You're rinsing a coffee mug, and you hear yourself say, aloud, "Wait, where did I put my keys?” A coworker walks by, and you feel a flash of embarrassment, like you just got caught doing something a little unhinged. Here's the good news: you didn't. According to a 2025 study published in Scientific Reports, researchers tracked 208 adults for two weeks, collecting some 13,000 daily survey responses about more than 20,000 individual moments. In 61 percent of the situations researchers asked about, people reported talking to themselves, silently or out loud. Only 1 percent said they never did this. So if you whisper your grocery list to yourself or give yourself a pep talk in the mirror, you are in the overwhelming majority, not the outlier.
This habit goes back to childhood
Watch a toddler stacking blocks, and you will hear a running commentary, "this one goes here, no, not like that. According to the foundational work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky, this kind of out-loud narration in young kids, which he called private speech, is associated with children learning to plan and control their own behavior. As we grow up, a lot of that narration turns inwards and becomes what we call thinking, but it never really goes away, which is why an adult may suddenly start muttering directions when parallel parking.
Why your car and shower turn into thinking rooms
There’s a reason why so much self-talk happens in certain places: the car, the shower, a solo walk, folding laundry. Your hands are busy with something familiar; no one is watching, and there is no screen competing for attention. Now that the social pressure is off, the brain can finally complete a sentence it couldn't finish at your desk.
