
The slow death of purposeless walking - k-mcgrady
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27186709
======
SonicSoul
_Very few people, particularly in cities, are obliged to do much of it at all.
Cars, bicycles, buses, trams, and trains all beckon._

I think they got it backwards. It's suburbia that let's you use your car door
to door.

I haven't done the study, but based on my observations walking is one of the
favorite activities of inhabitants of my city. In fact people come from far
away just to spend the day walking around. Some is leisure, but one can't help
but to introspect when left on pavement for too long.

another person known for his walking was Arthur Schopenhauer. He walked for 2
hours every day regardless of weather conditions[0]. I read about this long
time ago and it left a lasting impression.

but walking is not the only activity that is good for introspection. For me
driving worked just as well. I miss driving.

[0][http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2009/06/day-in-life-of-
arth...](http://www.apieceofmonologue.com/2009/06/day-in-life-of-arthur-
schopenhauer.html)

~~~
robobro
In the city where I live (Portland), most people take buses or the light rail
when they can't bike due to the rain. In the summer, there's a lot of walking.
I've noticed less of it in the suburbs, but there's quite a lot of it in rural
Oregon. Simple, cheap fun.

The Buddhists, whom Schopenhauer appreciated and modeled quite a bit of his
metaphysical and psychological thinking on, also enjoyed walking a fair bit.
The "four positions" of the body for meditative posture, which the early
Buddhists reference, are 'lying down', 'sitting', 'standing', and 'walking'.
They, the Zen monks, and others involved in philosophical and spiritual
traditions, tend to share appreciation for walking forms of meditation, or a
love of "pointless" walking, which is meant to foster a more concentrated
state of awareness. There's quite a lot of walking involved in the homeless
monk's life, as well, as many monks undertake a training rule to abstain from
the use of vehicles, undertake a rule to collect food on an alms walk, and may
just simply enjoy traveling. Such is the life of a wanderer. Walking on and on
can help people drop attachments.

We often see depressed, anxious, obsessive, and manic sorts walking... or
more, pacing... which I think resembles the walking of monastics, or shamans,
wizards, and priests in "ritual walking". A lot of very creative and
intellectual types can be seen to pace mindlessly... can be walking be a
source of stress relief? It's a common form of training for the military, and
also a common form of punishment for prisons, as marching (perhaps a bit
faster pace than walking). But endless walking, marching, and pacing can't be
all that good for the mind, as post office workers can "go postal" from too
much of it.

Walking mindfully, which can promote philosophical or creative thinking,
provide psychological therapy (as Wittgenstein said, philosophy is therapy),
or lead to spiritual enlightenment and purity, is as easy as placing all your
focus on the soles of your feet... down, down, down, down, or place, lift,
place, lift, or left, right, left, right, left, right.

~~~
ajslater
Portland isn't really dense urban, though, its has some nice neighborhoods,
but you're best off bicycling between them through long stretches of
residential houses with big yards.

------
jrochkind1
An odd bit of the history of walking I recently learned about:

[http://www.npr.org/2014/04/03/297327865/in-
the-1870s-and-80s...](http://www.npr.org/2014/04/03/297327865/in-
the-1870s-and-80s-being-a-pedestrian-was-anything-but)

> We may think of baseball as America's national pastime, but in the 1870s and
> 1880s there was another sports craze sweeping the nation: competitive
> walking. "Watching people walk was America's favorite spectator sport,"
> Matthew Algeo says in his new book, Pedestrianism.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrianism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrianism)

> During the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, pedestrianism, like
> running or horse racing (equestrianism) was a popular spectator sport in the
> British Isles. Pedestrianism became a fixture at fairs – much like horse
> racing – developing from wagers on footraces, rambling, and 17th century
> footman wagering.[1] Sources from the late 17th and early 18th century in
> England write of aristocrats pitting their carriage footmen, constrained to
> walk by the speed of their masters' carriages, against one another.[2] By
> the end of the 18th century, and especially with the growth of the popular
> press, feats of foot travel over great distances (similar to a modern
> Ultramarathon) gained attention, and were labeled "pedestrianism".

~~~
pwenzel
Amusing note from the NPR story:

> Champagne was considered a stimulant. And a lot of trainers — these guys had
> trainers — advised their pedestrians to drink a lot of champagne during the
> race. They thought that this would give them some kind of advantage. The
> problem was a lot of these guys would drink it by the bottle. That
> definitely was not a stimulant to say the least.

