger
That's just Mini Me falling through space that you're hearing
nothingunused
Do you watch Abrams' films and go, "I don't understand what people are complaining about."
EvilMom
No, they're more heightened.
ImJustSoFckingSickOfThisBllsht
LMAO YESSSSSSS!!!
youngfarty
It seems weird, but.... Kinda? Like, my brain edits them out, I never notice them unless someone else points it out to me. I've heard the reason some people don't like them is because it makes them aware of the existence of the camera, and that messes with their suspension of disbelief. But that's just how things look to me, so it doesn't impact my immersion at all.
Easykehl
If you only see the lines when in a car and the lines all point to/away the pivot point of your wiper blades, then that just means that dust/dirt trapped in your wiper blades have etched small, circular scratches into your windshield that create a line of glare from lights viewed through the windshield. When in doubt, take a picture to see if the camera can see the ‘lines’ as well; if they show up in a photo, it’s not your eyes that are the problem.
Gameshow
you can also take drugs
SindarElla
It gets really fun when you have both!
cousteau
Tilt your head and see if the lines follow.
applesforjuice
Why would you take a picture rather than just looking out your side window to check
Something1Said
It's good generic advice, I think, rather than being specific to the car. If you're seeing something that might be hallucinatory, see if your phone can see it, too. And that way you're in prime position to take a quick video of the monster before it kills you, and we can make a found footage movie out of it.
randomwalrus
Because I have seen Hereditary.
Prunest
DUDE that movie is so fucked up. The dread and loathing made me sick to my stomach. Took me most of the movie to realize I wasn't hearing my heartbeat during scenes but that it was added. Which wi th how low in volume it was was a lovely touch.
Easykehl
If there are points of light as strong as ones visible through the windshield, that would work. I figured that viewing the phenomenon on the same light sources would be more consistent and illustrative.
applesforjuice
Use the same light sources and same light receptacles (eyes.) Lean over slightly. Just put your head out the window. Take a picture with your auto focus anti blur three lens smartphone camera? Then look at the picture on a small screen, while driving, and determine if your eyes or the windshield are the problem? Introducing an entirely unnecessary third factor. Or just kinda move your head about 1 1/2 feet to the left or right and see with your eyes what you're looking at.
blackssei1293
I was just going to write this. Great minds think alike. Not even great though, I consider this common sense.
applesforjuice
My first car was a 1963 mercury comet convertible, nothing worked. I drove it home in the rain, so I had my head out the side window the whole time bc no wipers. Slow rural back streets and only like 2 miles, I could see just not through my windshield
applesforjuice
I don't think I'm very old, just 33 but seeing people suggest taking a picture because moving their head slightly never even crossed their mind makes me feel like a fucking curmudgeon. Like "what's wrong with kids today" thoughts.
Conz
Wait till you hear about people who wipe from the front vs from the back.
Toqom
Bidet!
tyner156
Strictly left to right for me, like it says in the Bible...
WeatherWiz
As a guy, thankfully I can be versatile with this lol.
Whatdoyousaytoanicecupoftea
What's up, shit nuts?
Hexrowe
Real innovators wipe side to side.
cccampbell79
Why do one or the other? Do them both!
pilomotor
Women can get UTIs if they wipe back to front.
boardfuniguess
Hey don't tell everyone... I thought it was a secret lol
blackssei1293
You have seen them too?! I thought it was just me. I seriously thought those people were a figment of my imagination. Honestly, this is weirdly validating knowing someone else has seen the exact same thing. The older I get, the more I realize there are way more strange people among us than I ever imagined. Some are just better at hiding it than others. Just don’t look at their hands. When you see people walking around with their hands in their pockets on a very hot day, you just know.
stayingalive4life
Or people who strip down naked every time they poop.
thotterpop
Onesies don't usually have poop flaps
MadHatter69
That's actually quite pleasant, and even practical if you're showering right after.
stayingalive4life
I’ll give showering right afterwards a pass. But most if not all other situations? 🫤
hendawg2020
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1bGxldGdwbnZvOG02bHE2NjRoYnZ4MHU4c2s3c2NoemsxY2w2Z2FpdCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/5PkWUpoNuubjSeiyaU/200w.webp
stonqledisponible2000
You guys wipe!?!?
MadHatter69
JustHereForTheMemes0321
Jesus Christ
Josh25AP
You Europeans and your bidets
Toqom
There are literally people who refuse to wipe, many because they think touching their ass, is gay. When I was an it director I got to work before anyone else and found the highest shit in the toilet without any paper anywhere near it or in the toilet itself.
helloit
hope it was a clean pinch
yourelivingalloverme
STANDING UP, TOO!
