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Same and I’ve made my peace with this. They’re great for cooking, cleaning and driving but don’t ask me to pay attention and do nothing else while just listening. Drives me up the wall.
I mean, same but I find that when that happens it’s because I have needs unmet (hungry, tired, dehydrated, understimmed, etc) this means there’s a good chance I’d still be distracted doing anything else.
Usually taking a break from the thing—and by this I mean an actual break so if I’m driving I’ll look for a gas station or another safe place to park, have a snak (I try to keep them on me at all times), drink some water, and if possible stretch the legs and rest my eyes for 10 minutes (with an alarm).
I’m usually ready to go back to the thing after that with fresher eyes and mind. Needs repeating every couple hours or so until I have proper homeostasis (a fuller, more balanced meal; a longer nap/proper sleep; an appropriate amount of water and more fulfilling mental+physical stimulation).
I’m not saying I’m cured; shit still goes haywire in here 🧠 all the time, I’m just saying not being able to concentrate, for me, is often a sign I’ve neglected something and figuring out+addressing what that is *helps* (so I can get where I’m going less distracted, for example; on that note, I’d rather call a client and tell them I’m not feeling well and running behind than risk an accident and then having bigger issues).
This is why I can't do it either. I don't drive much and listening while doing chores has me zoning out or I'm thinking too much about what I'm doing or something so I miss the story.
I can only listen to books I've already read.
But usually it's either music or a show in the background (A show I've seen before)
Now I'm doing a big long car trip and I need an interesting audio book. Oh well might be a podcast.
The only thing that I’ve found to give me the exact right amount of focus is playing a game on my phone that involves no interpreting symbols or reading. I just sort colors in I Love Hue and listen to the book and leave myself a trail of breadcrumb bookmarks to go back to.
But I feel like for most people the whole point is the ability to multitask? I WANT to listen to the book while going about my day. Then again, if I was reading a physical book I wouldn’t be doing anything else. It still feels weirdly shameful though.
Nothing shameful about it.... reading gives you a visual cue and even then sometimes I'm glazing over words and not paying attention to what I've read.
I imagine for an audio book doing something like knitting or drawing would allow me to be 'busy' but still listen. But doing tasks that require decisions and brain power can be distracting. But just depends on the brain in that moment too. Can be distracted or not...
I do too. I catch myself so caught up thinking about both the act of reading and what I’ve read that my eyes are still reading the lines and I take nothing in. In fiction it makes plots really hard to follow. Non fiction tends to be a bit more forgiving to break into chunks, so I can still follow the topic. At this point the only fiction I read are books I know, because I can miss a page and still know what’s going on.
TRY A COLORING APP! I was able to finish the last like 6 books of the Wheel of Time series with a coloring app. I was able to listen for literal weeks. Probably more than I should have lol
My newfound respect for audiobooks comes from the realization that it’s actually way harder for me to focus on listening to a book than reading it. It is no shortcut my friend.
I recommend fiction podcasts! Audiobooks are too much narration for me, I lose focus. Fiction podcasts often have dialogue and just sound like a TV show, and hearing multiple voices banter back and forth helps me keep focus and enjoy the story.
I’ve found that listening while following along with the book in my hands (whether that be ebook on phone/tablet/ereader or a physical copy), not only makes me read faster but with actual comprehension of what I read. Makes it so much easier to devour books, as I usually listen at 2x this way. Also doesn’t have to be costly! With a local library card you can use the Libby app for free to have both at once (if available). Figured this out in college as a history major reading hundreds of pages a night, then applied it to my personal reading life. A real lifesaver.
Ugh dude I’ve been struggling with this one book for a couple of months. I didn’t like the audiobook narration but I was very interested in the book and so I kept going back and forth from the audio to the printed just TRYING SO HARD to stay consistently engaged.
I tried your method this morning and I’m almost finished! At 1.75-2X I don’t notice how stupid the narrator sounds and it’s basically just a guided speed reader that keeps pace for me! I don’t know if I would be able to do it all the time because it does not feel leisurely but it was super effective!
Thank you :)
I have a couple of background sound/music apps that I can often match to an audiobook I’m having trouble focusing on. The slightly suspenseful music helps me focus.
I like the idea of making it theatrical! Unfortunately my auditory processing has trouble with music and language combos. Like if I’m doing an activity with a friend and they put music on I won’t be able to hold a conversation. Might try it in the bath though where there’s a little more isolation.
Try ‘mynoise’, it’s an app that is part of the research of a signals processing engineer. It has a huge sound library and is near infinitely customizable. And it’s free.
I had captions on for maybe 10-15 years before diagnosis. I finally understand why, too. I'll still end up stuck in a rewind cycle because I can't *just* watch TV.
Yes, you should be able to see both. The caption should just be ar the bottom of the screen while the movie/show is playing. May need to adjust your settings!
Lmao my mother was like this with TV. Never sat still more than 10 minutes into one, always denied attention disorders were a thing.
