Issue 62 |💡Embracing “Cognitive Solitude” Is The Key To Thriving In The Age of AI
We must regularly switch our minds to “Airplane Mode” to be creative and connect the dots—two mental skills AI can’t replicate.
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I get many of my best ideas on long flights.
Something magical happens as my mind wanders at 30,000 feet, disconnected from Wi-Fi and free from frivolous distractions. I’ve felt the same clarity in the shower, on long drives, and in that liquid, liminal space between sleep and wakefulness. It’s in these quiet gaps—when I’m not feeding my brain a book or podcast—that the dots finally connect.
I finally discovered the neuroscience behind why that was: when my smartphone and my mind enter "Airplane Mode," the Default Mode Network (DMN)—the part of the brain responsible for reflection and insight—can fire up. That mental state is the key to our creativity, and it sits at the juncture between constant stimulation and total boredom. The mental clarity it unlocks is what I call Cognitive Solitude.
If your brain is a smartphone, Cognitive Solitude is Airplane Mode.
🚨 The Big Idea: Cognitive Solitude Is Your Competitive Advantage in the AI Age
In today's AI-driven world, optimizing our brains for invention and understanding is no longer optional—it's essential. However, modern life makes this more challenging than ever. As psychologist Malia Mason from Columbia Business School notes, technology and content are "consuming our limited mindshare instead of giving us the mental space to have brilliant thoughts.”
We’ve become so accustomed to stimulation that any moment without it feels painful. Try standing in an elevator without reaching for your phone. Do you notice the itch? We’ve trained ourselves to reject being alone with our thoughts.
Consider how even our worthwhile distractions—books, podcasts, and high-quality Substack newsletters—can crowd out the critical cognitive space needed for insight. It’s not just the volume of information we ingest; it’s the speed and simultaneous streams at which we consume it. I’m from Generation X and find myself, more often than not, toggling between two screens at once. Gen Z and Gen Alpha frequently juggle three, with phones, TVs, and gaming consoles all running simultaneously.
We’ve reached a saturation point. That’s why we need Cognitive Solitude more than ever.
⚙️ What Is Cognitive Solitude?
I define it as extended stimulation-free time that provides your mind space to consolidate, connect, and create.
This isn't about giving up technology or fetishizing solitude as a luxury good like vinyl records. It’s about strategically balancing consumption, consolidation, and creation.
Cognitive Solitude is the sweet spot between fascination and boredom. Contrary to popular belief, moderately engaging activities lead to inspiration. We need just enough stimulation to occupy our conscious minds while freeing our subconscious to incubate ideas. Great insights emerge from combining both: feeding your brain to seed it with concepts, then stepping back and letting thoughts consolidate.
🔥 Sparks & Space: The Model for Creativity
Cognitive Solitude works best when it follows a shot of intellectual inspiration.
I call it the Sparks & Space Model:
The Spark comes from a compelling idea or conversation.
The Space that follows creates the mental stillness that allows that spark to catch fire.
Ask yourself: When do your best ideas emerge?
Don’t they typically occur after you’ve ingested something thought-provoking and your mind has had the chance to rest and digest it?
You don’t eat all day long—you give your body time to metabolize.
Your brain needs that, too.
These are the moments when dots connect, and ideas crystallize. However, achieving this mental state is difficult - especially in today’s media-saturated world.
🧬 The Neuroscience of Insight
Our brains operate in two primary modes: the Executive Attention Network (focused, stimulated, active) and the Default Mode Network (reflective, creative, insightful). The DMN activates only when the Executive Attention Network switches off. The DMN is your brain’s resting - but cognitively productive - state.
Here’s the problem: constantly consuming content prevents the DMN from activating. Without downtime, your brain never accesses its deepest reservoirs of insight.
Continuous Stimulation = No DMN
No DMN = No Creative Insight
Most people are never actually in the cognitive state necessary for brilliant breakthroughs. Our relentless distraction and content consumption habits have rewired our brains to crave constant stimulation, making us functionally incapable of accessing the precise mental conditions required to thrive in an AI-dominated economy.