~~~
modarts
And thus Bay to Breakers was born

~~~
gtremper
I'll have to test the effects of champagne this year.

------
mattjaynes
Was living in NYC and absolutely loved being able to walk everywhere and not
own a car. The last few months I've been in US suburbia though (Texas/Utah)
and it seems actively hostile towards walkers in many places.

Sometimes there's sidewalks, but often they're not continuous and just end for
no apparent reason. You then have to walk in the road next to the cars for a
ways and hope the sidewalk starts up again.

Even if there are sidewalks, there seems to be a unspoken "don't walk at
night" rule even in safe neighborhoods. If I do walk at night, I get
suspicious looks. Am I frightening the neighborhood by going on a walk after
dark? It sure feels like it.

In suburbia, I'll even get suspicious looks walking during the day - as if I'm
scoping out houses to rob or something. And I'm a pretty boring safe looking
type of guy (so I'm told, haha).

The exception to this I've found is if I'm walking a dog or walking with
another person (preferably female) to legitimize me as a walker.

The longer I'm in these parts of suburbia, the more I realize that these
attitudes are somewhat justified. Sadly, I don't think I've ever seen a man
walking around the neighborhoods by himself unless he was a vagrant.

Apparently the vast majority of men in these neighborhoods just don't ever go
on walks unaccompanied. Otherwise it would turn into a 'normal' activity and
the suspiciousness of it would subside.

I realize there are probably great neighborhoods in the US for walking, but
from my limited experience (living in ~10 states), they seem pretty rare
outside of urban centers.

I spent a lot of time in Germany (US military communities) growing up and it
was a totally different experience. Much of Europe that I've seen is likewise
a vastly better experience for walking.

In 6 days I'm moving to Berlin. Why? Well, I'm bootstrapping a small systems-
training business and want to live somewhere low cost and without a car. While
cheap walkable places surely must exist in the US, they're rare and I haven't
been able to find many that are also safe and not run-down. If I'm missing
some, please let me know!

After being in US suburbia for the last few months, I'm really looking forward
to being a first-class citizen as a walker again.

~~~
jrockway
This is exactly how I feel when I visit Mountain View for work. Why are the
parking lots in front of the store and not in the back? Why do I have to walk
through a sea of parked cars to get to my building? It's all very strange to
me.

I also noticed the suspicious looks for my terrible crime of not owning a car
after dark.

My conclusion: not the place for me.

~~~
auvrw
> I also noticed the suspicious looks for my terrible crime of not owning a
> car after dark.

i lived near mountain view and did not notice this when visiting on my bicycle
or the caltrain. sure, it's not the city proper, but mountain view seems
rather quaint and really quite pedestrian friendly, at least in the area by
the train station.

~~~
jrockway
Try walking from the train station to the nearby Safeway. You'll be lucky if
you even make it past the Central Expy.

[https://goo.gl/maps/NoZOa](https://goo.gl/maps/NoZOa)

------
themoonbus
As some one who currently works from home, a "purposeless" walk is how I start
and end my work day – I think of it as my "commute". Walking clears my head,
gets me outside for a bit, and helps me separate my home life from my work
life.

For me, those walks might not be a necessity, but they are definitely not
without purpose.

~~~
prestadige
Yes, the paradox is that daydreaming and apparent purposelessness are, in the
long run, about the most important things that get done. Or at least the
_beginning_ of the most important things: things which eventually _become_
more active and purposeful.

e.g. Peter Higgs was walking in Scotland when he thought of first thought of
his boson.

I do feel that the article is somewhat strident (ho ho). The only rule about
wandering (and wondering) is that there are no rules or proscriptions. In
contravention of the third bullet point I often listen to audio on walks,
turning it on and off at whim.

~~~
zo1
" _Yes, the paradox is that daydreaming and apparent purposelessness are, in
the long run, about the most important things that get done. Or at least the
beginning of the most important things: things which eventually become more
active and purposeful._ "

Assuming you actually do something with those thoughts/ideas/daydreams. I have
a habit of thinking of wonderful ideas, and never quite getting around to
them. At some point, too many ideas are quite debilitating.