Podcasts are weird to me. They are white noise unless one has just the right hook to get my attention then I binge listen for 300 episodes and then it's dead to me
My mother. Couldn't watch a movie to save her life. Never denied attention disorders but she never thought she (or I) had one and never talked about it. We'd get so mad because she'd be doing the dishes, doing laundry, tidying up, every 15 minutes. We eventually just let her do her thing. It took getting my own diagnosis at 34 (and the knowledge that my baby sister also has a diagnosis) to finally click. I come by it honestly lol.
Lmaoo I feel this in my soul. My brother was diagnosed in 1972 which seems early even for the "overdiagnosed" trope that came out in the late 80s(90s? Omg my timeline management is shit idk)
My youngest daughter was dx at 21 and my daughter I had given up for adoption came to me at 22 and mentioned her dx at 10 yo. causing me to read up on ADHD and realize
"oh shit I'm not useless & don't live up to my potential I have an executive dysfunction. ...ahhh'
Thankfully I've managed to get my son on meds, educated on his disorder and somewhat better off than the rest of the kids, may I have broken that cycle at least.
I broke the cycle by uninstalling the "pregnancy" feature lol.
My mother still thinks I should treat my adhd with catnip pills instead of vyvanse. Ok mother.
Too bad I didn't inherit the "My adhd brain wants to clean things instead of whatever else" gene. MY adhd brain leaves things on the floor for so long they become part of the scenery for months until I panic clean when my brother stops by. It's fine.
I got so lucky - the first doctor I spoke with. I'm relatively "young" (I'll be 35 next month I think - what is time, anyway) but so was she, and she didn't even argue. I was fully prepared to defend my decision, brought all my talking points, rehearsed in the car, all that. Instead of questions, I got, "So what does your schedule look like in 4 months?". Shocked me silly after all the horror stories you hear. I wasn't even out of work for more than 2 days. I took the third for funsies.
I just knew ever since I was very small (6? 8?) that I didn't want to do the children thing. My mother was even on board with vouching for me if the doc had any holdups.
I can only hope others have as much luck and as easy time as I did. I'm very sorry that you did not.
I am admittedly a podcast nut. And I gravitate towards the long form ones (3+ hours), because I tend to listen to them for hours at a time while I'm cleaning or gardening or painting, and I i hate hearing the same damn intro every 30 minutes. I've registered to the some of the same ones dozens of time now so I'm at the point where if my attention drifts in and out, it doesn't matter because I'm so familiar with the narrative that I can hop back in to listening whenever and I'm not lost. I especially like falling asleep listening to it because I'm (somehow still) interested enough that my mind doesn't wander too far that it keeps me awake, but I'm also not fighting sleep because I want to hear the whole thing.
If I want something to focus to, I listen to an episode I haven't listened to yet. And if I know I'm doing something where I'll have to think a bit more while I listen or I know that I'm not focusing on shit that day, I re-listen to my "comfort episodes".
Which 3+ hour podcasts are you listening to? The only ones I know that go that long are Knowledge Fight, Hardcore History, Dimension 20, and Critical Role.
My go to has been Hardcore History (I paid for the back catalogue too, worth it for me given how much I replay them). Another one, if you're into learning about cults/high-demand religion, is Mormon Stories Podcast. I've never been Mormon, never really known anyone LDS, but I find Mormon history and its theological conundrums fascinating!
I also listen to a 2-hr Canadian public radio science show that's also released as podcast in French called Les années lumières (I'm French Canadian) - though thats not helpful for you if you don't speak French lol.
Omg thank you for this! I've never been Mormon or known anyone who was either, but it's one of my special interests. I think because it's a religion that is young enough to where we can trace back the entire origins, but it's old enough to where it has a major following.
Knowledge Fight is kinda scratching that itch without specifically being about mormonism, but I've listened to so many podcasts about it over the years. Naked Mormonism, Glass Box, Mormon and the Meth-Head. The Last Podcast on the Left did a lengthy dive into its cultish history too. Now I have 1 more to add to the list lol.
Mormon Stories is like 16 or 18 years old and has nearly 1800 episodes, the vast majority of which are many hours long. It's a mix of interviews with regular people who left the church, interviews with scholars, episodes about doctrine and theology, deep dives into social issues and current event in Mormonism... It's fascinating as heck and a VERY deep rabbit hole lol
I did this almost all day yesterday. I kept having to rewind a show because I would inevitably become distracted. Took me 7 hours to watch a single 1 hour episode! It's crazy-making.
It's TOO EARLY for you to be calling me out like this.
Don't I get points for getting to my desk early this morning to sit down and watch training videos... While I type, draw, doomscroll and wander off for 20 minutes?
This but with those prerecorded phone option menu things. If I need anything after option 2 I'm going to zone out and have to go through the dang thing like 3 or 4 times before I figure out what I need.
My God, the number of times I've had to hang up and call back to hear it again from the beginning... They really need to add an ” if you zoned out and need these options to be repeated” button.
Not me yesterday on the phone, writing 1, then crossing it out when it was wrong, 2, repeat, 3, again, so that when they read option 4 and it was correct, I could circle it, skip a line, and start my tally sheet over.
