How’s your attention span?

GoodAfternoonTea

Definitely agree with the long posts. I actually find it quite rude to expect a complete stranger to read paragraph after paragraph when the narrative could be summarised to a few short ones.

I agree, which is why on many forums posters write TLDR
( too long, didn’t read.)
My attention span is just fine but time dictates what I will or won’t read on forums.

A few years ago I packed my phone charger for a holiday but forgot my phone. I left it on my bedside table.
That fortnight holiday was a revelation.
After the initial panic that I couldn't contact anyone or take photos I accepted it.
The man had his phone, so all was not lost.
That holiday was a joy.
No phone interrupting the day, no one to get back to, no trivia to scroll.
I was so much more engaged with my surroundings and over two weeks I read two lengthy novels on my Kindle. I hadn't read a novel in ages.
It was as though I was much more alert too, in that I wasn't checking my phone throughout the day. It was like a weight lifted, a break for my almost permanently engaged brain.
I do believe screens play a large part in keeping both young and old distracted with short bursts of information.
I wish there was a law that all screens had to be switched off on one day of the week.
For me, it's not so much forgetfulness but my attention often not being fully given to matters in hand.

Don't know if this is pertinent or not but young Grandson 8, who is a bright boy, really cannot focus or engage with films with a story. I looked after him when he was off school recently and thought we could sit down and watch a film together. Thought we'd enjoy 101 Dalmations, the film with Glen Close, rather than the animation.

He didn't seem terribly interested even though it's an easy to follow storyline.
After about half an hour I allowed him to choose idea what it was - an animation with brightly coloured...almost neon-bright .. talking shapes. The dialogue was a series of noises, action was about crashes and charging about and the tv seemed to flash a lot with said brightly coloured talking shapes exploding.
I really couldn't see any educational value or entertainment in it...He's another child who reads at school, seems to be doing well but has no interest in books. I have both at home, and jigsaw puzzles and paper paints etc, for writing and drawing. My own boys, (over 30 yrs ago) could happily spend a rainy afternoon making things, doing jigsaws, reading, following a film and laughing at funny incidents, dialogue, etc.

I appreciate it's a very different world now, but he and his siblings are exactly the same.
I find it perplexing. I wonder what the future holds for the younger generstiin.
I believe it's quite common for grown men to spend hours on home gaming machines. Grandsons father loves his X Box....but he tells me everything is connected up to his big TV screen now.

Oh well. I suppose sticks and hoops didnt hold much joy for me growing up in the '60s

Allira: I found this too. sorted it out by folding paper about 8 inches, fold in two, three or four, and write in all the characters on one side of fold and their relations, friends on other side of fold. good book mark too. Its sorted my frustration out, but no good for a Kindle though

Norah

My attention span, though not the best unless I'm interested in the task, has never changed. No diary, list, or calendar helps, thus I don't bother.

Same here.

When I worked as a TA the children were always asking me what I had written on my hand today as it was the only way I could make notes and not lose them!

"I can never concentrate on the weather forecast.
I put it on and when it’s finished, I have no idea what they’ve just said."
Yes, that was me when I was trucking and debating whether the load (of sheet metal) would need covering.

"Interestingly my dd is being tested for adhd and insists I have it at higher level than she does and attention span is but a a small part of this.
Sadly I can only agree the more I read about this !!"

I was finally tested and diagnosed at the age of 66!
So many things about me (especially as a child/teen/young adult) now make sense!

I do always try to break up lumps of text to make them more readable but I know I waffle on too much too... also to do with ADHD!

I am in awe of those of you who can knit and watch tv. My mother was able to do this. It is either/or with me, though I don’t watch a lot of tv and when I do, I have dropped into the habit of “binge watching”.

I have found recently that I have to go back to written recipes for dishes that take a bit of time to put together or I invariably leave some ingredient or other out.

I have a stack of books I’ve started to read and given up because I’ve lost concentration at some point. I will go back to them eventually but the continuity is lost then.

Critical thinking is a thing of the past.

I have to admit to being somewhat in awe also of some posters whose posts I skip, but have, out of interest, word counted from time to time. 2000-odd words that early in the morning?. Really? Respect😊!