WeatherWiz
Probably the same people who have constant shit stains on their underwear.
yourelivingalloverme
I’m on this team. The opinion team, not the shit stain team. I use a bidet, so naturally I’m thinking anyone who doesn’t wash has itchy butt.
Poop, wipe, go for a jog. Check your butt crack with some TP. There’s some color in there.
Poop, bidet, jog… TP check comes up clean.
WeatherWiz
Yeah I guess some people who stand to wipe got triggered by my comment lol. But I agree: you’re not truly clean if you just use dry TP. Also your diet is important too for a clean butt.
yourelivingalloverme
Yes. I get +/- 40g of fiber per day. Made a huge difference for me coming from nearly having 5-10g. Work your way up sssllloowwwwlllyyyy!
GoodEveningThisIsWhatAButtDoesPBBPPBBTT
?? Wha-? How does that correlate?
WeatherWiz
Standing up to wipe, means higher likelihood it does not get cleaned fully. So higher likelihood of skid marks
AbelardSnazz
How can you wipe without standing up? Do you squeeze your hand between your backside and the seat? You need to get up for unfettered access
HamSlamwich
Half the people in the world wipe the other way.
hufflesnuff
You just lean to one side and lift a cheek, lol. No squeezing required. Hell, you ever just 'hover' at a public toilet? Not always going full weight down on the bowl.
MacKelvey
I lean to one side while seated. Works just fine for me
randomwalrus
I just clap my hands, and summon Jeeves, my valet, and he comes and wipes&washes for me. Standing of course, I am no peasant.
Perkunas687
Last time I saw a conversation like this, some guy commented that he wipes while sitting, but from the front, and that stopped both sides of the aisle and made everyone go, wtf?
Something1Said
I knew a guy who said he did that. He was enough of a freak that I was only slightly dubious.
MissChickle
I mean...yes.
yourelivingalloverme
Found the person who wipes standing up.
When you stand, your cheeks come together and sandwich the poop. How do you get in there properly while standing? Do you have an absurd thigh gap that keeps your cheeks apart while standing?
sufferinsuccotash
Actually this entire thread is based on the person's weight and abilities. People with certain body types may need to do one or the other. As long as the last wipe is clean I don't judge
yourelivingalloverme
I only care about my butt, and my wife’s butt. Everyone else can do whatever they want. I truly feel that every toilet should be equipped with a bidet though.
hufflesnuff
I mean, the ability part is valid, if you can't stand, you can't stand. And I suppose at a certain point I can see it. But I'm a big dude, like beyond the 99th percentile for height and weight, and I have a hard time imagining a weight at which you'd need to stand and were also able to do so.
azimir
Some people have a voice in their heads while they think, others do not. Once you start digging into everyone's subjective experiences of the universe, this place gets pretty weird. How we all get along is a notable mystery.
TheCryptid
But we dont all get along though. Its like.. the main problem
aerodynamit3
You don't have to "get along" to propagate a species. The universe at large doesn't care about humanity or our politicking. We're not even the most successful animal or organism on this planet. We're just the most "aware". But consciousness doesn't mean shit, and is arguably holding us back, or will in the future.
TheCryptid
... ok
khaoselement
The "no inner monolog" one blows my mind more than any other I know of. I can't imagine not having a voice in my mind.
ActualTttony
By "getting along" you mean what, exactly
Shaodyn
Some people have pictures in their heads. If you tell someone to imagine a rhinoceros, they can close their eyes and see one like it was right in front of them. Others can't.
kowcatchan
I dont even need to close my eyes. I could imagjne a rhino standing beside me in the space i exist in. Arent subjective experiences wild?? I thought everybody could do that
apairofpetducks
I also don't need to close my eyes, but the rhino appears on my mental "screen" that floats a little in front of and above my forehead. It's like from a kid's book, with no background or anything unless I have an additional prompt for that.
I also think many (but not all) thoughts in words and can have full multi-perspective conversations with myself.
choppedliveraldente
Im stuck on how people can't even hear an inner monolog or an internal discussion even without being able to visualize the side of a barn
sircowdog
Some people literally can't see images in their mind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
Someshithead241
That's why i love this video https://youtu.be/f7q8f6KMcac
fformulaa
Who says we're getting along, pal?
nothingunused
I'm not your pal, buddy.
fformulaa
I'm not your buddy, chief.
kowcatchan
We all get along?!