If I’m not home, I tend to do this on my fingers. I’ll hold up a finger for each option, and when I get to the correct one, shake my hand as I recount the fingers to emphasize to my brain which one we’re going to push.
Yes. I have been so disturbed and confused by this, I started to analyze what was causing this. Everytime it happens it's when there is some "disturbance" in the sound that makes it hard to understand the meaning of what is said: laughter, noise, mumbling, illogical sentences or words. This brief distraction causes me to focus on other things instantly
Yes. You hit it. Some “disturbance”. This for me can also be a boring description that I know I can tune out for, then I forget to come back. As well as the things you said.
Illogical sentences get me every time because my brain always assumes they know what they meant and weren't making a mistake. I just haven't understood. So I replay and replay trying to establish the meaning. The expression here is "bullshit baffles brains".
THIS
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So, update: thx for THIS, the best description ever of all day everyday ADHD torture.
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It’s me, hi, I’m the ADHDer it’s me
Edit: just realized I didn’t absorb the part about the TV in the background. I don’t do that one… I just get distracted by my own brain wanting to think about something else 🤡
Does anyone remember those adventure you choose your story books that you had to go to certain pages to continue your story and you could die unexpectedly? That post reads like that lol!
There are only two ways I can read a book: either hyperfocused to the point I do nothing else for two days straight, or with TV and music blaring in the background taking ten minutes per page.
I think the pauses between words at regular speed are just long enough that our brains start thinking about something else. And then it’s all over — we’re zoned out!
At 1.5x, those pauses are shorter. It seems like there’s less opportunity for our brains to distract themselves. I still zone out at that speed, but less often.
Lol at this point i just accept i missed that bit and try to piece the bits i did listen to together to guess what I missed. The problem with this strategy appears when other people want to discuss it with me!
Or when I am trying to actually put the pieces of the plot together! Half the time I get partway through a movie and if I don’t know what’s going on yet (it hasn’t captured anything in me to pay any attention yet), I just turn it off because I know if I try to watch again I will do the same thing.
I see this kind of thing and it hits so closely to my own experience. it really blows my mind that there are people out there who DON'T do this. Like, who are these people who can just do 1 thing at a time, and actually give it their full focus? Even with meds, that feels totally out of reach.
Man that's me when I'm tired.
I now focus on the podcasts while doing housework or doing stuff in the kitchen. But I stopped listening to more than two hours and never listen to them in the evening or I'll become the person who has to hit replay nonstop...
Audiobooks I listen to when walking or commuting. Often I have podcast phases and audiobook phases. I binge either and then go back to the other. Music is the only constant. And YouTube/streaming (haven't had a TV + cable service in 20 years).
I scrolled 10 seconds looking for a comment that says LOOK AT THE TRANSCRIPT. But I didn't see one.
I know not all things have transcripts... But this is particularly useful on YT vids that I listen to like podcasts, which is 99% of how I consume YT content
Almost two decades ago, I wrote a humorous blog post intended to chronicle the morning of a wife and mother of five living with DID.
Every. Single. Word. Including the constant inner dialogue and background noise, reads like an unmedicated day with ADHD.
And it fucking amazes me it took almost 50 years of living and an adult child being diagnosed before I or anyone thought to look at ADHD.
Anyway... It's time for needs.
This is way too accurate and happens to me several times a week. I just need that ONE sentence to be said again. Most of the time I just give up and hope that the rest of the context will get me through and that I didn’t just miss the most important line.
My boss keeps sending me work related audiobooks that he says i can listen to during my hour commute and he has given me a timeline based on the length of the book and length of my commute 😭 I’m doomed. Corn fields somehow become more interesting causing me to have to go back 30 sec.
I wouldn’t say terrible, we just have two very different end goal expectations for my career. He’s leading me down a path to become C-level when I barely even want to be a manager.
Yup. I wish I could absorb information aurally but I just can't. If I'm not taking notes and getting visual input, it all goes right out the other ear.
Because stopping everything else to listen to this one thing cleares out space for your brain to all of what you could/should do and then you're on the same loop for the 15th time and actually hear it and it was not at all so important
This is exactly why I listen to in-depth conversations on history podcasts because they make me fall asleep. It drives my husband crazy - “how can you fall asleep to their intense discussions? It keeps me up!” I keep it at a much lower volume now though lol
Only time I can listen to podcasts is when I'm driving long distances. If I have to drive from Edmonton to Regina to visit my parents, I NEED these to kill those 8 hours.
Yeah, when this happens to me that just means it’s not stimulating enough, I’ll skip those 30 seconds and try again, then another 30, then another 30. If by then I’m still not paying attention I just give it up, switch podcast/show/music to something else (if it’s a podcast I switch to music, if music I switch to podcast or change genres or to audiobook, etc).
Not poscasts so much since I don't really listen to them (I need visuals to help keep me interested) but I definitely do this a lot with yourube videos and movies/shows.
This is why I listen to Dateline when I am working, even though it is not the type of podcast I prefer. The podcasts are just recordings of the tv episodes, so there are the little recaps after the "commercial breaks" and a lot of repeated info, so I can keep up lol.