Bellasnana
I no longer have the patience to read books and yet I used to be an avid reader
This is me I have been an intense reader from about 6 years old, until a few years ago, now its all I can do to read one chapter of a book ( and that’s pushing it)
I just can’t do it and I so want to, I managed last year, tiny bit by tiny bit, it was a family saga,built on my own towns history, my daughter bought it me, so I felt I had to read it. It was a brilliant book I took it very slowly and had to draw a family tree out as I was confusing all the relationships through the years.
I thought I had made a major breakthrough and have tried again since, but can’t get past the first two pages, right back to square one.

Re long post there is one very eloquent poster who I would love to read but I never get past the first long paragraph.

Mamar2, I too have M.E so struggle with concentrating and memory, also doing daft things , there's some corkers ....but cant remember any right now 😫🤪

I have M.E so a short attention span comes with the territory.

I was so worried about the decline in my attention span I signed up six months ago to a brain training programme which I do every day. It has really helped. Now I am on the higher levels I find myself turning off the radio, putting my mobile upstairs, shutting the door and actually really concentrating. The programme is based in the States, but that doesnt really matter. Indeed in some ways it helps because some insurance companies in the US offer the programme to their members which helps to fund the staff. Its called brainHQ from Posit Science: www.brainhq.com
You can try for free, subscription 13 pounds a month or 7 pounds a month if you pay annually.

next not enxt !

It's not that I can't wait for the next episode of a tv programme but now I find I have difficulty what happened in the last episode and who is who, me and DH spend that much time explaining to each other where he or she fits in or who was the killer etc that we miss important chunks of programme, so now we watch an episode per night until we've finished. It's much easier to keep abreast of it all. That's definitely an age thing because we all used to have to 'Wait til next week' for the enxt episode and we managed ok then !!!

What was the question?

I agree about long posts without paragraphs or spacing. Sometimes though I think posters are distressed and unhappy and want to get things off their chest, I can understand it all coming out in a long stream then.

Agree about some of the very long posts on this site. I just ignore ones from certain posters as cannot be bothered to plough through them.

Very selective as l get older.
No more listening to nonsense and rubbish.

I am still quite good at concentrating I think. My counselling training taught me to focus and properly listen and summarise at the end of sessions.

I’ve always been a big reader I’m fine with novels but I also subscribe to 2 magazines which I really enjoy but concentration needed is less. I’ve never been much of a television watcher however and am very selective and a film has to be really really good to hold my interest but I’ve never enjoyed films much when I was younger either.

I think still working helps me . I don’t look at my phone hardly at all at those times and so try and not be on it all the time outside of work too. (Except sometimes for Gransnet of course!😉)

I've already lost interest in this thread....

Interestingly my dd is being tested for adhd and insists I have it at higher level than she does and attention span is but a a small part of this.
Sadly I can only agree the more I read about this !!

Sorry ‘attention span’. Although my memory span isn’t that good either.

I do simple knitting if a programme on the tv needs my full attention.
I zone out when DH is spouting about something I have little interest in, making sails for example, even though I have to help.
I’m afraid if I don’t find something interesting I am thinking about dinner, what I need from the shops, where did I see that nice knitting pattern etc.

My memory span is close to zero.

What was the question, again? Oh yes, attention spans.

Mine is shocking nowadays and I’m certain it’s because I spend too much time online. I’m finding it very hard to kick the habit. It makes me hyper-alert as well, in case I miss something. I know that’s ridiculous because if something is important, I’ll hear about eventually, and if it’s not, well, I don’t actually need to know. I need to apply some discipline to my online habits.

Our attention span is great.😆 We are currently watching The Good Doctor. On Netflix. Etc.
lots to watch. Very interesting. The doctor has Autism.

This is why I do not watch a Television Series. I prefer a film, with a beginning, a middle and an end or a Documentary , As a matter of fact, Netflix real life Documentaries are my favourite …

My attention span is usually fine, but then I do not scroll on my phone.

Not that I think that has anything to do with it.

Certainly, if I am cold, dehydrated, worried or unhappy, my attention span is not optimal, but then it never was if any of the above factors were present.

None of us remembers everything - we automatically delete anything that seems of lesser importance from our memory, which probably accounts for not remembering everything one needed at the shops. I never have remember this, so I think I was twenty or thereabouts when I formed the habit of making a shopping list and taking it with me to the shops.
I mean why bother committing to memory that you need both sugar and flour when you have a pen and a piece of paper to hand?

I can never concentrate on the weather forecast.
I put it on and when it’s finished, I have no idea what they’ve just said.