Focus Problem

[Pooky]

This has developed ever since I have been out of school and I'm not sure why.

I find it hard to focus on things, mostly when reading my textbooks or prescribed books for university (eg. things which I'm not reading for pleasure).

Just now I was trying to read a book and all the time my mind wanders to think about something else and before I know it I have 'read' 3 pages and I could not tell you what I just read.

I suppose something related would be watching a YouTube video (just for example) but then I open other tabs and eg read something else and then lose track of the video, but I feel irritable if I just watch the video without doing something else.

It's most concerning especially for university stuff which I need to concentrate for.

Anyone experience the same thing? I never used to have this problem.

 

[azbob]

HiThere

You might be suffering from a fictitious disorder known as ADHD or it's relative ADD. Proceed to your nearest doctor.

 

[Pooky]

HiThere

You might be suffering from a fictitious disorder known as ADHD or it's relative ADD. Proceed to your nearest doctor.

StirThere

Thanks I have considered that but surely it would have manifested when I was younger and not now.

 

[azbob]

StirThere

Thanks I have considered that but surely it would have manifested when I was younger and not now.

Nope, adults get it too.

 

[Chevron]

This has developed ever since I have been out of school and I'm not sure why.

I find it hard to focus on things, mostly when reading my textbooks or prescribed books for university (eg. things which I'm not reading for pleasure).

Just now I was trying to read a book and all the time my mind wanders to think about something else and before I know it I have 'read' 3 pages and I could not tell you what I just read.

I suppose something related would be watching a YouTube video (just for example) but then I open other tabs and eg read something else and then lose track of the video, but I feel irritable if I just watch the video without doing something else.

It's most concerning especially for university stuff which I need to concentrate for.

Anyone experience the same thing? I never used to have this problem.

I have the same issue. Exactly as you described. Happens all the time. Wish I could get rid of it. Sometimes I just want to get damn work done.

 

[OGroteKoning]

I have the same issue. Exactly as you described. Happens all the time. Wish I could get rid of it. Sometimes I just want to get damn work done.

Me too. And I hate it.

 

[DerpiesFreud]

Something that worked for me when I studied psychology....I`d immerse myself in it,apply it in real life,watch youtube videos on theory of mind/object permanence,google pavlov,freud etc
read a few pages
rinse,repeat....eventually I could swallow a whole chapter without much fuss

 

[HeftyCrab]

ive had that since a young age. you have to find what works for you. i have to do many things to keep my mind entertained. Sometimes I struggle to study something for hours, and others would study that same workload in 1/3 of the time. Othertimes I can read over pages once/twice and remember all the points. I found it helped if i played with a stress ball, studied for shorter periods(while trying to be as productive as possible) and taking short breaks. studying while standing/walking up and down. googling things about the topic (beware that you dont end up wasting time). Best of luck to you! I eventually got my degree and it was all the more satisfying because I know about the hard work that I put in.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Jumping to disease/disorder conclusion is simply too easy these days.

We live in a world of over-stimulation where it becomes much too easy get bored of one thing because another is calling.

Why open more tabs when watching a video? In the past videos didn't live on the Internet and browsers didn't allow for us to open multiple tabs. Now that they do we as habit forming organisms have taken it to heart that multitasking makes us better people.

Guess what. We aren't really all that good at multitasking as we like to give ourselves credit for, and in fact all that multitasking really means is that we can do more things more rubbish all at the same time.

Your lack of focus is directly related to this need to push yourself to do everything at once. Change your habits and your focus will return.

This is probably why that other thread dictates that ADHD/ADD are false disorders, because in many cases they are. Adding drugs to the equation just worsens the problem already present at the habitual end of the scale.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[Pooky]

Jumping to disease/disorder conclusion is simply too easy these days.

We live in a world of over-stimulation where it becomes much too easy get bored of one thing because another is calling.

Why open more tabs when watching a video? In the past videos didn't live on the Internet and browsers didn't allow for us to open multiple tabs. Now that they do we as habit forming organisms have taken it to heart that multitasking makes us better people.

