I’m so cool up here
I get easily distracted these days. Those annoying little pop up things on TV take the program away from me. I simply have to check out whatever special issue it might mean.
The first time I ignore something about corn flakes, I’m going to miss some sort of CDC warning about Ebola. I’m certain of it.
I feel the same way about ticker tapes that run during the news. “Did you see the live action footage of Bigfoot?” “No dear, I was watching the ticker tape about Lindsay Lohan.”
It’s gotten so bad I can’t read without total silence. I used to turn on music, but that pulls me away from my reading these days. Running water does the same thing, and I’m giving the clock on the wall the stink eye for ticking too loud.
All of our appliances have some kind of bell or whistle these days too. Maybe that’s why I write a lot of historical pieces. It’s more quiet in the Stone Age.
Some blogs distract me too. I know it’s my problem, and I’m not blaming anyone. Someone will post something with a video looping, and I can’t read the post. I have to look at the video, or try to scroll so it’s off the page.
I wasn’t like this ten years ago. What happened?
Entertaining Stories 
We have simply gathered so much knowledge, that there’s not as much room for interference anymore, lest we take in too much and our brains EXPLODE!
I dunno, I prefer silence for reading and writing. I rarely watch tv, I prefer subtitles, and I read the transcript instead of watching the video whenever possible. I’m 40. I’ve always been this way. Starting maybe age 8 or 9 anyway.
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53 here, and it wasn’t like this for decades. I just get … Squirrel.
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LOL! I feed the squirrels, you’re not safe here 😉
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I feel your pain. I don’t know what the hell I’ll do when the rocket scientist retires and he is home to make noise. I hate those .gifs also…they drive me nuts.
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I hate those little pop-up things on the bottom of the TV screen. I, too, find them distracting. And I go to great pains to ignore the little ticker tape with text scrolling across the bottom of the screen. There is too much input for my ancient mind to process all at once. So I focus on the main object as best I can. Thus, I am not easily distracted as much as I’m just getting…or more correctly…have gotten…old. ::sigh::
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According to my comments we aren’t alone. We should form a lodge or something. Oh wait, lodges are old too.
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There are certain types of folk here in GB who have the tv on, in the background, the whole time. They chat away and ignore it but I can’t. I get pulled into whatever shit is on, but I’m too shy to ask them to turn it off, so I just sit there going, Mmm huhah yeh with my attention fixed on the screen. I really must grow some balls and start telling people that if they want to actually talk to them they have to turn it off.
So yeh… I kind of get this post.
Cheers
MTM
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My wife’s one of these; TV on, reading a book, and talking on her phone all at the same time. I wish I had that kind of concentration, but I’d never be that bad.
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I’m the same way now, too. I wanted to write my treatment all day and I didn’t do it. Instead, I was on FB, reading articles, etc. Then I said an hour ago, ” Okay, i’m going to write the treatment.” Instead I wrote my blog for today. What gives?
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When I do something, I want to pay attention. I like to absorb what I read.
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I agree.
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I call what you have “Shiny Thing Syndrome.” You go to the computer room to look for a recipe for tuna casserole, then while you wait for the computer to boot up, you look through the mail. But as you’re sorting through the mail, you notice the pencils need sharpening. However, when you go to the cabinet to get the pencil sharpener, the cabinet door squeaks, so you have to go find oil. On the way out to the shed for the WD40, the cat starts meowing, so you make a pit stop for cat food and then realize you don’t have any. You drop what you’re doing and run to the store and while you’re there, you pick up some fried chicken for dinner, forgetting all about the tuna casserole you wanted to make. Late that night as you get ready for bed, you hear a humming from the computer room and notice the machine is on. You think “Hmm, I wonder who left this on?”
THAT, my friend, is Shiny Thing Syndrome. And it has nothing to do with getting older or having adult ADHD. I think it’s because we are so full of knowledge, our brains are on overload. Only the less intelligent can focus on several things at once because they have all the extra room in their brains. 😉 At least, that’s what I thought I was thinking. 😉
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There are too many things pulling at us today, that’s for sure.
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i have always ben like this. can’t pay attention to one thing, or else i just get sleepy. i can’t concentrate on my book unless it’s quiet.
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I think it depends on whether I care or not. I can do quite a bit of internet surfing regardless of the distractions. If I want to concentrate, I need to avoid distractions.
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whenever i try hard to concentrate on a book with a noisy surrounding, my mind tend to daydream and i get lost, not remembering the last sentence i read on the book.
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