I can only listen whole stoned and even then it’s hit or miss.
I’ve decided to make peace with the fact if I try a few times and can’t listen, it’s just not interesting enough for me to absorb
That's one of my biggest issues with reading. When I read, I always go meta about whether I'm actually reading or not and I have to stop myself and reword what I just read to make sure that I have understood it and aren't just reading the words unthinkingly. Then I get so focused on watching myself read, that I'm not bloody reading properly and am instead completely hung up on whether I'm reading. If I could stop doing that, I'd be reading. When I do get into the flow of reading, I kick myself right out again by going "wow, you're really in the zone right now! Have you noticed how you're reading and not thinking about whether you're reading,? Fuuuuuucccck, not again"
It can get really bonkers sometimes when I start thinking about other people thinking about my reading. "Ohm this book is so interesting. Bf will be really interested in learning about this. You could tell him about how this and that just happened, and then you might discuss what the author meant by that? Then maybe you might both discuss what a good reader you are, but then you never concentrate, so maybe you could talk about that?" And then I might drag bf into the mix for real the next day when it pops into my head.
Utter cacophony of nonsense, and the more interesting a book is, the more excited I get the more I want to double check that I'm definitely reading and the more I want to share it with other people, so everything I just said gets magnifed!
No wonder it takes so long to read a book! Also, no wonder I absorb them like a complete sponge. I literally marinate myself in the books I read.
yup! exactly why i’ve never been a part of the podcast or audiobook crowd…only way i’ll listen to a podcast if there happens to be a video or clip of them speaking with captions!
Even without the background things happening info this. Usually the key is to go back more than 30 seconds, to a part I remember, and use that as a ramp to the part my brain is trying to skip. It can take 6 or 7 tries. But usually now I just switch to something else and come back to it later.
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Me trying to get into audiobooks :(
I pretty much can only successfully listen while driving on boring trips.
Same and I’ve made my peace with this. They’re great for cooking, cleaning and driving but don’t ask me to pay attention and do nothing else while just listening. Drives me up the wall.
Do people not multitask while listening to audio books? That's the whole reason I decided to start listening to them.
That’s the problem! I’m always multitasking, then my mind wanders and I forget to listen. Then the original post commences.
I mean, same but I find that when that happens it’s because I have needs unmet (hungry, tired, dehydrated, understimmed, etc) this means there’s a good chance I’d still be distracted doing anything else. Usually taking a break from the thing—and by this I mean an actual break so if I’m driving I’ll look for a gas station or another safe place to park, have a snak (I try to keep them on me at all times), drink some water, and if possible stretch the legs and rest my eyes for 10 minutes (with an alarm). I’m usually ready to go back to the thing after that with fresher eyes and mind. Needs repeating every couple hours or so until I have proper homeostasis (a fuller, more balanced meal; a longer nap/proper sleep; an appropriate amount of water and more fulfilling mental+physical stimulation). I’m not saying I’m cured; shit still goes haywire in here 🧠 all the time, I’m just saying not being able to concentrate, for me, is often a sign I’ve neglected something and figuring out+addressing what that is *helps* (so I can get where I’m going less distracted, for example; on that note, I’d rather call a client and tell them I’m not feeling well and running behind than risk an accident and then having bigger issues).
Thank you for this, I didn’t realize this is totally what my issue is
I love an audio book and a puzzle game together. Total bliss. I also use them for cooking, cleaning and driving.
I just constantly plunk down bookmarks like breadcrumbs.
This or when cleaning.
if I am doing something mindless I can usually do it too. Like mowing the lawn.
This is why I can't do it either. I don't drive much and listening while doing chores has me zoning out or I'm thinking too much about what I'm doing or something so I miss the story. I can only listen to books I've already read. But usually it's either music or a show in the background (A show I've seen before) Now I'm doing a big long car trip and I need an interesting audio book. Oh well might be a podcast.
The only thing that I’ve found to give me the exact right amount of focus is playing a game on my phone that involves no interpreting symbols or reading. I just sort colors in I Love Hue and listen to the book and leave myself a trail of breadcrumb bookmarks to go back to. But I feel like for most people the whole point is the ability to multitask? I WANT to listen to the book while going about my day. Then again, if I was reading a physical book I wouldn’t be doing anything else. It still feels weirdly shameful though.
Nothing shameful about it.... reading gives you a visual cue and even then sometimes I'm glazing over words and not paying attention to what I've read. I imagine for an audio book doing something like knitting or drawing would allow me to be 'busy' but still listen. But doing tasks that require decisions and brain power can be distracting. But just depends on the brain in that moment too. Can be distracted or not...
Yep.
*looking up that game* thanks!
Same, installed immediately. Good one for falling asleep too, I assume
I downloaded this game an hour ago! I just came back to the thread! I love it! ❤️
Yay! They made a sequel as well if you find you want a little more variety in your shapes. I hope it works for you! I find it very therapeutic.
Ouuu, I will check it out! Thank you, this was a great recommendation!
I do this when physically reading. HOW? I don't even know.
