What do you fiddle with when you're thinking?

Python

I always play around with my pencil.

So it sounds like “penis” is the consensus so far.

writing utensil, my fingers, lips

Usually my hair or I doodle, I doodle A LOT

When I’m nervous, I’ll pick at the skin around my right thumb nail. Ugh, I try not to, but I don’t seem to notice it until it’s too late. When I’m bored, I make sure there’s no gunk underneath my fingernails.

When I’m thinking I like to stare intently at a piece of paper, even if it’s just my notes or a syllabus. I also must be holding a pen or pencil in order to think.

@Ivan I knew a kid who used to wank in class. Never got in trouble for it. Something I’d never dare to do.

If I know I’m in for the night, my hands attack my coils separating and detangling and boiking! Yes, it is that exciting
Fiddling with something while I try to think would throw off my concentration. I think I have ADD

After a few months of boring lecture I got pretty good at certain kinds of pencil twirling. I also like to rub my chin or temple. I used to do the cuticle mutilation thing as well, but I don’t have any ragged ones anymore.

never been much of a fiddler, I have a bad habit of getting tunnel vision when I concentrate, everything else just kind of blanks out aside from what I’m focusing on. I crack my knuckles sometimes (I know it’s a nasty habit) or maybe twirl my pen but other than that nothing too exciting.

If I’m thinking really hard I kinda gaze off into space with a blank stare so I’ve been told. If I’m just considering something I kinda tap my cheek with my finger.

I talk to myself when I’m thinking…obviously, only when I’m at home (alone).

I also fiddle with my hair—finger-comb it, twirl it, take it out of its hair band or chopstick, put it back up…

Eating is great to do while you’re thinking. So’s cleaning. And exercising. (Basically any mindless activity that needs to get done.)

Like some of the others, I doodle when I’m bored (less so when I’m just thinking).

Sometimes stream-of-consciousness writing gets done when I’m thinking…it’s like my brain is fiddling with some ideas, even if my fingers aren’t. :)

Usually my fingers. I’ll usually bite my knuckle a little or move my index finger across my lips/cheeks.

My hair! I have to keep it in a braid or I get distracted with my own hair! If I have something with buttons or snaps I’ll play with those or my necklace or bracelets or rings!

I never notice that I’m doing it until I have three knuckles in my nostril.

I nibble on my bottom lip.

So, I have a Claddagh ring. It’s a spinner, so the middle part of it spins around. I am constantly playing with it.

Oh, @lefteh reminded me: I play with my thumb ring (I use the other fingers on my hand to make sure it’s shoved down as far as possible <rolls eyes>), I play with my earrings (hoop that I can push throw my ear—not painful), and when I’m really nervous, I start playing with my necklace (just touching/rubbing the pendant, mostly).

Go get yourself a piece of jewelry, @wildpotato! :D

I am old fashion I guess. I let a deep rumble rock my throat “hhmmmm”, and ninety percent of the time the answer comes to me.

funny thing, its either fondling my naughty bits, or if in a place that such behavior is frowned upon, I rub my hands over my bald head. Phallic symbolism or external brain massage? You make the call. =)

@evelyns_pet_zebra reminded me that I tend to grab my boobs when I’m trying to remember something lol!

LOL @Facade, thanks for the wonderful mental picture! }:^)

I do many fidgeting activities, I rub the stubble on my chin, hopefully, one day I can be rubbing a full beard there, but, alas, that day is not yet upon us I tap my feet to a basic beat, or, if I am really bored in class, I use a pen to trace the lines on my palms.

Ha! Didn’t expect this thread to be so funny. You guys reminded me, I do play with my ring sometimes, but today I noticed that my prof, who has bad eyesight, kept glancing down at my hands as I was twisting the ring around my middle finger…and then I realized that I was accidentally flipping the bird, as far as he could see. But great suggestion, @evegrimm, I should try rings on other fingers.

@Facade That’s funny, I had also forgotten that I, too, grab my boobs when I’m thinking deeply, and when I’m fluthering for that matter. Interesting how so many of us gravitate to our genitals in times of absentmindedness and deep thought.

@Facade that is hilarious because when I am bored I sometimes bury my head in my boobs, my friends say, “oh look Jane is nesting.”

@evelyns_pet_zebra lol you’re welcome :P

LOL @IBERnineD wow, another great mental picture. =)

Someone up there reminded me that I think out loud a lot. Comes from years of driving a truck, and just being the sort of guy that has to talk his way through things. People that know me are used to it, and usually wait until I call them by name, or catch their eye.

I suppose I look like one of those crazy old guys that goes around talking to himself, but I’ve done it for as long as I can remember. I even did it as a kid.

My chinny chin chin. Seriously, I’ll rub my chin when I’m thinking. Don’t have the faintest idea as to why.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I often put my hand in the waistband of my pants, up to about my knuckles when I get sleepy or I’m feeling relaxed. It’s not a sexual thing at all for me though. I just like to feel the warmth of my stomach on my hand, and the cold of my hand on my stomach. I get some really weird looks when I do it in public. Which I usually do if I feel like it, because I’m just not the sort of person who gives a damn.

