A question for neurotypical people (assuming there are any on here): to what extent does the average person have control of where you direct your attention?
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A question for neurotypical people (assuming there are any on here): to what extent does the average person have control of where you direct your attention? For example if you have an urgent and important work task that you hate, can you just choose to direct your attention to that because it's the most important thing right now? Does it take ongoing constant mental effort that feels tiring?
What if you have alternative things to think about, for example a very interesting but low priority bit of reading you need to do or something you're anxious about like a sick relative or a stressful housing situation? Can you consciously choose to move your attention to where it would be most usefully deployed in this situation?
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A question for neurotypical people (assuming there are any on here): to what extent does the average person have control of where you direct your attention? For example if you have an urgent and important work task that you hate, can you just choose to direct your attention to that because it's the most important thing right now? Does it take ongoing constant mental effort that feels tiring?
What if you have alternative things to think about, for example a very interesting but low priority bit of reading you need to do or something you're anxious about like a sick relative or a stressful housing situation? Can you consciously choose to move your attention to where it would be most usefully deployed in this situation?
@afewbugs Would a neurotypical person be reading distractions like this during normal working hours?
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@afewbugs Would a neurotypical person be reading distractions like this during normal working hours?
@jamesb good point, well made
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A question for neurotypical people (assuming there are any on here): to what extent does the average person have control of where you direct your attention? For example if you have an urgent and important work task that you hate, can you just choose to direct your attention to that because it's the most important thing right now? Does it take ongoing constant mental effort that feels tiring?
What if you have alternative things to think about, for example a very interesting but low priority bit of reading you need to do or something you're anxious about like a sick relative or a stressful housing situation? Can you consciously choose to move your attention to where it would be most usefully deployed in this situation?
@afewbugs It takes me some energy and concious effort to begin the focused activity. But after a few minutes (depending on the task at hand) it's just where my brain is at and it continues on reasonably well. Particularly difficult and long running tasks do start to feel tiring after a time, but to me it feels more like the task itself is tiring than the focus.
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@afewbugs It takes me some energy and concious effort to begin the focused activity. But after a few minutes (depending on the task at hand) it's just where my brain is at and it continues on reasonably well. Particularly difficult and long running tasks do start to feel tiring after a time, but to me it feels more like the task itself is tiring than the focus.
@afewbugs Low priority things for me don't typically get in the way much unless I'm actively procastinating something I dislike dealing with. But stressful situations tend to play on my mind in a way where I want quick resolution to them so they usually draw my focus.
If something is high stress but I can't do anything about it then that can make it more effort to shift focus to a lower stress task. IE: waiting for some medical results while trying to catch up on messages from friends.
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@afewbugs Low priority things for me don't typically get in the way much unless I'm actively procastinating something I dislike dealing with. But stressful situations tend to play on my mind in a way where I want quick resolution to them so they usually draw my focus.
If something is high stress but I can't do anything about it then that can make it more effort to shift focus to a lower stress task. IE: waiting for some medical results while trying to catch up on messages from friends.
@afewbugs I say all of this under the assumption that I fall under the "neurotypical" definition though.
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A question for neurotypical people (assuming there are any on here): to what extent does the average person have control of where you direct your attention? For example if you have an urgent and important work task that you hate, can you just choose to direct your attention to that because it's the most important thing right now? Does it take ongoing constant mental effort that feels tiring?
What if you have alternative things to think about, for example a very interesting but low priority bit of reading you need to do or something you're anxious about like a sick relative or a stressful housing situation? Can you consciously choose to move your attention to where it would be most usefully deployed in this situation?
@afewbugs Yeah, I can consciously choose to concentrate on the important but boring topic vs. the interesting one. Will have to do it several times as attention subconsciously moves away to the interesting topic.
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@NormanDunbar @afewbugs I think this is one of the most typical behaviors.
(Stipulating that the CS undergrad population might have a disproportionately higher number of neuro-atypical people...) I give my students six days to take exams at the testing center. Not including final exams, here's what I see every exam, every semester: About 2/3 of the students will take the exam on the last day. Of those, about half will take it after 5pm. Of those, about half will take it between 8:30pm and 10pm, when the testing center closes.
As much as "ripping the bandaid off" makes sense to put an unpleasant task behind you, most people avoid unpleasant tasks until they can't anymore.
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A question for neurotypical people (assuming there are any on here): to what extent does the average person have control of where you direct your attention? For example if you have an urgent and important work task that you hate, can you just choose to direct your attention to that because it's the most important thing right now? Does it take ongoing constant mental effort that feels tiring?
What if you have alternative things to think about, for example a very interesting but low priority bit of reading you need to do or something you're anxious about like a sick relative or a stressful housing situation? Can you consciously choose to move your attention to where it would be most usefully deployed in this situation?
@afewbugs For me it takes mental effort to initially direct my attention onto the important task, but once on-task I can focus for about four hours without much additional effort. Then I need a break.
The big difference between me and my slightly ADHD husband is that I can tune out background noises and he can’t. For example, on the subway there are repetitive announcements (like “please hold on while the train is moving”). I ignore them, but he is completely distracted by them every single time they play.
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