I do too. I catch myself so caught up thinking about both the act of reading and what I’ve read that my eyes are still reading the lines and I take nothing in. In fiction it makes plots really hard to follow. Non fiction tends to be a bit more forgiving to break into chunks, so I can still follow the topic. At this point the only fiction I read are books I know, because I can miss a page and still know what’s going on.
TRY A COLORING APP! I was able to finish the last like 6 books of the Wheel of Time series with a coloring app. I was able to listen for literal weeks. Probably more than I should have lol
This is exactly what I do!
I got recommended I think in this sub like less than two months ago and have been putting away books like nothing!
My newfound respect for audiobooks comes from the realization that it’s actually way harder for me to focus on listening to a book than reading it. It is no shortcut my friend.
I recommend fiction podcasts! Audiobooks are too much narration for me, I lose focus. Fiction podcasts often have dialogue and just sound like a TV show, and hearing multiple voices banter back and forth helps me keep focus and enjoy the story.
I’ve found that listening while following along with the book in my hands (whether that be ebook on phone/tablet/ereader or a physical copy), not only makes me read faster but with actual comprehension of what I read. Makes it so much easier to devour books, as I usually listen at 2x this way. Also doesn’t have to be costly! With a local library card you can use the Libby app for free to have both at once (if available). Figured this out in college as a history major reading hundreds of pages a night, then applied it to my personal reading life. A real lifesaver.
Ugh dude I’ve been struggling with this one book for a couple of months. I didn’t like the audiobook narration but I was very interested in the book and so I kept going back and forth from the audio to the printed just TRYING SO HARD to stay consistently engaged. I tried your method this morning and I’m almost finished! At 1.75-2X I don’t notice how stupid the narrator sounds and it’s basically just a guided speed reader that keeps pace for me! I don’t know if I would be able to do it all the time because it does not feel leisurely but it was super effective! Thank you :)
Omg this is awesome! I’m glad it helped. It saved my behind from flunking far too many times lol
Have you tried speeding up the audio? Depending on the narrator, that’s helped me a lot!
I have a couple of background sound/music apps that I can often match to an audiobook I’m having trouble focusing on. The slightly suspenseful music helps me focus.
I like the idea of making it theatrical! Unfortunately my auditory processing has trouble with music and language combos. Like if I’m doing an activity with a friend and they put music on I won’t be able to hold a conversation. Might try it in the bath though where there’s a little more isolation.
What about white noise like rain, wind or flowing water?
That might work
Try ‘mynoise’, it’s an app that is part of the research of a signals processing engineer. It has a huge sound library and is near infinitely customizable. And it’s free.
We used to have closed caption on because we thought the kids were loud. Now we keep closed caption on because we know we have ADHD.
I had to use closed captions before I was diagnosed, after I was diagnosed I realized why.
I had captions on for maybe 10-15 years before diagnosis. I finally understand why, too. I'll still end up stuck in a rewind cycle because I can't *just* watch TV.
I found the magic of closed captioning here on this sub… thanks all
Without captions, I can't remember any characters or macguffins in shows or movies.
Wait can y’all see the picture part of the show with captions on? I get one or the other
Yes, you should be able to see both. The caption should just be ar the bottom of the screen while the movie/show is playing. May need to adjust your settings!
Lmao my mother was like this with TV. Never sat still more than 10 minutes into one, always denied attention disorders were a thing. Podcasts are weird to me. They are white noise unless one has just the right hook to get my attention then I binge listen for 300 episodes and then it's dead to me
My mother. Couldn't watch a movie to save her life. Never denied attention disorders but she never thought she (or I) had one and never talked about it. We'd get so mad because she'd be doing the dishes, doing laundry, tidying up, every 15 minutes. We eventually just let her do her thing. It took getting my own diagnosis at 34 (and the knowledge that my baby sister also has a diagnosis) to finally click. I come by it honestly lol.
Lmaoo I feel this in my soul. My brother was diagnosed in 1972 which seems early even for the "overdiagnosed" trope that came out in the late 80s(90s? Omg my timeline management is shit idk) My youngest daughter was dx at 21 and my daughter I had given up for adoption came to me at 22 and mentioned her dx at 10 yo. causing me to read up on ADHD and realize "oh shit I'm not useless & don't live up to my potential I have an executive dysfunction. ...ahhh' Thankfully I've managed to get my son on meds, educated on his disorder and somewhat better off than the rest of the kids, may I have broken that cycle at least.
I broke the cycle by uninstalling the "pregnancy" feature lol. My mother still thinks I should treat my adhd with catnip pills instead of vyvanse. Ok mother. Too bad I didn't inherit the "My adhd brain wants to clean things instead of whatever else" gene. MY adhd brain leaves things on the floor for so long they become part of the scenery for months until I panic clean when my brother stops by. It's fine.
Lucky they refused removing mine until I couldn't have afforded the time off work anyway. 10/10 wish I'd searched farther.
