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I will be watching a three hour video essay, get distracted, read posts on Lemmy, then go back to my video 15 minutes later. I realize I have no idea what was said in the last 15 minutes so I have to back up to the last point I definitely know I wasn’t distracted. It will take me ten hours to watch that video.
It took me four days to get through Ash (2019)
Amazing movie
I stayed up until 4AM each day
This is why I don’t do podcasts in the background, I miss stuff and the whole thing becomes a confusing distraction.
What seems to work for me is something I have seen/heard a bunch of times in the background (Futurama, electronic music) which scratches that mind wandering itch without it dragging me away from what I want to be doing.
I’ve probably listened to the entire MCU, in order, fifteen times over the past two years. I can ignore it and happily work or game, while it calms the tiny part of my brain that’s registering it - and then I’ll notice an especially good scene is coming up, so I pause whatever’s currently on top and switch to the video for a scene or two… then back to work/play.
I have two types of podcasts: those I listen to when doing work that is pretty mindless so I can focus on the podcast, and those that are entertaining but not important enough that it matters if I miss something while reading directions or thinking through next steps on my project, etc.
Come to think of it, I have one other category, actually, which are podcasts that are interesting but get a big backlog because I’m not that excited about them. I use those to fall asleep.
For me it’s similar, but podcasts for housework and cleaning, music for working, silence for drawing/problem solving.
Fully Ramblomatic (previously known as Zero Punctuation) videos do this for me
I’ve really gotten into those police interrogation videos on YouTube. The ones that are like 3 hours of raw footage of the interrogation. You can miss large chunks because it’s such a long process and just tune in when they run out of lies and confess.
You forget the random book/magazine that’s read and the crosswords/doodling on paper.
So peaceful. I need at least three screaming voices to avoid the Internal Carnival Music 🎪
Before i was got on meds, i constantly had music playing in my head along with all the other thoughts that were trying to be heard.
Okay get this - when I finally got on meds for the nth (and hopefully last) time, the voices in my head immediately changed from an incoherent chorus of self-hatred to “why is this song playing in my head?” and “It’s kind of a bop, though.”
The relief was incredible, if also a little weird.
Lol ive had that kind of experience as well. I got lucky and first med i tried was really effective. I’m now able to just stop thinking for a while. All the voices are quiet and no music plays.
I just got diagnosed last year and ive had ADHD all my life without knowing it so super weird to just have a quiet head. I get what you mean, its such a drastic change, but a good one.
I always say that my brain is a jukebox that never, EVER turns off. There is always music and it never stops.
HEADPHONE WARNING
Pretty sick song
There are different types of ADHD.
Wait, is a constantly running fan and ADHD thing? Because I have like 4 going right now… And rarely are they turned off.
For me it helps filter out noises from outside and lets my brain relax a bit. Not sure if that’s the ADHD or the hyper vigilace.
Same, I have a small fan that’s running almost 24/7 to act as a noise machine even when listening to music to which I listen constantly during the day. When I read comics/memes as well because I hate silence and hearing noises that are outside control. Lmao
Also falling asleep to a small fan that’s on the other end of the room just hits different.
For me for some inexplicable reason i fall asleep best when i put a multiple hour analysis/essay video on the background about a topic i am not really invested in. This year i have watched dozens of long movie reviews yet i havent watched a single movie this year
When the power goes out and that fan stops, it’s the quietest thing you’ve ever imagined. It shouldn’t even be possible. I hate it.
My mother used to simply turn my fan off to wake me up. I have slept through actually gunshots in the same room as me but my fan turning off was too much
Wh… who is shooting in your bedroom?
Lol my father used to take me hunting as a kid but hunting started before the sun came up and I was sleepy so I slept in the stand. Didn’t even flinch he said
Ohh. Glad to hear it.
eeeeeeee
oh I can’t do two movies at once. one of each thing. I have limits :)
The fan thing really hit me. Ceiling fan, 7 years, only stopped it to dust…when the power goes out
I’m sorry about the fan hitting you, you really have to make sure those things are mounted properly.
My setup: dual screen, on one of them there’s YouTube always on with some booktuber or d&d campaign, private and work chats, on the other screen browser and terminals. The fan that’s sucking my vape fumes next to my desk has been running non stop for a couple of years. I sometimes turn it down to one, but it’s always on. Sometimes the browser/terminal combo gets replaced by Project Zomboid. I’m in this chair 10-18h per day, almost every day. I’m okay. Everything’s okay.
It may seem like chaos, but I don’t know how to explain that it’s relaxing.
