Thanks for sharing that colleague’s thoughts on RSI. That does seem like a useful perspective to keep in mind.
Anecdotally, it did seem to me that I started perceiving very mild/sporadic potential RSI symptoms when I was around a bunch of people who had or were worried about RSI, despite not having perceived symptoms beforehand, and despite no real change around that time in the relevant activities I was doing. And this seemed suspicious to me. (Which is of course not to argue that RSI is always and only psychosomatic.)
I’m currently aiming for something like the following habit:
quickly note recalled perceived symptoms at the end of each day, while bearing in mind that they may be psychosomatic
don’t think any more about RSI unless I start noticing more perceived symptoms
if I do start noticing more perceived symptoms, think more about this, but don’t necessarily worry, and still bear in mind that this could be psychosomatic
But I’m unsure precisely what the best balance to strike is. And your comment made me think I should perhaps be more thoughtful/cautious about publicly saying things that could be interpreted as “I advise that people pay more attention to whether they think they’re experiencing symptoms of RSI”, in case that exacerbates psychosomatic issues for some people.
(Also, nice to hear that you find my comments interesting and useful—thanks for letting me know!)
Thanks for sharing that colleague’s thoughts on RSI. That does seem like a useful perspective to keep in mind.
Anecdotally, it did seem to me that I started perceiving very mild/sporadic potential RSI symptoms when I was around a bunch of people who had or were worried about RSI, despite not having perceived symptoms beforehand, and despite no real change around that time in the relevant activities I was doing. And this seemed suspicious to me. (Which is of course not to argue that RSI is always and only psychosomatic.)
I’m currently aiming for something like the following habit:
quickly note recalled perceived symptoms at the end of each day, while bearing in mind that they may be psychosomatic
don’t think any more about RSI unless I start noticing more perceived symptoms
if I do start noticing more perceived symptoms, think more about this, but don’t necessarily worry, and still bear in mind that this could be psychosomatic
But I’m unsure precisely what the best balance to strike is. And your comment made me think I should perhaps be more thoughtful/cautious about publicly saying things that could be interpreted as “I advise that people pay more attention to whether they think they’re experiencing symptoms of RSI”, in case that exacerbates psychosomatic issues for some people.
(Also, nice to hear that you find my comments interesting and useful—thanks for letting me know!)