alt Hacker NewsPart of my job, is that I design protocols to help young children lie in MRI scanners for a living. We have all sorts of techniques to help with this.
However, for each new scanning protocol, I like to have had it myself - so I know what the children go through. And, at times lying inside a MRI scanner, detached from the world, with only the noise of the scanner (very reduced with our new noise cancelling headphones), is almost meditative, and a welcome escape from the constant connection and pressures of being immediately available at work. Sounds like the writer achieves something similar in the coffee shop.
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I was a subject in an fMRI study when I was in college and I found the experience quite tranquil (although this was before smartphones). The hum of the machine was kind of calming. I felt I probably would have fallen asleep if not for the sense of responsibility required to pay attention to the task.
I absolutely love going in the machine. Highly meditative and usually I fall asleep by the end. You can get the soundtrack on YouTube too, but it's not quite the same.
What works to get children to stay still though?
Doing something where you get to say "bugger everything" and just do what you're doing for a while is amazing. It's one of the things I actually like about the (otherwise not very relaxing) ultra-distance racing.
2-6 days of just riding your bike, eating, sleeping outside. Yeah it can be hard but nothing makes the MS Teams chime in the woods.
I had a very different experience with my last MRI. I had brain slices (temporal lobe Epilepsy) and my head buzzed/vibrated and could not relax.
Fascinating. How many MRIs have you had?
I get a break from constant availability from air travel, but that's slowly eroding as it becomes more connected.
What keeps me from going claustrophobic inside an MRI is the sound. It is very loud, yes, but at least I have that to focus on.
This reminds me: I experience a similar "welcome escape" sensation when I'm hospitalized. My work responsibilities are manifold and tend to intrude into my thoughts even when I'm at leisure. But when I'm in the hospital, there seem to be some sort of physical and psychological clean break. Hard to describe.