But perhaps that's just me. Every since I started on some fun personal
projects, I find my alone/me time is spent not thinking up new ideas, but
thinking of ideas on how to improve/do the parts of the project I'm currently
working on.

~~~
prestadige
You're right. It's a bit like evolution. The overwhelming majority of
mutations led nowhere but we absolutely relied on the tiny few that got us to
where we are today. That said, people who _can 't_ truly relax and daydream
(most people I think) are never going to get started. And children who are
made to sit still in school can't think so well.

------
trcollinson
This article makes some fantastic points. I find it sad that we force
ourselves to have outwardly facing purpose to almost everything we do. Even if
purposeless walking has the internal reason of more thought and creativity, we
can't do that because there seems to be an over arching need to have an
outward requirement to all activity (complete a project, get more exercise,
fulfil some need, etc).

This was driven home forceful to me in elementary school, quite a lot of years
ago but it stuck with me. A friend of mine, who is now a very successful
medical doctor and still quite close to me to this day, would walk around the
yard with me at any recess. All recess, every day. Sometimes we would say
nothing, sometimes we would have long discussions. My principal pulled us in
after a number of months and said "your aimless walking is unproductive and
will lead to problems, play a sport or find a game and stop it." We didn't
listen, and so far we have been very productive in life, and haven't caused
too many problems at all.

~~~
arjie
Is this common in whatever country you're in? If this happened where I went to
school, there'd be words at the PTA meeting. Your principal is some kind of
control freak.

It doesn't sound normal at all.

~~~
trcollinson
Good question! I grew up in an upper middle class area of California: Thousand
Oaks. I only went to school in public schools. From about 4th grade on there
are great concern about students and conformity. Schools, principals, and even
teachers were graded on how well students did in standardized testing, how
well the students did in sports, and how many "state level" awards the
students received. So, basically, if our goals were not in line with that, we
were reprimanded by being told we would not "make it in this society". I
remember very clearly being told by a teacher that I was destined to drive a
street sweeper. This, of course, made me rebel more.

That being said, I can say many of the people in my peer group did conform to
these standards and did become very successful. I can point at handfuls of my
friends and acquaintances who went to school at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and
many other highly rated schools on full ride scholarships. A number of them
have successful careers in medicine, law, politics and even professional
sports. So, I guess the proof is in the pudding, it does work.

No one ever spoke up at a PTA meeting because parents wanted their kids to
succeed, and the thought process goes that if they followed the program, they
would succeed.

Of course, we won't talk about the suicide rate at my high school...

------
personlurking
In Brazil, around the 1920s and for the next few decades, there was a popular
activity called "footing" (an obvious anglicism), but it had a purpose. From a
Brazilian text I found,

"Footing, coming from the English "to go on foot", happened principally in
small cities. Girls would put on their best dress and go out to walk with a
clear goal: to be observed by the guys, equally well-dressed."

Coincidentally, I lived in a very small town in Brazil several years ago and
this is what they did on Friday and Saturday nights. There was a single, small
town square where it happened. On one occasion where I asked a young woman out
(in her 20s), this is where we went. All was fine until I looked 10 steps
behind us to notice several older people seemingly following us. When I
brought it to her attention, she nonchalantly said, "oh, that's my father,
mother, uncle and grandmother."

------
danso
Awhile ago, I was robbed at gunpoint while walking through the West Village in
Manhattan...I live on the east side but I always walk south along one of the
main avenues, then back north, just because it's a nice walk and I also get
inexplicably confused by the non-grid-iness of the west side streets. When I
had trouble pointing out the exact corner that I was robbed on, the detective
point blank asked me if I had made up the story of being robbed, to cover up
for a botched meeting with a prostitute (which I guess is common on the west
side or something?), because he just couldn't believe why I would walk such a
convoluted route to get home.

Also...this is something I learned in high school after learning to
drive...when I had to walk or be driven to places, I never paid much attention
to what order the streets were in...and only after driving myself does their
order become important in my mind. Also, the age of Google Maps makes
remembering streets even more irrelevant...I think that was also a factor in
the detective's skepticism of me being slightly confused about location. What
can I say, Manhattan is a city that invites just walking around in a general
direction.

------
harmonicon
I really enjoys the mindless strolling the article talks about. Assuming most
people work 9-5, you can only take such walks in the morning or at night.
Unfortunately, taking a solitary walk in my (US) city at those times is simply
not safe and goes against a multitude of general safety tips.

The biggest problem is the dearth of other strollers. In addition to the lack
of a pedestrian culture, US does not much of a concept of "communal life".
When I travelled abroad (Asia and Africa, not sure about Europe), I noticed
that there are much more people of all ages just lingering around the
street/public spaces during the day and at night. They are just hanging out.
In contrast American social scene centers around private spaces and networks.
Lingering in public space seems out of place and such "idleness" is generally
associated with unemployment and other undesirable qualities.