Guess what. We aren't really all that good at multitasking as we like to give ourselves credit for, and in fact all that multitasking really means is that we can do more things more rubbish all at the same time.

Your lack of focus is directly related to this need to push yourself to do everything at once. Change your habits and your focus will return.

This is probably why that other thread dictates that ADHD/ADD are false disorders, because in many cases they are. Adding drugs to the equation just worsens the problem already present at the habitual end of the scale.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Thanks and I would tend to agree with you.

I will try to do one thing at a time and will just try to get rid of the agitation I feel when doing it.

It has gotten to the point where I will open 3 tabs and a YouTube video and open Facebook and 2 forums for example and cycle between them refreshing each of them. It must sound absolutely crazy but it's like an addiction... This is probably why I'm having a concentration problem while reading.

 

[Humberto]

Mindfulness training has helped me focus better. When I do things mindfully and try to experience the moment as vividly as I can, experiences are not only more pleasurable, but my attention is less easily distracted.

Ultimately I think it's a self-discipline problem.

Carl Jung had a similar problem. I'm paraphrasing a bit but here's roughly what happened, as I recall reading it. As a boy he would faint when trying to study. His parents eventually removed him from school and tried to teach him at home with little success. He saw several doctors but nobody could help him. This was a pleasant time for Carl as he spent most of his days just playing. Then one day he overheard his father say to one of his friends that he didn't know what would become of his son one day as it didn't look like he would ever finish school. That was when Carl realised he had to change. He conquered his neurosis through concerted self-discipline. He sat down in front of a book and began reading. Each time he began feeling dizzy, he paused, and said to himself: demon be gone. The dizziness would go away and he'd resume reading, until maybe a quarter of an hour later, when he'd start feeling dizzy again, and he'd again instruct the demon to be gone. Over time he no longer suffered from fainting spells when trying to study, and he eventually became a hard-working and studious boy who would even get up at three in the morning and study for a few hours before going to school, where he eventually became the top pupil in his class.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Thanks and I would tend to agree with you.

I will try to do one thing at a time and will just try to get rid of the agitation I feel when doing it.

It has gotten to the point where I will open 3 tabs and a YouTube video and open Facebook and 2 forums for example and cycle between them refreshing each of them. It must sound absolutely crazy but it's like an addiction... This is probably why I'm having a concentration problem while reading.

Yeah, much the same here.

It's tricky to slow yourself down, but ultimately if you want to do it properly that's what's required.

I first realised I was doing this when I started taking my iPad out while watching a TV Show.

We are so desperate to multitask that we don't do any single task very well. What's the point really then?

 

[killadoob]

I have had that my entire life pooks, read 10 pages of a book but while i have been reading my mind has taken nothing in . Been thining about other random rubbish.

Ritalin does help but comes with so many issues that i would not recommend it. I just accept my that i have an attention span that is terrible and try to keep busy doing a bunch of different things at once, oddly i can play games for 18 hours straight but then i love it so i will be focused.

Do you find you often start and never finish things? Often get amazing ideas and the next day you don't think they are so amazing?

 

[HavocXphere]

Its a side-effect of modern life. Everything is faster & more condensed. e.g. Twitter...140 characters. Live in that world long enough & then you're simply no longer capable of focusing for extended periods of time.

 

[ichigo]

Thanks and I would tend to agree with you.

I will try to do one thing at a time and will just try to get rid of the agitation I feel when doing it.

It has gotten to the point where I will open 3 tabs and a YouTube video and open Facebook and 2 forums for example and cycle between them refreshing each of them. It must sound absolutely crazy but it's like an addiction... This is probably why I'm having a concentration problem while reading.

Is that all I cycle through 30 tabs all the time inbetween playing games and watching videos or tv.

 

[|tera|]

Jumping to disease/disorder conclusion is simply too easy these days.

We live in a world of over-stimulation where it becomes much too easy get bored of one thing because another is calling.

Why open more tabs when watching a video? In the past videos didn't live on the Internet and browsers didn't allow for us to open multiple tabs. Now that they do we as habit forming organisms have taken it to heart that multitasking makes us better people.

