thirdcrank wrote:Flinders wrote: ... That's absolutely it. ...
Having appeared to agree with me, this seems to say the opposite:... if you are holding anything, however trivial, it is well known that it is very, very difficult not to take longer to respond; the overwhelming instinct from infancy up is to grip in a crisis (basically because we used to live in trees).
It's caused me to reflect and I suppose I'm talking about situations where there's a moment to think - however briefly - before reacting. Perhaps my use of the word "instinct" was wrong as I wasn't talking about a reflex action. I meant that I wouldn't want to drop something precious to enable me to regain full control, so I wouldn't hold something like a phone in the first place. A bit of food or drink is of a different order.
I meant I agree that holding things is a problem, but I suppose in that I think holding anything at all is a problem, I disagree that there is much of a sliding scale about it when it comes to the immediate instinct kicking in.....