@La_chica_gomela My wife does the same thing, and I tease her about it. Mostly because it is a guy thing, but come to think of it, her mom used to do it to.

When I tease her, I say, “Hey, get your hand out of your pants, and stop rubbing your penis!”

I have to agree with @aprilsimnel. I’ll rub my chin, my nose, the area under my nose, the side of my head, anything. It’s sounds like something out the cartoons, but I really do that. :)

I also seem to cross my legs more (in the girly fashion).

@La_chica_gomela

lol…I do that too! But I pretty much always do it on the side. I do it a lot when my hands are cold, of course.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: I think of it as a guy thing too, actually. Even though I never see guys doing it in public. Have you ever seen the movie “Stand and Deliver”? The protagonist, played by Edward James Olmos, does it, and it’s actually very endearing.

Wait, did you guys actually forget Married…with Children? The hand in the pants was Al Bundy’s thing!

I play with my hair and nibble my bottom lip.

@Facade I do that, too! I started cracking up when I saw that – glad I’m not alone. :D

I play with my earings, necklaces, rings you name it. I braid the front of my hair when I am in deep thought, cause my hair frizz’s out. And I also play with my front teeth. Don’t know why, just do.

I am a picker. I absentmindedly scratch off the bump of an ingrown hair, or the scab from a pimple and the next thing I know, I’m bleeding. :(

Edit: BTW, this thread has cracked me up!

Cracking my knuckles (yes I know some of you will make a weird disgusted face for even reading about it, you’re welcome!). The rest of my habits have been mentioned before, like if I have some scruff/stubble on my chin I tend to rub it for some reason (must be a habit left from my previous life) and I cannot for the life of me stop tapping my feet (especially if there is any music on).

There are some great tips in this threat. Next time I forget where my keys are I’m going to look for the closest pair of boobs to help me remember.

I typically stroke my stubble-length mustache.

I rest my chin on my hand and pull the skin on my jaw. I also play with my rings or bracelet. I have short hair too!

@wildpotato Did you start to grow a beard yet? Don’t tell me you are a girl I have seen some girls that had the ability to grow a more manly beard than I can!

My willy, if I’m at home. The back of my hair, if I’m not.

@markyy Too young, unfortunately. Actually, I think that it’ll be awesome when female facial hair comes into style, and really hope that it happens in my lifetime – I’d look smashing with a pointy goatee.

I’ll usually fiddle with my hair. Its short, but long enough to mess with a bit. If I happen to have a beard I’ll fiddle with that too.

I am always exploring my head and neck for asperities (really, i had to look up that word).
New and old pimples, little scabs and scars, little hairs that are not supposed to be where i find them.
And i scratch my beard.

I do what @augustlan does

I pluck the hairs from my nose.

I scratch my head. Especially now since it yields so many awful flakes of skin (a side effect of some meds I was taking (or am taking) that won’t go away). There’s something so satisfying about itching and flaking until my scalp is sore.

Boy! I bet you are all glad now that we are communicating over the internet and you don’t have to be in my presence! ;-)

@rebbel So that’s what I’m picking at! n. pl. as·per·i·ties: 2. A slight projection from a surface; a point or bump. Thanks for the new word!

@wildpotato: I’ve never seen that show in my life.

What I do depends on what type of thinking we are talking about.

Talking on the phone: I doodle on a pad of paper.

If someone asks me a question in person: I find myself looking up and to the left (???).

If I am talking to someone in person and they are saying something important: I lean my right ear towards them (perhaps my right ear hears better?).

If I am working on an assignment: food is at hand, or my beloved Atomic Fireballs. And if the stress of the work intensifies…I do grab (with both hands) fists fulls of hair and pull, not to hurt myself, but enough to give me the sensation I am looking for.

Facebook facebook facebook farmville facebook

@bennihan oh, you forgot: Fluther, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook…

For a while I was addicted to Fb, but it has since then, lost its luster.

At night while looking for street numbers, I turn the radio down, in the car so I can see better!

@graynett I do the same thing!

Me too! That’s crazy…maybe we think it makes us concentrate better? If we dedicate all of our “resources” to our eyesight?

When i’m thinking, i tend to bite my nails really bad, or the skin around my nails. its really bad, but i never notice i’m doin it till it starts hurting lol. stupid.

@lefteh: I think it really works that way though! Maybe more so for some people than for others. I know my mom can’t remember the number she’s supposed to be looking for, for 2 seconds if there’s any sound in the car, radio or someone talking.

I believe there must be some connection to alertness and hearing. I don’t know where I heard this, but hearing is one of the first senses to be impaired or dulled when falling asleep at the wheel.

my mind and anything i get my hands on. (no pervert jokes)

I do the tunnel vision thing alot too, along with talking to myself.

Oh, that’s another thing, I often focus my vision on something and everything else goes out of focus. Would that be tunnel vision?

yea, it could be considered that, although my tunnel vision is getting worse, it’s like Maerlyn’s Grapefruit from the Dark Tower series of books. I might be physically there, but my mind and soul are someplace else.

When attempting to think I shake my legs, doodle, play with jewelry, check for ‘asperities’ on neck/face/head, stick tongue out if really trying to concentrate.