~~~
dodders
Where do you live in the US that is unsafe for walking?

~~~
kencausey
I don't know harmonicon's situation but in my case the problem is a small town
(metropolitan area now) that was built up without consistently installing
sidewalks. It's difficult to walk more than a mile without having to compete
with traffic. That is changing though, I believe all new development has to
include a sidewalk and there is a slowly developing 'greenways' project that
is building sidewalks of twice the normal width with some paths that are not
next to streets.

------
throwaway13qf85
I'm not going to claim that it improves my creativity or makes me a better
person, but for the last few years I've generally taken at least a half hour
out of the middle of my workday to walk (I'm lucky enough to work next to a
park). It massively improves my mood, and I'd fight hard against giving it up.

There was a tube (underground metro) strike in London the past few days, so I
walked to work, leaving my apartment at about 6.30am and arriving in the
office at 8am, mostly along the river. It was _excellent_ and I'm considering
doing it 1-2 days a week even when I don't need to.

~~~
thenipper
I walk 45 minutes to and from work each day along a beautiful tree lined
street. It is a great way to start the day and then to transition back into
home life, sort of a metaphorical journey to leave my work problems at work.

~~~
stevesearer
My walk is around 20 minutes and the time spent organizing my thoughts for the
workday on the way in or winding my brain down from work mode on the way is a
great benefit.

Every so often my wife will pick me up directly from work and the conversation
is usually terrible because my brain is still thinking of the problems I was
solving a couple minutes beforehand.

------
97-109-107
And here an article on the slow death of the purposeless browsing
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/the-
death-o...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/the-death-of-the-
cyberflaneur.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

------
kephra
imho, the best companion for a coder in home office is a dog.

Try to explain your problem to your dog, if you are stuck. And if this does
not help, walk the dog to free your mind, and relax. Most often the solution
is obvious once I'm back home.

~~~
quaffapint
Completely agree - Plus when he wants to go out and play it forces you to take
breaks and refresh yourself. Really helps keep you going and make it more
enjoyable by the end of the day.

~~~
kephra
True. A dog is a good reminder that its time for a break. A dog forces you to
take a walk 3 to 5 times a day, regardless if its sunny, raining or storm.
This certainly has also a health benefit.

------
mathattack
Even in the city, walking without purpose can be done. During an unemployment
spell in the 2008 meltdown, I did a lot of very long (2+ hour) walks with
limited destinations in mind other than "Far North" or "Far South". I did them
without soundtracks or texting. They gave me a much bigger appreciation for
the city. Beauty doesn't just exist in the woods.

~~~
tspike
Cities are wonderful places for aimless walking! When I travel to a new city,
my favorite thing to do is to leave 2-3 days at the beginning completely
unplanned and just walk out the door of my room and start walking.

On a recent visit to SF, I was waiting for a friend to finish with work. He
invited me to stay and hang out at his company cafeteria. When I declined,
saying I'd rather go wandering, he and his friends looked at me like I was
some kind of partially deranged maniac. I had a great time!

~~~
bitwize
Hell, that IS my vacation much of the time. I went to Osaka with no firm plans
in mind, though I eventually checked out Kobe, Nara, and saw some of the local
sights. It was a blast. I drank in some cool bars, chatted up cute Japanese
girls, and ate in completely random, nearly hidden ramen shops. The same with
Brisbane, Queensland a couple of years later.

When I was in college I'd go into New York City and just wander around. I
walked from the Empire State Building to the World Trade Center (the original
was still standing). A cool place to walk in (though overwhelming and a bit
dangerous if you don't know where not to go).

~~~
mathattack
It's gotten a lot safer - as long as you're in Manhattan you're pretty much
fine unless you're drunk in the wrong spot at 3am.

I hear you on vacation walking. I never understood guided trips when there is
so much fun to be had with random adventure. Similar to you I enjoyed both
Japan and Australia quite a bit.

------
rza
> Very few people, particularly in cities, are obliged to do much of it at
> all.

Huh? I'd say the exact opposite. Nothing more boring than walking around
suburbia.

~~~
saraid216
That's because suburbia is boring. Come to the city.

------
VexXtreme
I live in Tokyo and I absolutely love walking. I sometimes do 10-15 km a day
easily. There are so many small interesting back alleys and hidden nooks and
crannies here that you could spend half a lifetime exploring this city and
still not find everything it has to offer.

I find walking, observing my surroundings and watching people extremely
mentally stimulating but also relaxing. It's a great way to get rid of stress
and come up with some fresh ideas at the same time. Besides, when you live in
a city that's visually appealing, it's hard to get bored even when you're just
going from point A to point B.

Tokyo is very pedestrian friendly, maybe even more so than many European
cities. Why American cities are hostile to pedestrians is a mystery to me.

------
edw519
Reminds me of a friend's response when her doctor asked if she exercised. She
said, "On purpose?"

I understand her.

As a busy person, nothing is more boring and time consuming than exercising
"on purpose". I ride my bike everywhere, always use the stairs, do my own
cleaning, laundry, groceries, and cooking, and constantly jump to conclusions.
That oughta be enough.

