Not all those who wander are lost
An in-depth article on the benefits of daydreaming. Daydreaming is intricately tied to our ability to think abstractly and creatively. Creativity seems to come out of an interaction between daydreaming and being conscious of daydreaming: "In his experiments, Schooler distinguishes between two types of daydreaming. The first type consists of people who notice they are daydreaming only when asked by the researcher. Even though they are told to press a button as soon as they realize their mind has started to wander, these people fail to press the button. The second type, in contrast, occurs when subjects catch themselves daydreaming during the experiment, without needing to be questioned. Schooler and colleagues found that individuals who are unaware of their own daydreaming while it's happening don't seem to exhibit increased creativity." That seems in accord with other things I've read recently which talk about the importance of the interaction of different areas of the brain, rather than a single area being responsible for a particular trait. The article also has implications for education and leisure time for kids (well everyone really)--we all need more time that isn't devoted to "empty time" without stimulation--not something the culture really encourages.
Conversely...