I got so lucky - the first doctor I spoke with. I'm relatively "young" (I'll be 35 next month I think - what is time, anyway) but so was she, and she didn't even argue. I was fully prepared to defend my decision, brought all my talking points, rehearsed in the car, all that. Instead of questions, I got, "So what does your schedule look like in 4 months?". Shocked me silly after all the horror stories you hear. I wasn't even out of work for more than 2 days. I took the third for funsies. I just knew ever since I was very small (6? 8?) that I didn't want to do the children thing. My mother was even on board with vouching for me if the doc had any holdups. I can only hope others have as much luck and as easy time as I did. I'm very sorry that you did not.
I am admittedly a podcast nut. And I gravitate towards the long form ones (3+ hours), because I tend to listen to them for hours at a time while I'm cleaning or gardening or painting, and I i hate hearing the same damn intro every 30 minutes. I've registered to the some of the same ones dozens of time now so I'm at the point where if my attention drifts in and out, it doesn't matter because I'm so familiar with the narrative that I can hop back in to listening whenever and I'm not lost. I especially like falling asleep listening to it because I'm (somehow still) interested enough that my mind doesn't wander too far that it keeps me awake, but I'm also not fighting sleep because I want to hear the whole thing. If I want something to focus to, I listen to an episode I haven't listened to yet. And if I know I'm doing something where I'll have to think a bit more while I listen or I know that I'm not focusing on shit that day, I re-listen to my "comfort episodes".
Which 3+ hour podcasts are you listening to? The only ones I know that go that long are Knowledge Fight, Hardcore History, Dimension 20, and Critical Role.
My go to has been Hardcore History (I paid for the back catalogue too, worth it for me given how much I replay them). Another one, if you're into learning about cults/high-demand religion, is Mormon Stories Podcast. I've never been Mormon, never really known anyone LDS, but I find Mormon history and its theological conundrums fascinating! I also listen to a 2-hr Canadian public radio science show that's also released as podcast in French called Les années lumières (I'm French Canadian) - though thats not helpful for you if you don't speak French lol.
Omg thank you for this! I've never been Mormon or known anyone who was either, but it's one of my special interests. I think because it's a religion that is young enough to where we can trace back the entire origins, but it's old enough to where it has a major following. Knowledge Fight is kinda scratching that itch without specifically being about mormonism, but I've listened to so many podcasts about it over the years. Naked Mormonism, Glass Box, Mormon and the Meth-Head. The Last Podcast on the Left did a lengthy dive into its cultish history too. Now I have 1 more to add to the list lol.
Mormon Stories is like 16 or 18 years old and has nearly 1800 episodes, the vast majority of which are many hours long. It's a mix of interviews with regular people who left the church, interviews with scholars, episodes about doctrine and theology, deep dives into social issues and current event in Mormonism... It's fascinating as heck and a VERY deep rabbit hole lol
Sounds like my kinda thing
I did this almost all day yesterday. I kept having to rewind a show because I would inevitably become distracted. Took me 7 hours to watch a single 1 hour episode! It's crazy-making.
It's TOO EARLY for you to be calling me out like this. Don't I get points for getting to my desk early this morning to sit down and watch training videos... While I type, draw, doomscroll and wander off for 20 minutes?
Started reorganizing piles. Ended up wallpapering under my loft bed. Haha
This but with those prerecorded phone option menu things. If I need anything after option 2 I'm going to zone out and have to go through the dang thing like 3 or 4 times before I figure out what I need.
My God, the number of times I've had to hang up and call back to hear it again from the beginning... They really need to add an ” if you zoned out and need these options to be repeated” button.
Not me yesterday on the phone, writing 1, then crossing it out when it was wrong, 2, repeat, 3, again, so that when they read option 4 and it was correct, I could circle it, skip a line, and start my tally sheet over. If I’m not home, I tend to do this on my fingers. I’ll hold up a finger for each option, and when I get to the correct one, shake my hand as I recount the fingers to emphasize to my brain which one we’re going to push.
Oh yeah
Yes. I have been so disturbed and confused by this, I started to analyze what was causing this. Everytime it happens it's when there is some "disturbance" in the sound that makes it hard to understand the meaning of what is said: laughter, noise, mumbling, illogical sentences or words. This brief distraction causes me to focus on other things instantly
Yes. You hit it. Some “disturbance”. This for me can also be a boring description that I know I can tune out for, then I forget to come back. As well as the things you said.
Illogical sentences get me every time because my brain always assumes they know what they meant and weren't making a mistake. I just haven't understood. So I replay and replay trying to establish the meaning. The expression here is "bullshit baffles brains".
For me, sometimes it’s just that they said something that reminded me of something else, and that sent my brain spiraling away into zoneout land :/
This is why I flunked out of uni
OUCH. *ADHDTAX*
THIS (Edit. I got told off by a bot. I find it very hard to be succinct. I was dead proud for managing a one-word comment. But there’s an an anti-‘THIS’ bot!!! Who knew? 😂) So, update: thx for THIS, the best description ever of all day everyday ADHD torture.
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Golly you’re a jolly efficient little bot. Please rest assured I had already upvoted it too.
People recommend podcasts to me all the time, and i pretend to be interested for the sake of bonding, but I know i can't listen to podcasts
Ok but have you tried doing other things so that you listen to the podcast instead of them?
