Thinking in words, also known as inner speech, is a normal process for most people that helps us organize and make sense of our thoughts and experiences. It can be helpful for focusing, remembering things, problem-solving, and managing emotions. While it may not always be the fastest way to process information, it is still a useful tool for many people.

Language allows you to refine your thoughts. Words stand for abstract concepts that you cannot picture otherwise. Let's use that as an example! How would you think of an "abstract concept" without using those words or any others?

So while instinctive thought can be "faster," it cannot be as detailed. And fast, simple thoughts are not going to be "efficient" when dealing with complex subjects.

[[Edit: Another example: It's easy to picture four things. Four apples. Four cars. Four fingers held up on one hand. It's very hard to picture fourteen million two hundred and four thousand six hundred and seventy five things. You need the precision of words to accurately track and plan around things you can't visualize, whether that's large numbers, complex actions and interactions, sequential events over long periods of time, or abstract ideas.]]

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What's the point of language?

Generally speaking, we use language to communicate ideas and instructions to other humans. That's why language exists - because we can't read each other's thoughts, we use words to communicate the ideas contained within our brains.

So if we are thinking of something, at some point we need to communicate that information to someone else. In order to do that, we need to use words. And what is faster:

To have an abstract brain state and then try to convert that into words on the fly while talking to someone?

Or to format your thoughts in language to begin with so that when you need to communicate them to someone else, you already know how to?

It's estimated that only between 30% and 50% of people have an inner monologue or the ability to hear their own voice in their head.

Those without an inner monologue have to consciously think about associating words with objects or thoughts in their heads.

Exactly what impact this has on peoples ability to think, problem solve, memory, processing speed is unclear but is being studied.

It'll surprise you to learn that not everyone thinks in words. Personally, all of my thoughts are words. The idea that your thoughts couldn't be words is just so alien to me that people who report it must be lying or just incapable of actually understanding it but that's a bit presumptuous.

I think it's only like 50% of people have this inner voice and by some estimations only 25% of people do. A huge chunk of the population just has images and no inner speech.

An interesting article with people describing what it is like. Some people have an internal monologue all the time (like me, I'm pretty sure it is all the time), some people do sometimes and not others, and others never have an internal monologue ever.https://www.iflscience.com/people-with-no-internal-monologue-explain-what-its-like-in-their-head-57739

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/pristine-inner-experience/201110/not-everyone-conducts-inner-speech

>Inner speech occurred in about a quarter of all samples, inner seeing occurred in about a quarter of all samples, and feelings occurred in about a quarter of all samples. The other two phenomena occurred just as frequently but are not so well known.

I don't know how valid this study was, I'm not a scientist.