Jordan7831
A voice? You mean only one? It must be really quite lonely in that case
Futuron
I can have an entire conversation in my head by reenacting old memories, or create completely new imaginary scenarios at places I have never been to. It can be just me or with multiple other people that I just imagined up on the fly.
laurapede83
I see we have met before. I'm not sure if it was in your head or mine. Seriously tho, I have until just now thought I was the only one.
Totallycasual
I have a voice, and i see lines! lol
LaffertyDanie1
Anyone who doesn't have the voice wanna trade? This guy never shuts the fuck up
[deleted]
[deleted]
LaffertyDanie1
I was mostly kidding, it's a blessing and a curse, I wouldn't trade it but do wish he'd stfu sometimes. Absolutely agree with what you say about explaining things, I do research and have to explain that research where having the stream of consciousness is helpful.
AsAHistorian
I'm in this very hard to describe spot between hearing an internal voice and not, such that both actually hearing a voice and not hearing one at all sound absolutely bizarre to me.
Shon71
That's because fundamentally you aren't "hearing" a voice. It's called an "inner monologue" but that's a bit of a misnomer, albeit one without a solution because realistically speaking there isn't much in the way of a better name for it. If you can read silently, if you can think of words before you say them, whatever "thing" you experience when processing those words is precisely what is called the "inner monologue".
Marsupialmessiah
Thats what happens when add electricity to bacon Jell-o. How we process things and most of us see the same (like chair or fish) its the real miracle here
veedubfreak
It still breaks my brain to know there are people with no inner dialogue and unable to visualize objects internally
keroko
I never understood the whole "empty your mind" thing with meditation. I always thought it was just something people said because it sounded wise. Then I learned there are people who can actually do it, and suddenly meditation made a lot more sense.
ArcherPointingFromTheComments
Unfortunately, the concepts of both sonder, and empathy are severely lacking from a large part of the human population.
ElbowDeepInSaintCelestine
I have a weird thing where I can trick my senses into smelling something that's not there. It works best with apples. If I think about it hard enough, boom. Apple smell.
justanotherscreamintothevoid
That's so wild! I never thought about that, and so I've never tried it til right now. No smell, but the taste on the back of my tongue and like kiiiinda the smell, like how it feels after drinking, immediately comes up. Weird lol
Toqom
Everyone has a voice in their head, some recognize it's them, thinking, others do not, some have multiple.
noReallyIamPrincessBob
No, no they do not.
JackieTreehornProductions
no they don't - something like 20% of people do not have the internal dialogue (narrative) capacity - it simply isn't there. Some people have it running constantly, others experience it without words or only occasionally as if they were asking themselves a question or hearing someone speak to them.
gearsmith
It always blows my mind that people have voices in their heads - I thought it was just a figure of speech until well in my 30s.
viila
Even wilder are the disorders that cause you to have voices that are not *yours*. Your brain is generating a whole another ego voice and disavowing any knowledge of doing it!
zacknotzatch
DrLOAC
Wait till you find out about people with synesthesia. My wife for example has permanently assigned colors to words and letters. ex: M is light blue.
We couldn’t name our kids certains names because they were ugly mixes of brown and yellowish green.
Her mom also has color / letter synesthesia but her alphabet is different than my wife’s.
It occasionally came in handy on multiple choice tests. She might not remember the word but could remember what colors it was and pick the right answer.
JeezusJuice
The people I’ve talked to who don’t “hear” a voice also think the words as they’re reading them. Some people can shut it off and speed read, but in my experience, most people who say they don’t misunderstand that you don’t actually hear a voice, you imagine it. It’s the same as an extended argument in the shower.
Shon71
The entire farce of people claiming no inner monologue is insane. For babies this is surely the case, but as soon as we start to learn language? Not a chance. And it's even worse because the proof it's not possible is as easy as showing them an object, asking them to keep it in mind for a moment, then tell you out loud what it is. If they can do that, then they formulated the words IN their head. There was no magical fu@$in voice, but there was absolutely inner monologue.
LeglessSnake
My dad sees a colour when he sees/thinks of a number. Like 1 is red, 2 is blue etc... he says he dislikes some numbers because the colours dont match
Shon71
Yea that's a hard no. Anybody who claims to have no inner monologue is either lying OR is so horrendously ignorant of what the term "inner monologue" means that they take it as literally hearing voices and so proclaim they don't have that. And people defend this with "everybody different" or some shit. No inner monologue would make writing or typing impossible. It would make silent reading impossible. It would make forming coherent thoughts virtually impossible. EVERYBODY has an inner monologue
tzko
What do you mean with ...all ...get along?