~~~
oh_sigh
President Obama finds time to devote to exercise multiple times per week - I'm
sure you and every other "busy" person can do that too if you really wanted
to.

~~~
JoshTriplett
Perhaps partly because doing so or not doing so will make national news.
That's quite a motivating factor.

------
catwork
Reminds me of another quote from C.S. Lewis (who was cited in the article) on
the subject.

"Even on those rear occasions when a modern undergraduate is not attending
some such society he is seldom engaged in those solitary walks, or walks with
a single companion, which built the minds of the previous generations. He
lives in a crowd; caucus has replaced friendship."

\- C.S. Lewis from the essay "Membership" in "The Weight of Glory"

~~~
EzGraphs
Should be "rare occasions" I think. Great quote.

------
trismegistos
Good article.

This bugged me, though:

> The way people in the West have started to look down on walking is
> detectable in the language. "When people say something is pedestrian they
> mean flat, limited in scope," says Solnit.

...Seeing as how "pedestrian" comes from Latin pedester, which had the same
two meanings ("on foot" or "dull and ordinary"). The Romans contrasted it with
the more exciting equester ("on horseback").

------
kilroy123
Exactly why I walk to and from work. About 25 minutes each way, instead of
taking the bus, or light rail. People always ask me, why do you walk? Because
it's damn relaxing, especially when I look over and see traffic.

------
jpollock
This is probably a dumb question, but why didn't he use mmap for writes?

~~~
mjp94
He probably didn't do enough walking before writing the post.

Wrong thread.

~~~
jpollock
Yep, nuts. :)

------
charlesthomas
I'm terrible at walking w/o a destination in mind. A while ago I made this
crappy little web tool to give me a random destination to meander to:
[http://roust.sknkwrks.net/](http://roust.sknkwrks.net/)

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
How can you be bad at walking without a destination in mind? You just put one
foot in front of another and every time you have to choose a new direction,
pick whichever way looks more interesting (by whatever measure you classify
interesting at that moment).

Not meant to be hostile, genuinely curious.

~~~
charlesthomas
Part of it is motivation. Why bother leaving, if I don't have a particular
destination in mind? There are other things I could be doing that seem more
important.

The other part is that I fall into patterns _really_ easily. If I don't have a
set destination in mind when I leave my apartment, I often just end up at the
subway stop I take to get to work.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
Why not set yourself generic goals rather than a destination?

For instance to find a nice cafe you've never been to before, or a nice
bookshop.

~~~
charlesthomas
That's a great idea.

------
intractable
The article brings to mind this wonderful short story by Ray Bradbury,
"Pedestrian" [1]

    
    
        "What are you doing out?"
        "Walking," said Leonard Mead.
        "Walking!"
        "Just walking," he said simply, but his face felt cold.
        "Walking, just walking, walking?"
        "Yes, sir."
        "Walking where? For what?"
        "Walking for air. Walking to see."
    

[1] [http://mikejmoran.typepad.com/files/pedestrian-by-
bradbury-1...](http://mikejmoran.typepad.com/files/pedestrian-by-
bradbury-1.pdf)

------
aaron987
I am an avid walker. Even when I was a kid, I would go for long walks. My
parents never worried about me, because I always came back, sometimes after
walking for 4 or 5 hours. I would sit in the woods and watch birds. Sometimes
I would find myself sitting in a park. Other times I would walk around in
cemeteries (they are actually great places to walk. They have paved roads but
no traffic).

There was this homeless guy who sometimes sat next to one of the places I
would walk past. I guess he eventually got curious, so one day he asked where
I am always going. I said, "I don't know. I'll find out when I get there".

In college, people would spend the morning cramming for a big test. I would
just go for a walk. At that point, I either knew the test material or I
didn't, and destressing was more important.

To this day, I walk a lot, even in the middle of winter in Fargo. I turn my
phone off and leave everything else at home. I don't even take my wallet. If I
don't have money, it eliminates the urge to run into a gas station and grab
some milk, or take care of other errands.

Walking is my meditation, therapy, and medication. My friends and family know
when I haven't walked that morning because I get cranky and/or depressed.

It is such a shame that our culture does not allow walking for various
reasons. Some places don't have sidewalks. Some places have too much traffic.
Other places are just not safe. It really is sad. I wonder how many of our
problems could be solved if more people just took a chill pill and went for a
walk once in awhile.

