Happens way too often to me.
edit: I had no idea this was such a common issue!
I’m doing it reading these comments right now
I just read through the whole page, what comments are you talking about?
I’m reading and reading, but i still don’t understand what you are saying
This is a great discussion! I wonder what you guys said
I don’t even know what this post is about. OP sounds like a dumbass
wait a second here, what did you say?
I ain’t reading allat
I’ve reread so many pages and chapters because of this, sometimes even restarted books entirely
Not sure how common this is, but I know as a kid this was caused by my ADHD, and it would cause me to take twice as long to read a book
Can you stop calling my adhd ass out?
It happens to me too and I don’t think I have ADHD. Should I be diagnosed?
😳
It’s when it happens in excess that it’s ADHD. ND disabilities (from my understanding I’m not a doctor) are typically normal things that everyone experiences that are happening in excess. Everyone fidgets with things, everyone’s mind wanders, it’s totally normal to be distracted, but when it’s frequent and severe enough to interrupt your daily obligations does it become a disability.
I struggle with learning how to program because I keep losing focus on what the code I’m writing does. I’m not diagnosed but it sure sounds like ADHD to me.
Interesting, I have adhd and am quite the opposite, I love coding too much, the hyper focus kicks in and I can’t not focus on my code, fk eating, or using the bathroom, I’ll burn through every break I was supposed to take. Best employee ever I guess lol yah gotta find your passion, the thing your adhd brain excels at (your superpower some call it) and make it your career, and then focusing won’t be an issue at all! (in that one area)
I used to read a lot more, and I do remember this happening, but it happens a lot for me now with podcasts. I’m a big podcast junkie and I will often find myself going down a rabbit hole of thought and realizing I have no idea what they’re talking about anymore.
So glad it’s not only me zoning out on podcasts. I haven’t been able to read a book in years. I’m hoping i can get back into reading again now that I nuked my reddit account
Check if your library participates in Overdrive or Libby (digital library collection). I can’t believe I had been missing out on free ebooks, audiobooks, and comics/graphic novels for years. I just needed an active library card to sign up.
This sounds a lot like me. I have ADHD.
Happens way too often to me too… And then, I’ll start reading all over, only to realize I’ve done the same thing again…
Yep, some books I just can’t get into and it’s like I’m reading them but not taking in anything? I find this happens a lot with textbooks and documentation and I have to really try hard to focus on what I’m reading
Yes, except instead of reading it’s listening, and instead of fiction it’s whatever I was supposed to remember to do after work today.
Oh, God yes. And I do it on audiobooks no less. I was reading something a few months ago. “And she still had no idea who the spy was that one of her friends had been killed and replaced with master impersonator”. Wait… WTF? The chapter just started out that way. Well crap, chapter rewind. No I heard how that one starts out, tractor rewind again… No I heard that one too. I moved back through four chapters…nothing. I went and found the ePub downloaded it and text searched it. It happened like seven chapters ago in the middle of a chapter and I missed maybe 15 pages of content.
It also happens when I’m commuting now and then if I’m listening. I’ll realize that I’m not paying good attention and tap 30-second rewind half a dozen times. Listen to it all again and realize that I totally missed everything they said again even though I’m not doing anything else but driving. I just put some music on and go the hell home.
I’ve actually found audiobooks super helpful in clearing out my backlog, but there are certainly times where i feel like i accidentally started listening to a completely different book
Same here for me. I listen while walking the dog. I live in an urban environment and its easy to get distracted and totally lose what’s going on. Usually listen at 1.5x so it’s doubly bad when I zone out.
I love audio books because I can catch up on books in my to read pile while driving, but I am so bad about doing this and just zoning out then trying to figure out how much I missed while thinking about something else.
It’s not even just books for me. I can watch a movie a second time it’s like watching a whole new movie. Like I completely missed half the plot and most of the details. I can also watch 100 episodes of a TV show and realize that I don’t know the main character’s best friend’s name (the best friends who had 30 focus episodes and appeared in 86 of the 100 episodes).
It’s not even just books and movies for me. Sometimes I’d be talking to someone in real life and I’d suddenly become distracted (a text message comes in, I’m reminded about an errand because of a word they said), and the words come in and they don’t make sense. Nowadays I’ve seemed to learned how to queue the words and process them after I get distracted lol.
I can relate to this. Even while talking, sometimes I might forget what I was saying right in the middle of a sentence, and then move my focus onto completely different stuff. I find that eating well and being active somewhat helps though.
All these things you’re bringing up are very common ADHD symptoms! PTSD and extreme stress and fatigue can cause these things too, but if you’re not under particular pressure or recovering from trauma, or if it’s been like this as long as you can remember, you might want to look into ADHD.
Getting diagnosed was life-changing for me and has radically reshaped my conception of myself.
That’s interesting, and I’m glad you’re doing okay now! I’ve never visited a professional about this type of stuff but seems like I might. May I ask how was it life-changing for you?
Sure! Undiagnosed and unaddressed, I struggled my whole life with emotional instability (huge, overwhelming feelings, very reactive), chaos in my head (songs, phrases, conversations, scenarios, etc, all jumbled up on shuffle-repeat while I’m trying to steer a train of thought through), difficulty with relationships (chaotic brain makes conversations tangential & interrupt-y, makes it easy to forget people exist, etc), difficulty starting tasks and finishing projects, and I spent almost 40 years thinking that all of this was the result of various character flaws that someday I would finally be a good enough person to fix:
Someday I won’t be reactive and my brain will be quiet if I just meditate enough! (Meditation does help but definitely wasn’t enough.)
Someday people will like me better if I learn to be quiet during conversations! (I try, I really do. 😂🤦🤷 I literally make lists for and take notes during big conversations.)
Someday I will be successful and have an always-tidy house! (Routines and lists help but weren’t enough.)
Then my 14yo was really struggling in school and with friends and asked to be assessed for ADHD and was diagnosed, so I started reading up on it so I could parent better and in everything I was reading, I recognized myself as much as my kid. All of these problem areas are the result of my brain functioning differently from others’, and no amount of pounding their strategies into it is going to make it act like theirs. There are modified and alternate strategies that work better for neurodivergent brains.
Super half-ass early morning analogy - it’s like trying to drive a manual transmission vehicle when all you know is an automatic. I spent my entire life thinking that my car would start but just wouldn’t go anywhere, but actually I just needed to push the clutch down to get it into gear. 😂 Why didn’t anybody tell me I had a clutch?!?! They don’t have clutches, they don’t know any better. Now that I found my clutch, I can see that my car isn’t a jalopy piece of shit, it’s just different, and it is totally capable of driving!
Life-changing.
Please feel free to ask anything else! I’m happy to discuss, I want to make sure everybody knows to check their floor for a clutch before they give up on their car.
I actually find myself facing this issue ALL THE TIME. Even in books that I am really enjoying.
It’s normal if you have dylsexia/ADHD <3
This happens to me all the time.
I’ve absolutely read a book, thought it was a bit predictable, got to the end and realised I’ve read it before 🤦
Lol that’s hilarious and sad at the same time
In my defence there was about 15 years between readings. But still pretty bad lol
I’ve bought duplicate CDs in the past as well…
Watched movies with an odd sense deja Vu with the same conclusion.
Basically, I’m rounding out the bell curve for the rest of you lot to look good. It’s not much, but it’s honest work…