CrossEyedPigeonToed
I learned about this just recently right here Imgur. 40+ years on earth and I never knew this.
SubTrout
You're not wrong, except astigmatism isn't subjective, it's objective. It's a defect because your eyeballs aren't shaped properly, and it's correctable with glasses/contacts/lasik. That I see these light lines and halos at night is my objective experience with bad astigmatism, even with glasses. Getting into the weeds about consciousness and thought with stuff like "how do you visualize an apple in your head" is pretty interesting though!
Scezumin
yeah, i was gonna say, nice group hug thought, but not really analogous here, lol. i used to see lines and now (post-surgery) i see starbursts
VInTheSkyWithElephants
Same, PRK and I see starbursts. Hoping to get it done again though because they couldn’t correct me to 20/20 the first time.
Forensickle
If I close my left eye, no lines.
If i close my right eye, lots of lines
Both eyes open, some small lines
Both eyes open but tired, more lines
If I close both eyes, no lines. But I also don't drive, so I'm allowed
wario37
So, why do you assume the other things being discussed are not objective? Might, might not be.
SubTrout
I mean that's a deeper philosophical discussion about the nature of human thought and how we interpret our conscious reality. My point was the original image is speaking of a very objective observable and diagnosed medical condition, so it felt like a comparison to something more subjective was a little odd.
WillowFoxy
Do you think that Ortho-K contact lenses would get rid of them?
SubTrout
I wear glasses so unfortunately don't have any experience with contacts to say, sorry!
Forensickle
Prismatic sclera ones can, for some people, but they are $$$
whywritemythesiswhenihaveinternet
Though I keep telling my optometrist that I see the lines but they keep saying I don't have astigmatism so I don't know wtf is going on, it only started happening after I had something that felt kind of like a stroke (sudden blurry vision and weakness on the right side of my body) but wasn't because the 5 MRIs i got found nothing
Forensickle
Definitely!
I found out I have an issue with just one eye, so normally everything is fine, but the more tired I get, or the more I try and read faded black text on yellow paper under yellow light, it gets real bad.
Basically, until I tire the good eye out, it all looks normal.
Also, apparently I need prismatic lenses, not regular ones (which never really helped)
Defs go see another optometrist. One that doesn't stop at "it's not this so you are fine"
SubTrout
Yikes, sorry to hear that! I'd definitely consult another optometrist to get a second opinion if you haven't already, maybe see if they would know if there's anything besides astigmatism that could be affecting your vision. Did they say that maybe you had a transient ischemic attack? My mom had one of those once, was really freaky since it's very stroke-like but thankfully without permanent damage, but can be a precursor to a full on stroke potentially.
HandoB4Javert
~ The Voice in the Head
MacTually
When you understand there are animal and insect species that interpret magnetism or sound like sight in their brains you start to understand that the sensory perception of the universe is just a perspective built on compounding environmental conditions.
There is not just one universe. There is a universe for every perspective because they all process information with different processes and outputs.
Every understanding of existence is based on different sensory experiences.
Science!
FinancialRavioli
I'm convinced that's what holds back the speed I can read at. The narrator can only talk so fast.
IhopeUgetwhatUvoted4
Some people can see sound.
matshelge
Some have several voices, and take turns to operate the mouth.
Xero999
Aphantasia or no minds eye the inability to picture anything in your head. I used to think lewrbi was crazy hard when people what talk about things they do to remeber things like imaginary journeys and such.
NathanDogCarFrog
I'm in the middle, not that intense without effort, but I can focus and model something in detail (object, system, process). I can have extremely vivid dreams, but not always.
Pfffftit
Up yours!!! Wait, I meant have a nice day. Damn voices…….
Fuckimgurcunts
I use the voice when I need to imagine a voice for something but this shit blows my mind. How can people possibly think in a non visual language. It's so slow I would think I was standing still. It makes me wonder if that's what's going through my head when I'm waiting multiple beats for someone to formulate an answer to something. Sounds like hell. Imagine doing math or designing something and all thoughts had to be crammed into a language. Sounds like I can't possibly understand this right
RedOrbTalon
"How we all get along is a notable mystery" – we don't though.
ThrashAndChemistry
"Here's the neat part: we don't!"
But I mean maybe we could
WLAFadeaway
I feel like we do more than we don't. The don't is more noticeable.