------
hessenwolf
Please tell me you saw the /r/unitedkingdom thread where somebody suggested
replacing walking with wanking?

A great information theory example of what happens when two codes are too
close together; walk is one letter away from wank, so a single-letter error
changes the meaning completely, but leaves the message still hysterically
sensible and readable.

~~~
anatoly
It also works with most comments here!

Whoever thought this up is a genius. Thanks for brightening my day.

------
cafard
Now if purposeless lifestyle journalism would race it to the grave...

The whole question of purpose is a bit confused. I bet that a lot of people in
my neighborhood do most of their walking leash in hand. Does the dog make it
purposeful? If I stop by the drugstore or the post office on my usual noon
walk, does that change it from purposeless to purposeful?

------
dclusin
I live about a 5 minute walk from Castro St. in Mountain View. I always walk
down there whenever I go to eat food because I enjoy walking. My roommate
cannot comprehend why I do this instead of driving. I think it has to do with
the fact that our society has become so focused on instant gratification
rather than gradual gratification.

------
sztanko
Just in case if you would like to plan your walks better/discover new places,
let me introduce you [http://walks.io](http://walks.io), my weekend project
that does this for you by solving an NP hard graph problem of finding an
optimal circular route.

~~~
DougWebb
Your site needs to state the region that it can handle. There's no feedback or
error messages when I try to type addresses near me into the search box, and
it doesn't say what "Nearest Station" means.

~~~
sztanko
Apologies, I totally forgot to mention it works for England only.

------
nilkn
I've always been a walker, and I always thought I was alone in doing this. I
probably started when I was in middle school. I'd walk around the neighborhood
or more often my parents' sizable yard, never for exercise, even if I got that
coincidentally, but only for thinking.

Even in college, whenever I wanted to get away from other people, I'd walk
around campus, often at night. I wouldn't be going anywhere in particular at
all.

I haven't really walked in months now because I can't. I live in a major city
where one must make a planned effort in order to get to a park, and even then
the park is liable to be crowded, which has a deleterious effect on the great
solitude of walking in nature. Walking in a city is just thoroughly unlike
walking in nature.

------
GigabyteCoin
As someone who regularly enjoys walking the local conservation areas
everywhere he goes, I am always amazed at how empty they always are.

To be 3 miles away from a few million people and only see a handful of others
out enjoying the same fresh air and excercise that I am is quite distressing.

------
gregpilling
I enjoy walking around a park near my house, and I find I can have some great
ideas usually. I disagree with the 'no soundtrack' suggestion; I have found
that listening to music does not stop the ideas from flowing. I also enjoy
listening to Mixergy interviews while walking around this same park, Often if
the interview is especially interesting, I end up extending my walk so that I
don't miss any of it.

And then, at the end of the walk, I come back to reality and the peacefulness
comes to an end, replaced with kids, business, other distractions. For a while
though, I am in my own little world wandering around.

I usually try to bring a pen and paper with me to write ideas down, I find
that typing the ideas into my phone is not as satisfying somehow.

------
canvia
A lot of the commenters seem to have missed this recent submission: Stanford
study finds walking improves creativity (stanford.edu)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7669818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7669818)

~~~
saraid216
There's a TED talk (aaaaand legitimacy already questionable) that argues that
our brains are built for movement. I find this fairly plausible; it feels like
a lot of movement activities correlate strongly with better brain functioning.

------
tannerc
Surprised to see nobody yet mention here Edward de Bono's concept of creative
pause.

It's through activities such as purposeless walking — or showering, or doing
the dishes — that we allow our consciousness to subside into a routine task
while subconscious feedback is allowed to subtly rise. In theory this allows
for more of a connection to the deeper going-ons in the brain.

More thoughts on the matter from designer Cameron Moll, dated six years ago:
[http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/2008/11/showering_and_th...](http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/2008/11/showering_and_thinking/)

------
grobot
Interested to know if any other visitors from here were presented with an SSL
cert selection dialog for beta.bbc.co.uk:443 on visiting this article -
"Select a certificate" not something I've seen before.

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/dedkeid58gj7bln/Screenshot%202014-...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/dedkeid58gj7bln/Screenshot%202014-05-02%2012.19.20.png)

Selecting the DigiCert option delivered a Keychain popup asking me for
"privateKey", which kept presenting itself on being deny, deny, denied.

