Are you easily distracted?

Seeker of Truth said:
I'm easily distracted. There's way too much incoming information from all sides. Sometimes it's really hard for me to concentrate in one when there are others masking it.
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I suppose that this rings a bit true for me as well. For example, if I start researching a topic of some sort and I notice another topic I may end up chasing down that topic. That pattern then tends to continue until I end up on something quite unrelated. For example I once started doing some research on Sylvia Plath. From Sylvia Plath I remembered the publication of her diary. From that I researched "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank, from that I started to research Anne Frank herself, from that I leaped to Eleanor Roosevelt, from researching her I leaped to researching aplastic aneamia, from that I ended up reading an article on Multiple Sclerosis. So I went from researching Sylvia Plath to researching Multiple Sclerosis- two topics that are not at directly related
 
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As an INTP where things don't have much priority over other things, it's easy to abandon on task for another. The universe is mostly equally boring.
 
No, I'm not easily distracted. Distraction to me seems like an involuntary state of mind where you forget what needs to be done while you focus on something else that comes up. I'm always in complete awareness that I have things to do, and I purposely go out of my way to find other things to do in order to procrastinate doing those things. But I don't get distracted.
 
I can be very easily distracted from whatever it is I'm conce--- oh, shiny!

...too obvious a joke? Drat.

When I really need to concentrate on something, I find myself able to focus on it no problem. The problem lies in the fact that I often have four or five different things i want to do at any one time, meaning I have a bad habit of not focusing on things as much as I should. I jump back and forth between them, instead of doing one thing at a time and getting it out of the way.
 
Yes, distractions are actions which induce reactions and... wait where was I going with this...those smiling monkeys are cute!
 
I tend to have a really long focus, so I would say I'm not easily distracted. I think I'm unusually focused. But I have my limits, and when I hit them my mind wanders like any other.
 
I maintain that everyone has a bit of an easily distracted side to them, and a focused side to them. They use them in different situations and tasks. My focused side is very focused, to a fault. Eg: reading while walking, and bumping into people. My distracted side works well for me in critical and extreme situations. It allows me to explore very quickly when thrown in unknown areas. We need to have those ways of thinking, they are useful, that's why they exist.
 
I get distracted by focusing on too many things at once and not on just one thing (I'm trying to write and talk and post and do things!)
 
~jet said:
I'm easily disRUPTED... not sure if it is the same thing. It can be very frustrating since here I am trying to focus on a project or on what a person is saying right to my face (and no, I don't had hearing at all), all the other things going on around me are like explosions going off in my head.
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This
 
Trying to talk to someone with ADD can have its moments of, let us say, getting sidetracked a wee bit. What they have to say is important, too.
They may ask you to look at something off subject in the middle of your third sentence. A polite "what was I saying?" may get things back in order until a bird flies into view you must see, also.

I must say the willingness in one's own mind to become distracted can lead to some very intense moments of discovery. I do agree with something not being just right can often make distractions much easier. Staying focused is easy when someone knows its importance, at least for specific lengths of time.

Some things can be easily missed either way. It sometimes seems to be all a matter of timing;
the leaping fish or the diving bird of prey may very well go unnoticed when reaching a climactic part of a book we stay focused on.
 
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Generally speaking, I am quite sensitive to my environment and am therefore very easily distracted. When I do get distracted, it seems like I lose my entire train of thought, so it can be very frustrating.

However, there are times when I become so engrossed in what I am doing that it is nearly impossible for my focus to be broken. Typically, I am like this when I am reading or "daydreaming." Then, I become almost completely oblivious to everything around me.

SPQR said:
Sort of. I don't like doing anyone project for too long, and would rather change between things when I get bored. I can concentrate on completing one task if I must though. But then again, I don't think anyone in my age group or younger is really able to focus anymore. The era of instant communication has seen to it that a lot of us act like we have ADHD. Why anybody would text while driving is beyond me. I mean, in the very least, you could at least wait for a red light is all I'm trying to say here.
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enfp can be shy said:
I maintain that everyone has a bit of an easily distracted side to them, and a focused side to them. They use them in different situations and tasks. My focused side is very focused, to a fault. Eg: reading while walking, and bumping into people. My distracted side works well for me in critical and extreme situations. It allows me to explore very quickly when thrown in unknown areas. We need to have those ways of thinking, they are useful, that's why they exist.
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I'm quoting because I thought both of these were good points.
 
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Are you easily distracted?
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Yes, and I am beginning to understand why, and how it affects my experience and relationships.

That said, I have also been told I am capable of a hyperfocus that is inhuman.

ADHD-PI. Who knew? Not I! :embarassed: :becky:


cheers,
Ian
 
I heard that some experts think that attention deficit disorder should actually be called attention excess disorder, as the problem is usually an intense focus on something other than what others think should be the focus.


As a child I was diagnosed with ADD rather than ADHD, which would probably mean ADHD-PI now. I was never treated for it. I've always been slow to get assignments done, especially when it comes to picking a topic. Trying to stick to researching only relevant things online is especially hard. I was able to slide by in high school and graduate 7th out of 297 (and would probably have been 3rd if the IB students didn't get their grades weighted) despite being distracted enough that I frequently never turn in assignments, but have not been as lucky in college. My GPA has fallen down to average, and may be dropping further this semester. I have not seriously started on a project that is due today, and worth 45% in a class that I'm already on the verge of failing. If I don't get it in my midnight and do well enough to get at least a high B, then I won't be graduating this semester.
 
No
But I do require a certain amount of ambiguous time to wander and pitter patter around while the grey matter resolves issues and then I can zip something out. I sometimes require focused non-work which allows my Ni and Te to filter information prior to beginning a project.
 
I can't be easily distracted at times. It really depends on how capitivating whatever in front of me is.
 
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