FlaminkoFactor
I'm in your camp. In my personal life bubble I experience far more good connection than bad. But yes, there are undoubtedly some VERY bad actors who fuck things up for all of us and try to get us to doubt our common humanity. Often successfully...
2000000bees
But the reasons we don't get on are nothing to do with this kind of subjectivity. I get on fine with people who don't see lines on lights at night and who have a voice in their head, less so with racists or transphobes.
PickleRiiiiiiiiiiiiick
People. What a bunch of bastards.
theartofmath
My most used IT Crowd quote
PickleRiiiiiiiiiiiiick
Likewise. 2nd is "Ill just put this over here with the rest of the fire."
theartofmath
What about 0-118-999-881-999-119-725...3
andexer
Have you met people? No we couldn't. And fuck you. ;)
FatForYou
This such an internet thing. I get along with people pretty much everywhere I go
ThrashAndChemistry
Fuck off, buddy, we can too!
Darkspire
Plot twist, one person, two accounts
ThrashAndChemistry
Let's be real, if that were true, I would have devolved into posting smut by now
Evenmoreuselessname
I'm not your buddy, pal
Theycallmemrtim
I'm not your buddy fwiend
DarthFutuza
Get a room you two.
TrevReactionClicker
Love is love so leave this cute couple alone plz and thx.
JamesAHarrod
Some of us like our head voices better than the outside voices
TheCunningLinguists
When I read a book the words on the page become a movie in my head. I was a little shocked to find out that not everyone has that.
Drives11
I can't do that, everything that's described in a book looks like it's happening in a black void when I try to visualize it. Books and me don't really get along because of it.
JackieTreehornProductions
I do the same thing - especially after having a reference point. I bet that's why some people do not enjoy reading and while others consume books like crazy - their ability to play out the words as scenarios. How boring would books be if they were like textbooks where it's all informational with nothing to play out?
Shpielers
I reqd a ton, but dont visualize what is happening. Ajd reading for fun is *very* different than a textbook. Brains are weird.
Finnthedoggie
My daughter is a voracious reader. She was knocking out several hundred pages a day in middle school and she can't "visualize" it. It is not like textbooks and is very much a story. My other daughter can visualize and she does not have the near the same interest in reading.
JackieTreehornProductions
Has she ever tried audiobooks? I visualize reading but audiobooks are more like a movie to me where it’s easier to “see” the story playing out.
LadyStormdance
Then there's the (statistically common) normal human permutations of Aphantasia... etc lol
noescapes08
Yay I got both!
Misteree8
Yea, when i started to think deeply about that,specifically, "What if the voice in your head speaking wasn't what you'd call your inner voice and it said very dark ideas" I got heavy chill like watching a very scary movie. Thats the closest to understanding ppl are afflicted with some kind of schizophrenia, and i have the utmost sympathy. Imagine the percentage of ppl who think its their inner voice and just follow thru.
OverwhelmingSurplusOfDiggity
Yeah - same deal with images, smells, and sounds.
If you don’t know why “imagination” or “visualization” are called wha they are called, then you might be a fellow traveler.
Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia
OverwhelmingSurplusOfDiggity
I had no idea that people could summon images, or what it meant to have a song stuck in your head, etc. The moment I found out about images was a life-altering one. I have “total multi-sensory aphantasia”.
WorkerLurker
I had a visualization discussion with my wife. She sees images like flash cards while I can imagine manipulate and modify 3D images in my head, as well as stop conversations like a recording to see some of my surroundings. She is crazy smart but it’s helped understand the differences in our thought processes.
Macwalrus
Do we? I mean...........
:Gestures broadly
override367
5-10% of people just got nothin at all goin on behind their eyes
Pikkupanda
My husband had aphantasia whereas I am hyper visual. He had no internal dialogue whereas I have a bona fide Greek chorus.
People are wired very differently.
Shon71
Everyone has inner monologue and anybody who claims otherwise is ignorant or lying. Proving they do is extremely simple. Show an object, ask what it is but tell them not to say it out loud. Wait 10 seconds and ask them to tell you out loud what it was. If they can't tell you you should get them to a doctor, brain injuries are no laughing matter. If they DO tell you, done and done, the only way to retain the answer or even formulate the wording for it without speaking is inner monologue.
Pikkupanda
He had a monologue. He had no DIALOGUE. When he thought things, a second or third voice didn’t engage his inner monologue in conversation.