(Chrome/OSX)

~~~
pimlottc
They must have their server set to request client certificates. Even with that
on, most people will see nothing as browsers will only show that dialog if
they have any client certificates registered that the remote site will accept
(wrt the signing CA).

------
disdev
It's a bit difficult where I am (semi-rural)... busy roads, no sidewalks, dogs
without leashes (pitbull attacks are too frequent).

But, I do the same with running. I drive to nearby trails most every day. And
for the family, we do short backpacking trips with no real goal. Just hike a
few miles out to a campsite, hang out, read, cook, play around, and then head
home the next evening. My kids are young (7 and 12), and I think it does them
a lot of good to be able to cover some distance and pack things in and out on
their own.

~~~
timjahn
"Just hike a few miles out to a campsite, hang out, read, cook, play around,
and then head home the next evening. My kids are young (7 and 12), and I think
it does them a lot of good to be able to cover some distance and pack things
in and out on their own."

That's great. There's nothing like getting out in the outdoors, camping, and
just living a little bit. No real "purpose" other than to experience the
nature around you. Kudos to you.

------
saraid216
Has anyone read Frederic Gros' "A Philosophy of Walking"
([http://www.amazon.com/A-Philosophy-Walking-Frederic-
Gros/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/A-Philosophy-Walking-Frederic-
Gros/dp/1781682704))? I thought about picking it up yesterday, but I didn't do
so and it'd be nice to hear some HN reviews.

------
debt
Smoke a little weed before you go on a purposeless walk. Make sure you have at
least a distance, like a mile, that you want to walk. Also, be sure you're in
a dense urban environment.

I guarantee it will be one of the most inspirational activities you can do for
yourself. I probably do this once a week in SF, and it really dislodges my
thoughts/stresses from the previous week.

~~~
epi8
> Also, be sure you're in a dense urban environment.

Why?

~~~
Quetzalcatalyst
Yeah for me my ideal relaxed and creative state is in the exact opposite of a
dense urban environment. Not that it doesn't have its place, it just seems to
impose a sense of purpose on you no matter what you're doing.

------
abentspoon
This has come up a few times, but I liked ribbonfarm's take on the same topic.

[http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/08/09/how-to-take-a-
walk/](http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/08/09/how-to-take-a-walk/)

hn discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1590290](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1590290)

------
elwell
Here's a fantastic short story by Bruno Schulz that, to me, captures the joy
of walking, albeit mostly indirectly:
[http://www.akirarabelais.com/vi/o/thelibraryofbabel/schulz/c...](http://www.akirarabelais.com/vi/o/thelibraryofbabel/schulz/cinnamonshops.html)

------
throw7
Ughh. A corner strip mall opened recently in my area and plopped down a
parking lot with no sidewalks abutting the side streets (there are planters
directly between the lot and street).

There is no safe walkable way to get to/through this area. It's really
depressing.

~~~
egypturnash
Walk through the planters!

I may be crazy.

------
ef47d35620c1
I'm learning to do this again. At first, I had to make myself, but now I
really enjoy it. I typically walk during lunch and in the evenings, just for
the sake of walking and thinking. I find that it reduces stress and helps me
to think more clearly.

------
dllthomas
I've definitely been known to go out and walk 5 miles across town for the sake
of it.

------
scrollaway
Interesting "discussion" on reddit about the article (language warning):
[http://reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/24g5xn](http://reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/24g5xn)

------
Houshalter
I find myself pacing back and forth whenever I get deep in thought about
something. I love walking outside just to think, and it's where I get my best
ideas. Though I wouldn't be comfortable doing it in a city around other
people.

------
mrev19
Periodic aimless walking is a huge productivity boost for any dev. It allows
you to take stock, prioritize, and adjust your strategies, not mention solve
problems. If you're not doing it, try it, $5 says it saves you tons of time.

------
hoffcoder
I was reminded of how much people like Steve Jobs and Mahatma Gandhi were fond
of walking. Jobs turned the act of taking a walk into a management tactic, and
Gandhi converted the walk into a political weapon with his salt satyagraha.

------
frik
There is a newer trend, called _nordic walking_ , as an alternative to walking
and running:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_walking](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_walking)

------
Myrmornis
I read a biography of Paul Dirac recently and it seemed like he did a lot of
his thinking about physics while walking. I checked and am impressed to see
that the BBC has actually already included this obscure fact in their article!

------
brlewis
I'm disappointed that there's no discussion about whether Fitbit aids or
hinders purposeless walking. Under what circumstances is it primarily a
motivator? Under what circumstances is it primarily a distraction?

------
hyp0
17% is hardly dying.

I walk 2 hours almost every day. The trick to avoiding suspicious looks is to
do it around 3am (programmer sleep pattern). Then, it's even _more_
suspicious, but no one sees you to form that opinion...

------
raverbashing
Yeah, I do that a lot

I don't like bikes, for medium distances I prefer to go by public
transport/own transport

Unfortunately walking works only on moderate distances round-trip (you can go
further if you go or return using something else)

------
batmansbelt
Joyce wrote a fair bit about purposeless walks. Probably about half of A
Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man occurs during pointless walks.

I get some good thinking in while commuting on my bike. Probably a similar
effect.

------
based2
[http://www.ivv-web.org/home.en.php](http://www.ivv-web.org/home.en.php)
Internationaler Volkssportverband Enrich your life through Volkssport.

------
marajit
[http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Equity-Ideas-Progress-
Illich/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Equity-Ideas-Progress-
Illich/dp/0714510580)

------
sard420
Most people would have to walk through smog and traffic, and literally enjoy a
cold concrete paradise. This doesn't sound enjoyable for meandering. I long
for a rural life.

------
ronancremin
Worth remembering the Yogi Berra quote: "Not all who wander are lost."

I think he meant it more generally than just walking around, but a nice
reminder nonetheless.