Before I had to move my “office” to a smaller room, I had a 4-monitor setup. Usually one for a game, one playing music channels on youtube, one for discord, and one for browsing reddit or something. I want to go back…
i have 3 monitors, one is my primary, one is my secondary content consumption monitor, and my third is my “static” screen, music player, system stats, discord, communications whatever.
I have real workspaces since i use i3 so i can just hop between things per monitor as requested by me.
I had the “the fan is a thing??” reaction too. I don’t always need one at home unless I’m overheated, but my fan on my desk at work has been on for months. Every day that fan is not only on, but pointed right at me.
you cant stop me when im at my playing factorio while consuming live streams in the background at 1.5x speed, i am too powerful for you.
Although I only go into theboffice twice a week, I have a little fan that has been running almost nonstop for 4+ years that helps with the offixe background noise.
I turned it off once for three minutes before turning it right back on again. During the winter I point it away from me.
Where are the fidget toys, sound of TV in another room, and 6 open beverages scattered about? How is this person staying so focused despite being so dehydrated!?
Drink goblins unite.
I feel so seen right now.
Isn’t this more of a normie thing? I can’t split my attention like that; I have ADHD. One task at a time, and even that’s a struggle. I find myself constantly rewinding what I’m watching over and over cause I keep missing a line of dialog. Couldn’t even imagine having to do that with multiple pieces of media at once. I’d probably have a panic attack lol
it’s sorta like how a lot of ADHD people get tired when they take stimulants, my brain is just constantly seeking a ton of stimulation and if i don’t satisfy that then i’m distracted by every little thing around me AND bored out of my mind.
you can think of it sorta like how a baby will keep grasping at things and being a menace, but then you put a toy in its hands and instantly it’s utterly enamored and gurgling in joy.
Scientifically, no one can. They are just doing multiple things worse.
The point isn’t to focus on them all. It’s just to be there so as to make maintaining focus easier. It’s hard to explain why
Nah man, my normie wife cannot understand why I’ll have a podcast, audiobook, or TV show going while I play certain video games.
If there’s multiple stories happening it’s harder. I’ll miss stuff and have to rewind a lot. But if it’s like, Forza or Diablo or MSFS or something it works really well and keeps me engaged.
But I realize that’s probably not how everyone works.
Ok, well this ADHD dude cannot understand either. I’m with the other guy, I can’t focus on multiple sources like that at all.
It’s not about trying to focus on multiple things. It’s about having multiple novel stimuli from which to pick and choose in the moment when my attention begins to deviate.
Anecdotally, I’d say that this depiction is in line with how I feel my ADHD symptoms present themselves. Now, I don’t typically have all of these things going at once, per se, but I will definitely queue up a series of attention sinks and bounce between them as soon as my brain loses interest in the topic being discussed. It’s why the TikTok/YouTube Shorts format is so dangerous to my productivity, as it constantly delivers novel entertainment in bite size doses. If I’m medicated, and mindful of my behavior, I am able to shut out alternate attention sinks and focus on one at a time. I guess it’s kind of like tunnel vision. That has a negative connotation, but it’s super helpful to me since, left to my own devices, I have trouble regulating which stimuli to focus on.
Ymmv, of course.
It’s not quite as many different things, but I usually need music or podcasts in my ears while doing something else. Sometimes it’s just noise; I occasionally have to rewind to check a joke or fact I missed while my focus increased on something else. If I don’t have the stimuli, I find my mind wandering in worse ways though. Driving and a podcast help me focus on the read and not get highway hypnosis or looking at every single thing. Podcast while gaming helps me keep focus on anything somewhat mundane in the game (this varies by game, but most games aren’t 100% pumping 100% of the time).
If I really need to focus on something, then podcasts are a distraction that gets turned off. Music also fits this roll, but depending on how much focus I need I may end up changing from music to lyrics to instrumentals.if I have no external extra stimuli I find myself getting bored, mind wandering, etc. So it helps me focus by having a second input my eyes don’t need.
I can’t do two visual inputs at once, nor two audio inputs. But I usually need input from both. Oh, and the fan thing is incidental. My room produces more heat so I have a room a/c running often, and it’s also a white noise generator I guess. It doesn’t run in winter so it’s not always on, but this time of year it’s a regular noise for me.
I have a big fan in my room and when I get on calls with friends, they ask if I’m in the factory. Apparently the fan sounds like heavy machinery in the distance. Got a new AC and it only adds to the factory ambience lol. My friends aren’t bothered by it, thankfully
If you have an nvidia graphics card in the RTX family you can use nvidia broadcast to filter out sounds like fans, vacuums, ac, loud typing, etc.
Super useful I use it all the time because I always have a fan or am AC
I use discord on my phone and game on a steamdeck lol
I assume it’s windows-only?
It’s from Nvidya so yeah