Ionico
It's WAY more intense than that. Some of us (myself as an example) can, and often can't stop the total scenic reinactment of memories, we build whole scenes, different voices, ambient sounds, powerful and subtle scents, and anything imaginable can happen. Like a lucid dream, but it's just Thursday daydreaming. I thought for the longest time this was everyone's ability. I was horrified to learn (in the way you first learn about people being born blind) that not everyone can do this.
IloveHockey
so special
frozenlake247
Yeah had no idea growing up that a lot of people couldn’t do the “exploded diagram” thing mentally or build models and visualize things like force diagrams easily.
On the flip side I also didn’t understand that most people’s minds kinda automatically select “normal behaviors” and conventional ways of doing things. I thought it was something they had to constantly consider and reason through too.
Yeah autism gets “interesting”.
AuDHD even more so.
“Gifted”+AuDHD…. Yeesh.
DwayneTheCrackJohnson
There's the endless stream of imaginary feature shows, coupled with the endless mixtape of remixes blaring.
They're less anxiety inducing and painful than trying to explain them to mental health "professionals" in public healthcare.
WorkerLurker
I’m here with you. If I could project what I see in my head into media I’d have a lot of movies and TV shows out.
Dybidude5
Oh boi yes. I can build whole epic orchestras in my head with all kinds of instruments, sounds and singing chores in dozens of harmonic layers.
But damn ,it takes like a thousand times more effort to bring just a piece of it on paper. And I can only play 2 instruments and my singing is horrible.
I wish there was a way to just download it from my mind.
WorkerLurker
I think because it’s so vivid it is difficult to translate to text. It moves and changes shape. No way I could pause and describe it all.
WhiskyBravo
get out of my head
poopsmagoo
I think my brain is kind of empty.
LoonyBoBdammitwhotookmyname
I hate how this just made me think "yeah, it's kind of like AI art my brain makes using my memories as training material." I hate it because it's true... but at least I can get hands and winking right, get rekt AI.
Heroasteral
I like that. "Kind of like AI "art"" because it's a good description of how mine sometimes feel. I hate it because AI though. Mostly just appreciate it because it's correct (for me)
Sfingks
Yeah that pretty much describes my experience. I can remember extremely vivid details about practically every memory. When my family reminisces about old memories from 30+ years ago, I can remember what we had for dinner that day, what the weather was like, which seat everyone had at the dinner table, what was on TV that night, etc. I mostly keep my mouth shut about it, people get annoyed about it.
FancyFeastAdvocate
Both my sister and I have that! My friends always make fun of me because I give way too much detail.
keroko
Whoa, even for people like us who can picture things, that's one hell of an impressive memory.
gettingtwelveblueshellsinarow
That sounds like having an eidetic memory! Very rare, I listened to a podcast about it once.
LifeWouldBeEasyIfIWereEasyButLifeIsHardAndSoAmI
People often comment on my recollection of the past and minute details. "I remember this thing that happened because this thing also happened at the same time this other thing was happening, plus this thing that didn't happen, but also reminded me of all the other things that happened."
There's a memory quote for remembering things that basically equates to building memories like learning the floorplan of your home. You build a room for them and know where to look when you want to recall them
uzetaab
This kind of thing makes me wonder if, for example, my purple is the same as your purple. Maybe that difference is why there is not one colour that is everyone's favourite.
Salticido
I can't see images very well in my mind, but sometimes my brain randomly shows me a texture attached to a physiological or emotional response, like spikes that feel scary or smooth blobs that feel exciting. I have no idea why and have never heard of it from anyone else.
Ionico
That's pretty cool, something like between the two extremes.
gearsmith
That almost sounds like a form of Synesthesia!
Prunest
My brain does tactile fuckery for me too, however its fuckin hard to describe.
When I think back on a book/story I've experienced it comes with a physical sensation of eating: like a good satisfyimg story has the mouthfeel of taking a big bite of super tender meat and the after-meal sensation of fullness. Never thr taste tho
My brain also likes to add little noises to things moving like blinking lights or the arms of a clock. Again h/ever i feel the vibration un my ear instead of hearing it
WillowFoxy
This.
Irritation comes up as sand paper.
Salticido
I think it's the reverse order for me. I sense the texture/pattern first and it elicits a response that I didn't feel beforehand. It kinda feels like the texture IS the response and I'm feeling that response vicariously sorta.
TacoPoweredHelicopter
Crazy, I cannot do that at all. How I would describe my memory is watching a black and white 14in tv from 10ft away on mute.
Like I can see stuff but with no detail whatsoever and no sound or scents at all.
