Day 21: Doodling

The entire point of doodling is that no matter what they turn out like, they are perfect.

So, obviously I was doodling in class today, But here's a blurb from an interesting article from Time in 2009 called "Study: Doodling Helps you Pay Attention":

Before the tape began, half the study participants were asked to shade in some little squares and circles on a piece of paper while they listened. They were told not to worry about being neat or quick about it. (Anderade did not instruct people explicitly to "doodle,"which might have prompted self-consciousness about what constituted an official doodle.) The other 20 didn't doodle. All the participants were asked to write the names of those coming to the party while the tape played, which meant the doodlers switched between their doodles and their lists. 

Afterward, the papers were removed and the 40 volunteers were asked to recall, orally, the place names and the names of the people coming to the party. The doodlers creamed the nondoodlers: those who doodles during the tape recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average 5.8 recalled by the control group.

So obviously, doodling isn't just a waste of time...which I guess would make this post not really fall under the theme of "free time". Except I wasn't even doodling to focus in class today, I just was really getting nothing out of being there. So I guess this works.