I have been using electric Oral-B toothbrushes for over 20 years now, and have been pretty satisfied. However, habit and familiarity is a strong indicator of and influence on satisfaction. A couple of months ago, I was in the market for a new brush as the old wasn't holding charge anymore, and instead of getting the same oscillating head type, I went for a sonic Oclean brush, which is significantly cheaper than the comparable Philips. It is gimmicky, with a WiFi enabled app I don't use, but it also has a screen on the brush that gives AI-enabled quick feedback on how successful the job done was.
This is where the lessons come in.
Thumbs up for a job well done.
It gives a score out of 100 with top marks being a thumbs up. The first time I used the brush, I scored in the 60s with the "quick"90 second setting. I use the "deep clean" of 180 seconds a few times a week, normally scoring a thumb or 97 and up. But when there isn't full marks, there is also a little picture of teeth indicating what was neglected (orange bits) and missed (red bits). The accuracy will not be perfect, but close enough for purpose.
As far as teeth brushing goes, within a couple days and since, I have concentrated on adjusting the way I brush my teeth, paying attention for the minute and a half and with the quick clean get between 85 and 95, sometimes higher.my teeth do feel cleaner.
This is not really the lesson though.
At 47, I have been brushing my own teeth for over 42 years now and despite the rest of my body being a disaster, have decent quality teeth.i have always thought that I am pretty good at brushing and through highly repetitive action, I must have built up a pretty strong and healthy habitual process. Yet, here I am at almost 50, relearning how to brush my teeth.
But it is in the habit where the lesson lays, because when we form habitual process, we stop paying attention and when it is something as automatic as brushing teeth, we feel we don't have to, because our habits will apply the process consistently. Yet, what I have noticed is that when I am thinking other thoughts, my score decreases. Yesterday, I was deep in thought and for the first time ever, I scored 55.
Something as automatic as brushing teeth, and my subconscious forgot how to do it properly.
Yet while I was brushing and thinking, I had no idea I was doing such a poor job. It wasn't until after I realised it was a bit like those tiles driving and not really remembering if stopping for redlights. I must have stopped, right?
Habits save us a lot of the time, but lack of attention is still going to affect the quality of performance. But if we are never brought to pay attention, we make an assumption that we must be doing it right, because we did it right when paying attention.
Attention is put most valuable resource, which is why it has been so detrimental that our attention spans have been reduced so drastically as adults, and many children are never building one to begin with, as they flit from short-form content to the next useless and disconnected piece fed to them. And while this might seem obvious, the brushing test was a stark reminder about how we can fail at such simple tasks through lack of attention. I failed at something I have done at least over 30,000 times in my life.
How many of those other times were failures too?
We aren't designed to multitask. It is a myth. Yes, we can do multiple things at the same time, but we can't focus on two things concurrently and when we try, they both suffer. Yet, we have developed behaviours that have us sitting watching a TV show, and scrolling a phone screen. Cooking, and listening to a podcast. Working, and watching something streaming. It is like we can no longer feel content paying attention to a single thing. Perhaps it is a fear of missing out, even though much of what we are consuming and doing, is valueless.
This article might not resonate with you at all. You might see it as silly to compare so much of where we spend our time, to brushing teeth. But try it. You don't need a smart toothbrush. Just put on a 90 second timer and pay attention whilst brushing your teeth tonight. Pay attention to ensuring you adequately hit all areas, all teeth, all sides.
And pay attention to how often your mind wanders.
There is a large difference between an active mind and an overactive mind, and what we pay attention to matters, as it is the experience we have of this life. Perhaps automating repetitive tasks works to our advantage at times but it is also possible that we stop paying attention too soon, before we are truly competent enough to set and forget. The cost of error depends on the task, but when we are no longer paying attention to the things that matter for a good life, acting on default feeling like we are doing the right things, we are going to pay the consequences. It might be bad teeth, or it might be the breakdown of our health, relationships, and everything that makes life worth living.
Just a thought?
Was it worth the cost of thinking?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
BTW, my wife started using the brush soon after and realised how terrible a job she was doing, and has adjusted. Smallsteps has also started using it recently on a gentle setting, and has completely changed the way she brushes. She originally learned from me - Bad habits can be hereditary.
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