Guess what. We aren't really all that good at multitasking as we like to give ourselves credit for, and in fact all that multitasking really means is that we can do more things more rubbish all at the same time.

Your lack of focus is directly related to this need to push yourself to do everything at once. Change your habits and your focus will return.

This is probably why that other thread dictates that ADHD/ADD are false disorders, because in many cases they are. Adding drugs to the equation just worsens the problem already present at the habitual end of the scale.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

Completely agree.

I've been forcing myself to have 1 tab open for the past year already. I currently only have mybroadband open and I have music playing, that's it. This is what I do on my Tablet as well. I read (study) with music playing and it works. I listen to a certain genre of music that I like and that calms me, but it's something that my mind enjoys and something that puts my spirit, body and mind at ease.

I always have music playing in my house. My routine when coming from work is kick off my shoes, plug in my pc, enter password, open media player and play, sit down, have a smoke and chill out. I can do it until 21:00 at night, I have music playing when I shower, music playing when I chat to family or friends on my phone. I would rather listen to music than watch a movie.

So Pooky, get your specific method and use it. Something is bound to chill you out and help you concentrate, it's music and a specific genre of music for me.

 

[FlatspinZA]

http://kyleisamerican.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/distracted_bunny.jpg

I have had that my entire life pooks, read 10 pages of a book but while i have been reading my mind has taken nothing in . Been thining about other random rubbish.

Ritalin does help but comes with so many issues that i would not recommend it. I just accept my that i have an attention span that is terrible and try to keep busy doing a bunch of different things at once, oddly i can play games for 18 hours straight but then i love it so i will be focused.

Do you find you often start and never finish things? Often get amazing ideas and the next day you don't think they are so amazing?

...and then you have to go back to where you started thinking of random rubbish just so you can follow the story. How did I get to this page, what the hell are they talking about, how the hell did I just read 5 pages of a book and not follow what I was reading?

Its a side-effect of modern life. Everything is faster & more condensed. e.g. Twitter...140 characters. Live in that world long enough & then you're simply no longer capable of focusing for extended periods of time.

Information overload, plain and simple. Twitter is rubbish - I refuse to partake. I honestly don't care for everyone's random 140 character blurbs - if you have something to say, blog it, or FB it, don't expect to light up my world with 140 characters.

I read an article about this, anyway - it's getting more difficult for us to focus because we are being bombarded by useless information at every given opportunity. Everyone wants a piece of us, and they'll use any means possible to get our attention. Have enough streams of ****e coming in, and it's easy to understand why we can't focus.

 

[Cius]

As you get older the issues get bigger and the focus to understand them grows. Anyways, its also good to focus on one thing at a time. We are not all that well geared for multitasking when it comes to new stuff. Only repetative stuff like driving where we can cut those nueral pathways and then move on not thinking about them much anymore.

As to studies, I always found that my ability to concentrate was inversely linked to the time left to the exam. 4 months away from an exam and my focus time is about 15 minutes. The day before the exam I could study for hours without breaks.

 

[noxibox]

Why open more tabs when watching a video? In the past videos didn't live on the Internet and browsers didn't allow for us to open multiple tabs.

Then you just opened multiple windows. All tabs did was put them in a single window, they have for over a decade. So the problem is apparently that we moved to graphical interfaces.

This is probably why that other thread dictates that ADHD/ADD are false disorders, because in many cases they are. Adding drugs to the equation just worsens the problem already present at the habitual end of the scale.

As argued in that thread the assertion is wrong. Adding drugs may be just the right solution.

 

[visrot]

Hi Pooky. Found this interesting tactic in dealing with this from another forum.


You could try keeping a note pad with you when you're trying to concentrate. When you think of something unrelated, jot it down quickly and tell yourself, "great idea, brain! we'll think on this later." and then get back to what you ought to be doing.

I find that it's helped me immensely. I get ideas for random projects, interesting word combinations, or even just things I need to deal with later that pop into my head when I'm trying to work on something else.

Writing them down helps me keep those thoughts "safe" so that I can think on them later and don't have to try to keep them in my brain while I'm trying to concentrate on something else.