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The state of being alone and away from electronic devices can be a calming experience.
A couple of students from the research department at Rochester University, have carried out a number of experiments to prove the emotional implications of solitude.
Some alone time may dampen the emotional intensity of both positive and negative vibe, that people experience every now and then.
Solitude also magnified feelings of relaxation and peacefulness.
And under certain condition and for some set of people, solitude provided a boost for negative vibes and increased loneliness and sadness.
In a perfect serene condition, participants were made to observe alone time sitting Idle in a comfortable chair for 15mins. IDLE included no electronic devices.
At the beginning and at the end of the experiment they described their emotions on rating scale.
The data that were obtained from the experiment contained the rating scale of intense positive emotions,(energy), intense negative emotions (anxiety), less positive emotion (peacefulness, relaxation) and less negative emotion (loneliness, sadness)
During this four studies, the participants who underwent absolute solitude, felt LESS INTENSE EMOTION of both positive and negative. In this case solitude was rather calming.
The feeling of excitement and energy were midrange and also was that of anger and anxiety. Optimum calmness was attained and that was a good score.
Another study compared pure solitude to people who engaged a conversation during the 15 minutes time lapse . Again Only pure solitude was overall calming.
The third study, compared participants in a pure solitude to others who spent their 15 minutes though alone, they had a book and read interesting topics from it.
Reading had no negative effect on the result. Those who sat idly and those who read, experienced the same level of emotional intensity, and equal increase in calmness. Both groups also experienced a slight surge in the less intense negative emotion, such as sadness.
The experience of solitude can yield positive results, this is a fact know to lovers of solitude. In their case, with very little or no negative emotion at all.
It can be assumed that those researchers from Rochester, wanted to gain knowledge about the positive experiences of solitude, indented by negativity.
They reached a consensus within themselves that it would be important if people could make a choice on what to think during their alone time.
Another experiments, feature participants who were tasked to think of positive and neutral topics respectively.
Being able to choose was helpful and so did positive thinking.
The participant who chose neutral topics and those who chose positive topics, experienced no particular increase in negative emotions. They still experienced the increase in positive emotions and also enjoyed the absence of intense negative emotions.
The final study was focused on the experience of solitude everyday life. These participants were mainly college students. They entered a report on their experiences every day for 14days.
The results collected after one of the two weeks stated that, each day participants spent 15 minutes to observe solitude, remote from their gadgets.
The experience of less intense emotions (both positive and negative) increased
In the everyday-life study, who experienced mostly positive emotions and who experienced sadness and loneliness when they were alone?
The everyday-life record however, showed that some participants experienced some negative surge.
It was more dependent on how the participants thought about their reasons for observing solitude.
When asked, Some answers suggested that some participants were not very inclined to spend time on their own.
Although, Others were more positive, considering the time they spend alone as important and beneficial. And they had the most positive experience.
One must note that being alone is not the same as feeling alone. For people who enjoy solitude there’s nothing sad or lonely or boring about it. In fact, it can be quite a glorios experience.
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