🤖 AI Is Making Cognitive Solitude More Valuable (and Scarcity More Dangerous)
I’ve written extensively about how AI is moving up the cognitive ladder. It has made some forms of thinking “cheap” while also demonstrating out-of-the-black-box creativity.
Generative AI tools like Chat GPT can summarize, analyze, and remix ideas with stunning breadth and speed. However, they still have an Achilles’ heel: original creativity and big-picture insights remain fundamentally human domains. Those two intellectual feats may be our last competitive advantage over what some have called humanity’s last invention. Preserving our mental superpowers must be our priority.
Why Cognitive Solitude Matters More Than Ever
Consistently having great ideas is essential to succeeding in work and life today. The solution is to put your brain in airplane mode as often as possible. Embracing cognitive Solitude is the only reliable way to reboot your DMN, restore mental clarity, and unlock the creative thinking AI can't replicate. Airplane Mode is your practical application of Cognitive Solitude—intentional disconnection periods where insights flourish.
Deep Work defined productivity in the knowledge work era. Airplane Mode is Deep Work for the AI Age.
A Closing Anecdote: Good Things Happen When the Mind Wanders
I drove alone down to Newport Beach on the infamous 405 a few weeks ago. I had decided to rough it that day—no podcast or music playing. I wasn’t trying to solve anything but enjoying the silence and the (relatively open) road. (I live in LA, remember?)
Then it hit me: a fresh way to frame how to think well in the modern age. I opened the Voice Memos app on my Apple Watch and dictated the details of my epiphany. It became the foundation for this post.
That’s Cognitive Solitude at work.
📈 5 Steps to Practice Cognitive Solitude
Turn on Airplane Mode At Least Once a Day. Set aside intentional no-input periods to invite productive mind-wandering. Don’t fill all of the cracks in your day with content. I started by using movement as my catalyst for introspection. Now, I tackle walks, drives, and commutes without podcasts. Start associating “motion” with “contemplation.” You’ll quickly see how turning off “receive mode” switches on your creativity.
Seek True Cognitive Solitude. Stopping the constant content stream should, eventually, trigger thinking. If it doesn’t right away, make a point to reflect on what you’ve just read or heard. Let thoughts marinate, and ideas incubate. Aim for 30 minutes a day of Cognitive Solitude - ideally all at once, for maximum impact - and work your way up from there.
Go Greyscale. Changing your phone's color to black and white will instantly reduce its addictive appeal. Trust me: this subtle tweak makes distractions less alluring and quiets your mind. Here is a step-by-step process for doing it on an iPhone.
Practice Phone-Free Intervals. Smartphones are digital hypodermic needles that can deliver distractions and excellent podcasts. Rather than expend mental energy resisting temptation, try removing it. Leave your phone behind when you walk the dog or take bio breaks. Start with baby steps, build resistance, and gradually lengthen your tech-free periods. You might even rediscover the lost pleasures of noticing and people-watching.
Push Through the Initial Friction. Retraining your brain is challenging, so expect initial discomfort. Remember the power of neuroplasticity: your brain is malleable, which means it rewires itself based on repeated behaviors. You're slowly upgrading your cognitive operating system to prioritize intellectual fertility and mental clarity.
🏆 Key Takeaways
Your DMN is your creativity engine—but it only starts when your brain stops consuming.
AI can remix—but only you can innovate and connect the dots.
Cognitive Solitude is how you stay irreplaceable in an AI-dominated world.
Your best insights happen when you press pause and turn on Airplane Mode.
🏁 Closing Question
👉 When were you last stimulation-free and alone with your thoughts?
Try it today. Your best idea might be on the other side of Cognitive Solitude.
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IoNTELLIGENCE by Ion Valis. I'm a strategic advisor and performance coach to entrepreneurs and executives. To learn more about my work, visit my website or connect on LinkedIn.