This tracks for me. I was explicitly taught, as a small child, to be ready to explain what I was doing at all times. Failure to have a ready and satisfactory answer to “what are you doing?” was treated as strong evidence that I was idle (or up to no good!) and should be redirected to do something explicable instead.
(And today, if a friend asks me “how are you?” as a sincere question rather than a casual politeness, it sometimes locks up my cognition for a few seconds as I scramble to introspect enough to come up with a good answer...)
This tracks for me. I was explicitly taught, as a small child, to be ready to explain what I was doing at all times. Failure to have a ready and satisfactory answer to “what are you doing?” was treated as strong evidence that I was idle (or up to no good!) and should be redirected to do something explicable instead.
(And today, if a friend asks me “how are you?” as a sincere question rather than a casual politeness, it sometimes locks up my cognition for a few seconds as I scramble to introspect enough to come up with a good answer...)