I also can count on one hand the number of dreams I can remember, basically every night I fall asleep then wake up with nothing in the middle.
thenetbear
Same for me, but from the other side. I’m aphantasic so when I heard people say “picture it in your minds eye”, I didn’t know that was actually a thing
WorkerLurker
This is what the VA that voiced all the narrative prompts in Baldur’s Gate 3 has, and was my first time learning about it.
DocJungleRot
I thought it was normal to get goosebumps listening to music or hearing certain tones. Yeah, no.
crusadurus
That one happens to me sometimes, but cuz in a nostalgia effect I think.
JeezusJuice
I wonder if I’m the same. I can’t really see pictures in my mind. I can kind of imagine, like, a really damaged photo version of the thing sometimes. I really don’t know how to describe what happens in my mind when someone says that. It’s not a vivid image at all.
WorkerLurker
My wife says her visualization is like flash cards, is it like that?
KaspersPrincess
I can remember things I've seen before. Visualize the road I've driven on thousands of times and such. But other then that? No pictures in my heads, just voices and concepts of things. It's curious how different that works for different people.
Prettyasknives
I'm the same way! It is kind of like a flash of an old Polaroid or something and then it's gone!
Ionico
See what's fascinating is we're both capable of solving the same problems, and getting the same results, but I can't fathom how you do it, nor I suppose, could you fathom my way? Interesting. Sometimes I wish I could turn it off, there's some things parts of my brain really likes to remember vivdly... I do not.
thenetbear
Yeah. Funny thing is that my brother has a super vivid minds eye and he gets wild dreams, nightmares, and visits from sleep paralysis things. Hearing him talk about that stuff makes me happy with my void
tinydog
Ah, goatse.
Ionico
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1M2J1MDQzbmUwNDU4MGRneHNpaXN5bGQ1Z3M4NDRwdzN2Y3BjZnZsYyZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/pNpONEEg3pLIQ/200w.webp
NemoPseudonymWuzHere
Having holes in your memories isn't better than reliving bad ones.
Signed, someone who has both.
JeezusJuice
I’d argue that our results will be similar, but not the same. Your designs would include elements I’d never consider and vice versa. It’d be great to find people like you and me and have them to solve a problem together. I bet there’s a synergistic aspect of it, like having a whole mind, you know what I mean?
Badprenup
I think they meant more basic problems like math questions or logic problems that only have one answer. As soon as you go past the very basics into anything that requires creativity to solve you're going to have different results for a hundred different reasons
Ebo352
My favorite "brain buster" is that given the diversity here on earth, it is possible the laws of physics are relative to only our section of the universe. So, we could eventually find somewhere in the universe where gravity is not a force.
Shon71
That's not how physics OR gravity works.
AllTheKitties
My husband cannot internally visualize. He thought "picture this" was just a thing people said, not something people can actually do. He didn't find out until his 30s...
Metlahaed
Me too
allthesameisawitfirst
Yep, my partner was shook when she found this out about me. I can’t see the apple in my mind. At. All.
AllTheKitties
Tbh, knowing has helped us a lot in communicating better. Just knowing how the other thinks, like what the actual process is like for them is so helpful when we disagree. It reduces misunderstandings, too.
Still, I sometimes have to remind him that when he says things, I see them. But he's gotten a lot better at remembering over the past ~10 years since we found this out!
Xero999
Aphantasia
notreallyaclevername
I've got that! I can't see anything in "my mind's eye". Except traumatic things. I can construct a vivid image of every traumatic event that has occurred in my life. But if I try to picture my children it ends up just being amorphous blobs that share some similarities and then just audio descriptions of what they look like
Semphir
Same!...it was so weird to find out
AsAHistorian
I honestly still kinda don't believe people who say that when they "picture" something, they literally see it, indistinguishably from if it was actually there.
AoxomoxoA35
It's a spectrum. Some people see the image as if they were looking at it with their eyes, all the way down to just a simple representation of the object or nothing at all
AllTheKitties
For me at least, its very distinguishable. It's completely separate from real vision. I can't visualize something into what my eyes are seeing. And for most people, visualization isn't as vivid or detailed as reality.
And now I'm over here trying to figure out "where" my visualizations are, lol.
AsAHistorian
Right? I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle, but language, or at least what words I know, seem completely insufficient for describing my level of visualization. I can't *see* the things I'm picturing, but it's not like *nothing* happens when I visualize things.
ArchaeoEejit
It's like my brain cavity is a stage and my mind sits behind it looking down. If I think red ball, it appears on stage. If I say red ball with yellow star it appears on the ball without transition. The picture is IN my head.
