Attention span

for stuff i actually want to accomplish, my attention span is great. i can study 2 1/2 - 3 hours with small breaks for water/bathroom thrown in with no problem...i can read my kindle for hours...i can be present and focus when in person with friends without the need to constantly check my phone

now...fooling arouind on the interwebz...no chance in hell i'm staying attentive. multiple browsers open, each with multiple tabs, throw in a couple pdfs that i'm reading through...lol. i can't stand ads online, especially with videos - that 5 seconds for the skip is sometimes way too long...

 

It might be, Ty.

I swear, sometimes my grandkids come home from school and it's like their brains have been fried by drugs.

They will have eaten different things for lunch, including a home-lunch. We were joking that it must be in the air circulating throughout the building...but maybe it's in the water fountains!

 

Still there must be some exterior forces at work which can either exacerbate or alleviate the symptoms


Hotwater

 

Mine varies greatly from day to day...or even hour to hour i guess it just depends on my level of interest. I know school books were the enemy except the ones with stories in them.

 

I only liked the ones with pictures...

 

It's commonly said that depression is "anger turned inwards"... which is often true. But really, what depression is is hopelessness. If person A and person B go through the same shitty situation-exactly the same- and person A doesn't see a solution...an end....anything they can do in that situation than person A will likely become depressed Whereas if Person B goes through the same thing but fees they have choices/options that will make a difference in your life, person b will be just fine.

 

The hopelessness factor is common with those who are suicidal. Most suicides are related to depression. External factors add to the problem, such as people labeling the person who is depressed or suicidal as selfish and stupid. Such remarks further isolate the person and make him or her feel even more depressed and suicidal.

 

Yes, I suppose boredom would exacerbate the symptoms for me but I manage to not be bored. There are too many things to see, think, and do to be bored.

I do stay on a low dose of anti-depressant. I've tried going without it and after a while I end up very depressed for no apparent reason.

The dose I stay on now, barely keeps my head above water and I do the rest for myself.

I'm not bubbly and energetic by any means but I can get up and do what I need to do and feel satisfied about it.

 

I do agree with hotwater's statement here. For most mental and mood disorders it takes two pieces- the organic-the brain----imbalances( lacking in sufficient serotonin, dopamine, GABA, etc.) and then the external- (there needs to be a stressor or something of the like....

Depression can also result from lacking in certain vitamins or minerals.

(and I do still stand by my "hopelessness" statement- as that doesn't take away from any of the root causes... but is more of the end result).

And just saw your post, cynthy...and all I can say is.... yep.

 

Yes!

That's why awareness of bullying is vitally important, and campaigns to educate toward turning away from bullying behavior are even more important.

 

same here

i read a bit of the first post then started skimming by third sentence and then skimmed down to the short posts and didnt even get to the second page yet

 

I can relate to this.

For me, I think about people when I am alone. But then I get around people, see how annoying they are and how phony most social interaction is, and I just want to be left by myself.

I don't really have a need for many friends. Most of the ones I have don't impress me, and I don't care to hang around most of them. I really desire female companionship more than anything, but I always seem to end up with the worst women, and they just end up fucking me over in the end.

Sometimes it seems like a social life isn't even worth the effort. I just seem to be at odds with most of the people I meet.

 

I barely made it reading through this post.

 

It's okay. Our attention spans are bad.

We went from the original topic, through bodily ailments, conspiracy, depression, meds, bullying...

We suck.

 

anti-bullying messages are anti-free speech. bullied kids need to sack up and deal...the world is not all rainbows out there

 

I can focus my attention on one thing for hours... that is why I love plants, you can just stare at them for hours and hours and they just stay still for you.

 

I can't watch a movie, too long. I don't even have a TV, can't sit through shows anymore.

On a different level, I think my short attention span stems from my feeling of "doneness" with life. Everything seems tired, like I've done it before or experienced it before and it's just a big bore or waste of time. Everything appears to maintain its novelty for less and less time...people, places, things.

On the other hand I can easily get lost in thought or in some project for hours.

 

Yes!!!!

 

You're not "done". You just need to explore the vastness of your inner-world.

 

I can hyper focus. When something really interests me I can zone into it for hours. I can't focus on movies or videos, never been one to spend a lot of time on youtube or watch movies. If a topic interests me I can usually sit down and read about it and not be able to drag myself away. My hyperfocus kicks in when I attempt any creative pursuits too.

For school work that doesn't really interest me I usually have to get a private study room at the library, otherwise any little sound drives me up the fucking wall.

I agree with everyone that depression can play a huge part in it. I've only been depressed once but it lasted a while, like two years, and I couldn't focus at all. After floundering around like that for a couple of years, I started running and working out every day and I feel like that really helped immensely.

I also used to do this trick I learned from a yoga book - you light a candle in a completely dark room, stare at the flame for a couple of minutes, then extinguish the flame and keep staring where it was while picturing the flame in your head for as long as you can. It really helped my attention span actually.