~~~
saalweachter
... Isn't that a line from a Tolkien poem?

~~~
prestadige
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old
that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.

(from 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.)

------
gaisturiz
A fun exercise:

Walk down a street you drive on a regular basis; the things you'll notice will
make it seem like you're in a different place altogether.

~~~
brightsize
Another fun exercise if you already have a well-worn walking route: walk it in
the opposite direction. It's striking how doing so makes it seem like you're
traversing an entirely different place, even though obviously you're not.

------
nathanvanfleet
I bet this is comparing regular middle class busy bees to rich people with a
lot of land to wander about on. But sure, why not.

------
Strilanc
On the other hand, shower thinking is alive and well. Probably far more common
than it was 100 years ago, too.

Wastes more water though..

~~~
jobigoud
I do both. The main difference is that I look foolish when I do it while
walking because I think aloud.

------
CognitiveLens
This is a strange article, because its content reads like anecdotal
(European/Western) history combined with generic self-help advice. There is no
evidence presented that people are "walking without purpose" _less_ now than
they used to - it seems to me that 17% of walks being "just to walk" is
actually a fairly high percentage, but there's no point of comparison.
Although people probably walk less now because we have more convenient modes
of transportation, is the argument that a greater percentage of walks were
purposeless in the past?

Treating "Great White Men" of the past as exemplars of how life used to be is
ridiculous. Advising people to get out and walk for the sake of walking is
great, but I don't think we need to pretend that we've lost a great source of
creative thinking that used to be more universal.

~~~
pessimizer
17% seems like a really high percentage, actually. Also, without reading the
linked study, I can't figure out whether it's 17% of all trips, or 17% of all
walking trips that are "just to walk." If one out of five trips are for
aimless relaxation, that sounds absurdly high.

If you're comparing the average survey respondent to your average
independently wealthy 19th century author, there's a few pretty obvious
reasons why people with normal jobs don't aimlessly walk all the time - such
as _a job_ and the appeal of aimlessly driving, which I'm sure scratches
nearly the same itch.

~~~
phea
The 17% figure also includes dog walking. For myself, the midnight walks with
my dog have been very rewarding. Giving me time to think about things and
reflect on the day. Although there are a good number of dog owners who see
walking their dog as a chore, which is not the right attitude to have for
being mindful.

~~~
hrkristian
Walking our dog always felt like a chore growing up. I'd attribute it to being
young, but it's now many years later, they have a new dog (both dalmatians)
and walking him when visiting is still a chore.

He's either on a leash (by law) pulling relentlessly, or he's free, needing
vigilant watch. It's perfectly doable having him walk next to you, but he's
still stressing out at everything and it seeps into your bones.

Might be many would benefit from taking walks like you do, I run instead, no
patience for walking, but I probably should if only for the benefit of
learning to be more patient.

The idea of doing something so unproductive and slow is really hard to get
over, though.

~~~
aw3c2
That's a badly mannered/behaved dog though, many dogs don't act like that.

~~~
wavefunction
It's a dalmatian. One that hasn't been trained very well as you point out, but
it's part of the breed. They run a lot.

------
coldcode
I first read "The slow death of purposeless coding".

~~~
joshrotenberg
Sounds like you might need to go for a walk.

------
cevaris
Went walking today, left the audiobooks at home...

------
chippy
It's astonishing how many people I see walking with headphones and earplugs
in.

------
saturdaysaint
I once read a pretty impressive string of biographies where all of the guys
did their serious thinking on long walks - Steve Jobs, Theodore Roosevelt,
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincol, I might be forgetting others.