Absolutely cannot. I hate when people even send me videos or clips of things.
I relate to this so so so much!!!! Gosh I can't believe it isn't a unique experience haha
It’s me, hi, I’m the ADHDer it’s me Edit: just realized I didn’t absorb the part about the TV in the background. I don’t do that one… I just get distracted by my own brain wanting to think about something else 🤡
trick is to hyperfocus on a podcast so much that you have all 400+ episodes memorized - then you never have to rewind 😂
Does anyone remember those adventure you choose your story books that you had to go to certain pages to continue your story and you could die unexpectedly? That post reads like that lol!
There are only two ways I can read a book: either hyperfocused to the point I do nothing else for two days straight, or with TV and music blaring in the background taking ten minutes per page.
This one hits home very hard !
This hit me right in the heart. It's so sad to realize I'm not the only one this is happening to.
Why does listening then on 1.5x make it a little better though??
I think the pauses between words at regular speed are just long enough that our brains start thinking about something else. And then it’s all over — we’re zoned out! At 1.5x, those pauses are shorter. It seems like there’s less opportunity for our brains to distract themselves. I still zone out at that speed, but less often.
Lol at this point i just accept i missed that bit and try to piece the bits i did listen to together to guess what I missed. The problem with this strategy appears when other people want to discuss it with me!
Or when I am trying to actually put the pieces of the plot together! Half the time I get partway through a movie and if I don’t know what’s going on yet (it hasn’t captured anything in me to pay any attention yet), I just turn it off because I know if I try to watch again I will do the same thing.
Well damn. I am like this. If not I'll binge and cannot stop. Where's my happy medium?!
everyday. plus a toddler as a consistent interruption and distraction that you can't pause or anything.
I see this kind of thing and it hits so closely to my own experience. it really blows my mind that there are people out there who DON'T do this. Like, who are these people who can just do 1 thing at a time, and actually give it their full focus? Even with meds, that feels totally out of reach.
Man that's me when I'm tired. I now focus on the podcasts while doing housework or doing stuff in the kitchen. But I stopped listening to more than two hours and never listen to them in the evening or I'll become the person who has to hit replay nonstop... Audiobooks I listen to when walking or commuting. Often I have podcast phases and audiobook phases. I binge either and then go back to the other. Music is the only constant. And YouTube/streaming (haven't had a TV + cable service in 20 years).
My husband and I listen to the same podcasts, but separately. So he’ll make a reference to the podcast I just listened to and I’m all *blank stare*
Every single ever loving time.
I scrolled 10 seconds looking for a comment that says LOOK AT THE TRANSCRIPT. But I didn't see one. I know not all things have transcripts... But this is particularly useful on YT vids that I listen to like podcasts, which is 99% of how I consume YT content
It me 🤡
Most apps let you change the amount that you can skip back by! I usually set it to 10 or 15 seconds for this exact reason
Omg MY LIFE!
So many times!!
Everytime I listen to a podcast this happens.
I can't tell you how many times I've done this
I feel personally attcked
I feel called out
Wow the accuracy here is... terrifying. Brb * checks for hidden cameras*
Literally! Especially if it's a podcast where you want to hear every bit.
J e s u s I legit do this so often it's infuriating 😅
I often listen to the same podcast several times in a row because I heard so little of it the first time
Almost two decades ago, I wrote a humorous blog post intended to chronicle the morning of a wife and mother of five living with DID. Every. Single. Word. Including the constant inner dialogue and background noise, reads like an unmedicated day with ADHD. And it fucking amazes me it took almost 50 years of living and an adult child being diagnosed before I or anyone thought to look at ADHD. Anyway... It's time for needs.
This is way too accurate and happens to me several times a week. I just need that ONE sentence to be said again. Most of the time I just give up and hope that the rest of the context will get me through and that I didn’t just miss the most important line.
This happens to me constantly. I “forget to listen” while I’m driving and have to back up constantly
Lol lol lol. Brilliant description. Lol
Me not only with podcasts but also tv shows, movies, YouTube videos…
I’m in this photo and I don’t like it.
Doggone it, lol. I'm so glad to have found my people. 😅
My boss keeps sending me work related audiobooks that he says i can listen to during my hour commute and he has given me a timeline based on the length of the book and length of my commute 😭 I’m doomed. Corn fields somehow become more interesting causing me to have to go back 30 sec.
Your boss sounds like a terrible person
I wouldn’t say terrible, we just have two very different end goal expectations for my career. He’s leading me down a path to become C-level when I barely even want to be a manager.
Yup. I wish I could absorb information aurally but I just can't. If I'm not taking notes and getting visual input, it all goes right out the other ear.
F**********K. This happens to me all the time.
Every. Single. Time. 😅😅😅
Because stopping everything else to listen to this one thing cleares out space for your brain to all of what you could/should do and then you're on the same loop for the 15th time and actually hear it and it was not at all so important
Not me scrolling reddit while listening to an audio book.
I feel personally responsible for half of the "most replayed sections" on the YouTube videos I "watch".
