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Comment by paulpauper

1 year ago

it's not at all the same thing. fidgeting is a movement. so is exercise. productivity is something more vague.

What makes you say fidgeting is /a/ movement? Fidgeting is likely a combination of many positive and negative things; I can imagine: more anxious people are subconsciously wanting an escape from a situation and fidgeting more, more energised and impatient people are itching to hurry things up, more musically or rhythmically interested people are grooving with internal beats and earworms, uncomfortable people are pushed to move by their chair/clothes/posture/tools, it could be a form of stimming behaviour such as enjoying the feeling of the movement of clothes against skin or the finger movements taking some concentration and helping focus.

And on the negative side, non-fidgety people might be more depressed or anxious mentally, more physically drained or fatigued or lethargic physically, may have had upbringings where movement drew negative attention from adults telling them to sit still, may have social upbringings where fidgeting was seen as 'acting out', may have been part a band or group where being still was trained into them, may find their own movements distracting or annoying...