SorryNotSorry Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I can't figure out how other people do it... they go into tunnel-vision mode when they're focusing on something and they become totally oblivious to everything else around them. I'm sure you've been in a supermarket and encountered people who do this. I experience my surroundings as an integrated big picture, no tunnel vision here. I can hyperfocus on details, but I do so with conscious effort, and never to the total exclusion of everything else. But other people often behave like they have blinders on. Maybe I should mention this to my psychologist? Link to post Share on other sites
Dreamsexual Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 . Link to post Share on other sites
Knight of Cydonia Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I wish I could do what you do. I definitely have tunnel vision when working on something. Someone can ask me something and I'll even reply without realizing, and have no memory of it later. Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 @Woodworker1968, I feature on the Autistic spectrum, this is natural to me Link to post Share on other sites
Yeast Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 There's the flip side to this. I tend to hear everything at once and often find it very difficult to pick a voice out of a crowd. My sight is also somewhat like this. I can't count all the times I have lost something in plain sight. If it doesn't move, I can't see it. T. rex syndrome. Link to post Share on other sites
Skipper Valvoline Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Same. I call it "can't see the trees because of the forest". My old roommate, though, could have MAJOR tunnel-focus when she was working, though. To the point where she would forget I was in the room and then I would twitch and she would startle so hard she would cry. I've never had that happen, but losing things in plain sight does occur, especially in grocery stores. In an extreme case, I had been studying hard for something, part of which involved map skills. I prepped and prepped and got to the exam and the examiner promptly pointed to something on the map I had never seen before. It was there the whole time, but that was the first time I "saw" it (registered it). I think it might be related to detail-oriented folks versus big-picture folks. Neither good or bad, both just quirky. Link to post Share on other sites
Zinerva Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I have difficulty in directing my attention so I cannot do this on command. I have a tendency to hyperfocus on things, reading, writing, video games or even school work, usually math. It's like my conscious mind shuts down and things happen on autopilot. I usually have trouble remembering what I've done during those periods so talking to me is useless. I have to look at any work I have done while in hyperfocused state and reverse engineer it as if it was done by someone else. I do know my style by now though so I can usually do it pretty well. This is very advantageous in that I get more done and the quality of my work is better, but when the muse is not there everything is soooooo hard. On the other hand I tend to be pretty unfocused at times I am not in this "tunnel vision" state. I have multiple things going on at all times. I get distracted, I move without thinking first and drop things as a result. It's a mess. I would probably have been diagnosed with ADHD or something if my tunnel vision state wasn't producing good academic results. No one worries about the quiet girls with straight A's. About how the hyperfocus feels like. Sometimes it's great. I feel like I'm using all of my brain for this one task only. Like a supercomputer. And then i come out of it with a solved math problem and hair pointing in all directions. This usually takes up to an hour so it's not too bad. And there's a sense of accomplishment to it. But it can go on for hours like when playing video games and I forget to eat, drink, sleep and then it's 4am and I have a headache. It's not a great feeling. The worst thing really is that I can't take care of myself when I'm in this state so if I play games or read I try to set alarms so that I have to come out of it and get up every now and then. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 I'm usually hyper aware of my environment. I'll sense energies around me, and even if you walk silently, will know you're behind me. Typically. With that said, am an artist. If writing, drawing, painting, creating music or letting my creative juices flow, my surroundings disappear. Its just me and the canvas in whichever form of it before me. The planet and its rotational forces cease to exist as does time. Life then becomes a series of moments right in front of me. I get so razor focused, that I remember drawing on a bus (in a sketch pad, not graffiti O_o), and a ticket agent checking my fare, had to tap my shoulder, to snap me out of it (he probably called for me a couple times). I then realized I had an audience focusing on me, haha. He forgot to scan my transfer, after complimenting the piece I was working on. In public, I'm aware you're near me if walking up to me in a grocery store, so will instinctively move out of your way. But, am so in my bubble, I'll talk to myself, sing to myself, and not care about anything but the bubble am in. People tell me its because I'm crazy, but I remind them that you're only crazy if you argue with yourself. I do that too, but its none of their business. Link to post Share on other sites
gisiebob Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 some people don't have add =^,^= Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Jetsun Milarepa Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Years of Samatha and Vipassana meditation in my case! Link to post Share on other sites
QueenOfTheRats Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 I have issues with focus too. If I am in a lecture I have to sit up front, or all the sounds and visuals around me detract from my ability to concentrate. Adderall helped, but damn, the comedown sure makes me grumpy. Link to post Share on other sites
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