If I rotate the ball the star kind of blurs into a yellow band unless I concentrate and spin it very slowly. I've never put this much thought into it, I'm curious to see if anyone else's results are different.
SpamYarBlockers
So when he’s bored, he can’t just rotate a cow in his head for free
Goldensands
It took 0.001 seconds for my brain to violently spin a cow around faster than any video game could do it
epithymetic
Because of this comment, I spent a good portion of a long meeting today spinning bovines. Just thought you should know.
AllTheKitties
I mean, sure he can. But it probably wouldn't help with the boredom. He'd just think something like "now the cow is facing left. Now it's facing forward. Now it's facing right." while he 'sees' nothing. He does have a strong mental sense of smell, so he might smell the cow while it rotates, haha.
redpandabanana
That’s funny cause I like to explain my empathicness as like being color blind but in reverse. Where people tend to have a sorta color about them. But I also recently learned that my empathicness is more a ptsd coping mechanism from my brothers beating me up till I was about 22 because I unconsciously wanted to know what someone’s state of mind was incase they get angry randomly. So it’s all just the brain telling us stories.
sfrinlan
I can also imagine the smell of a quickly spinning cow, and no thank you for that.
YouAreTheInsultMaster
Tell him I'll rotate an extra one for him. We are all in this together
redpandabanana
Well you just have to replace “picture this” with “smell this”
AllTheKitties
You know what, I haven't tried that... I may have to find a way to get that into conversation soon, lol.
ImAWeirdMom
Same, it's called aphantasia. I found out in my 40s that when people say "visualize" they don't just mean "think of"
BipedalHumanoidWithSlightlyDifferentNoseRidge
Same. There are dozens of us!
About 1% of people apparently.
ImAWeirdMom
Also it blew my mind when I realized that when people count sheep they are actually counting sheep I always thought it was just a stupid saying
RatsLiveOnNoEvilStar
Same. I as like "why does just counting help you sleep?"
sfrinlan
It's not that I can't visualize sheep jumping a wall and count them, it's just that I'm way too ADHD and will change the channel in my brain before I could fall asleep to that.
AmyBethMegJo
My sister's sheep all pile up on the other side of the fence. My sheep leave the area, but I tend to follow them and the whole counting thing falls apart.
ironymus
I'm on the other end of this spectrum. I can let machines run in my head, imagining where mechanical problems will occur and what can be done to improve that. Well, I worked as a mechanical engineer and machine designer for almost twenty years and both abilities have complimented each other
ArchaeoEejit
Wasn't Tesla like that? It is impressive but stay away from pigeons.
nothingunused
It is stupid, though, because cleaning up that much sheep shit is no fun.
ImAWeirdMom
And the smell *gag*
crusadurus
Ya I wonder if I have that. I can't really picture things but I can think of them, just not really an image.
DukeDarkwood
On the aphantasia scale I see posted sometimes (1: Full, realistic visualization/5: nothing.), I think I'm a 4.5. I can sometimes kind of bring an image up, but only rarely, and it's very very vague when it does happen.
ImAWeirdMom
Probably then. It's not something doctors diagnose it's sort of a self diagnosis thing since it's not technically a disorder.
My therapist is fascinated by it though and has a theory that my severe childhood trauma may have caused my brain to shut mine off to protect me
LifeWouldBeEasyIfIWereEasyButLifeIsHardAndSoAmI
I can picture endless things in my mind. Doesn't help much when I'm given the task to locate an object I didn't place down. My mother used to ask me to grab things from the basement and I couldn't locate them. I had a visual from endless possibility of what a can of corn inside a pantry "should" look like, but no. Couldn't find the damn corn because it "could" look like anything. It also didn't help that my mom was terrible at explaining where I should start looking. Multiple pantries to search
BipedalHumanoidWithSlightlyDifferentNoseRidge
There are grades to it.
It also can be a part of other disorders like autism.
LifeWouldBeEasyIfIWereEasyButLifeIsHardAndSoAmI
Wondering: How do you recognize something you've seen before, but aren't currently seeing that thing?
BipedalHumanoidWithSlightlyDifferentNoseRidge
... that is not how it works.
ImAWeirdMom
So you just do. Like I know what things look like I just can't see them.
If you ask me to "picture" an apple I think of the concept of an apple. Red, round, stem, etc. But I can't see an apple.
This means things like my dad (who has passed) I can only look at pictures to see him.
I have thousands of pictures I've taken myself and I think it's my way of making up for not being able to picture stuff.