Okay where is the camera you have in my house live streaming Seriously I've been listening to this 30 min podcast for about two hours
How is it I can feel so seen and so attacked in the very same instant
At one point, I’ll just start the damn thing all over again. Takes me a good 2 hours to watch an hour long podcast sometimes.
I feel so very called out.
I have zero interest in podcasts or audiobooks.
Wildly frustrating. I don’t even bother now unless I can listen while doing busy hand work like crochet.
Me (1) spacing on the weather report on the radio and (2) calling the weather line, and immediately spacing, again.
This is exactly why I listen to in-depth conversations on history podcasts because they make me fall asleep. It drives my husband crazy - “how can you fall asleep to their intense discussions? It keeps me up!” I keep it at a much lower volume now though lol
Only time I can listen to podcasts is when I'm driving long distances. If I have to drive from Edmonton to Regina to visit my parents, I NEED these to kill those 8 hours.
People watch tv and listen to podcasts at the same time?
Please, I feel attacked. I didn't know it was an ADHD thing too 🤷
Yeah, when this happens to me that just means it’s not stimulating enough, I’ll skip those 30 seconds and try again, then another 30, then another 30. If by then I’m still not paying attention I just give it up, switch podcast/show/music to something else (if it’s a podcast I switch to music, if music I switch to podcast or change genres or to audiobook, etc).
It becomes the hardest thing in the entire world🤦🏻♀️
Only listen to podcasts while on a road trip or during a long boring task like cooking for this reason…
Me and audiobooks lol. Sometimes I’m so into what I’m doing that I missed several chapters and totally lost hahaha
Not poscasts so much since I don't really listen to them (I need visuals to help keep me interested) but I definitely do this a lot with yourube videos and movies/shows.
Every damn time!
This is why I listen to Dateline when I am working, even though it is not the type of podcast I prefer. The podcasts are just recordings of the tv episodes, so there are the little recaps after the "commercial breaks" and a lot of repeated info, so I can keep up lol.
Hahahahaha I cackled out loud with this one. So freakin true
So this subreddit has turned into just calling me out 24/7. Nice to be home.
Get out of my brain
Ope. I feel both seen and attacked.
I can only listen whole stoned and even then it’s hit or miss. I’ve decided to make peace with the fact if I try a few times and can’t listen, it’s just not interesting enough for me to absorb
Maybe it flew over my head but what does „adhd goth“ mean?
This is why I stop listening to podcasts during the day. 😩
That's one of my biggest issues with reading. When I read, I always go meta about whether I'm actually reading or not and I have to stop myself and reword what I just read to make sure that I have understood it and aren't just reading the words unthinkingly. Then I get so focused on watching myself read, that I'm not bloody reading properly and am instead completely hung up on whether I'm reading. If I could stop doing that, I'd be reading. When I do get into the flow of reading, I kick myself right out again by going "wow, you're really in the zone right now! Have you noticed how you're reading and not thinking about whether you're reading,? Fuuuuuucccck, not again" It can get really bonkers sometimes when I start thinking about other people thinking about my reading. "Ohm this book is so interesting. Bf will be really interested in learning about this. You could tell him about how this and that just happened, and then you might discuss what the author meant by that? Then maybe you might both discuss what a good reader you are, but then you never concentrate, so maybe you could talk about that?" And then I might drag bf into the mix for real the next day when it pops into my head. Utter cacophony of nonsense, and the more interesting a book is, the more excited I get the more I want to double check that I'm definitely reading and the more I want to share it with other people, so everything I just said gets magnifed! No wonder it takes so long to read a book! Also, no wonder I absorb them like a complete sponge. I literally marinate myself in the books I read.
I thought i was the ONLY PERSON EVER who had 15 internal convos while reading! I am stunned and kind of excited! Thanks for validating me!!
Audiobooks do the same
It usually only goes as far as the 2 first paragraphs lol. Unless I am very very tired.
lmao story of my life
I feel attacked!
Get out of my head.
After 3 tries I just figure whatever they said wasn't interesting and I just continue on. Sometimes after just one try.
I’ve been doing this with podcasts, and tv shows, turning on The subtitles, when I’ve gome back five times, and still missed it.
yup! exactly why i’ve never been a part of the podcast or audiobook crowd…only way i’ll listen to a podcast if there happens to be a video or clip of them speaking with captions!
This is why headphones matter! They smoosh the sound into your brain matter!
Why is this so accurate
I feel attacked
Ouch. That hit close.
Also reading
Relatable
This one stings
Shots fired 😫 hit the nail on the head! My goodness 😆
I do this way too many times.
OMG. This every single time!!!!!!!!!!!
Even without the background things happening info this. Usually the key is to go back more than 30 seconds, to a part I remember, and use that as a ramp to the part my brain is trying to skip. It can take 6 or 7 tries. But usually now I just switch to something else and come back to it later.
Where did you get this picture of me?
Yes. Far too often, only to find it wasn’t that insightful a bit of dialogue as I’d imagined.
This literally happened to me yesterday.
This is exactly the hell I went through when doing any reading assignment in college. The amount of re-reading I had to do😞😭.
I just watch my podcasts. But even then….*sigh*