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how has your attention span changed as you've gotten older?

how has your attention span changed over the years


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    16

prplchknz

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like has it gotten greater, stayed the same, worse. and is there anything you can might possibly attribute it to? I mean overall, don't say blah blah well if i'm doing x my attention span is epic but when i'm doing y i have no attention span. It's the overarching attention span, not the specific one
 

Halla74

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like has it gotten greater, stayed the same, worse. and is there anything you can might possibly attribute it to? I mean overall, don't say blah blah well if i'm doing x my attention span is epic but when i'm doing y i have no attention span. It's the overarching attention span, not the specific one

I have ADHD, so my attention span has been short for my entire life.
It wasn't until my early thirties that I was diagnosed and began taking medication and going to counseling.
Apparently a number of people tried to tell me for years that I had it, but I honestly had not idea what it was, and simply didn't get it.
The medication made a HUGE difference right away, which I was very thankful for.
Counseling took 4 to 6 months to really make me realize that there were behavioral elements of mine that were affected by ADHD, but that I had control over if I was aware of them, and put effort into managing them on an on-going basis.

So, yeah, my attention span sucks and always has - but I've accepted it and am treating it constructively and everything is cool now.
I'm going to go ride my bicycle now. Later! :holy:

-Halla74
 
G

garbage

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It's still good, but it's been declining a bit as I've been relaxing in life in general. I kept my attention span up in the first place because I was afraid of failing exams etc. if I didn't. I've realized that I don't have to pay attention to everything, all the time; but I could stand to relearn a little bit more of the 'attention' thing.

I can get into "the flow," for sure, where I'm zoned in on one thing. But I also have an inconsistent energy level, so that flow may last for hours or for a few minutes.
 

prplchknz

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I think I have a shorter one, though recently I started taking a class and I live with 7 people and so there's only certain times that I can get stuff done and I fine I can actually get what need to in the times no one is around, which isn't often. And also because I haven't written a lot in years my hand cramps up after 10-15 minutes to the point that i have to stop and take a break.
 

FDG

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It's still good, but it's been declining a bit as I've been relaxing in life in general. I kept my attention span up in the first place because I was afraid of failing exams etc. if I didn't. I've realized that I don't have to pay attention to everything, all the time; but I could stand to relearn a little bit more of the 'attention' thing.

Yep, this happened to me, too. Even though, when my life is "busier" my attention span will generally grow, too.
 

cafe

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I think mine has gotten shorter. I've gotten so used to bouncing around on the internet, never really having to work to get information, never having to be bored that I have no patiences with delayed gratification. I've put a bunch of favorite books on my phone so I can't ever be trapped someplace with nothing fun to read.
 

93JC

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I feel as though I have become more discerning as I've aged. I'm better at filtering out things that are or would have been a waste of my time. From the outside looking in it probably manifests itself in the same way as a reduced attention span.
 

prplchknz

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I feel as though I have become more discerning as I've aged. I'm better at filtering out things that are or would have been a waste of my time. From the outside looking in it probably manifests itself in the same way as a reduced attention span.

:thinking: perhaps this is true for me aswell, all though I still can't block out extraneous noise.
 

Forever_Jung

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Mine has gotten longer, but I guess I'm only 23, so it's not hard to be more focused than when you were in your late teens. I had difficulty doing the readings in high school, because I couldn't focus at all, so I started forcing myself to constantly read and it has helped a lot.

I have also gotten slightly better at forcing my brain to focus on tasks that I find boring (work stuff, listening to boring people, technical writing, organizing my environment, etc), but it's still hard for me not to visit Neverland when confronted by tedium.
 

prplchknz

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Mine has gotten longer, but I guess I'm only 23, so it's not hard to be more focused than when you were in your late teens. I had difficulty doing the readings in high school, because I couldn't focus at all, so I started forcing myself to constantly read and it has helped a lot.

I have also gotten slightly better at forcing my brain to focus on tasks that I find boring (work stuff, listening to boring people, technical writing, organizing my environment, etc), but it's still hard for me not to visit Neverland when confronted by tedium.

the opposite happened to me, when I was younger I could read for hours, now i'm lucky if I read a whole page without wandering off to go do something completely different.
 

Forever_Jung

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the opposite happened to me, when I was younger I could read for hours, now i'm lucky if I read a whole page without wandering off to go do something completely different.

Hm. Any theories as to why?

I find internet usage really weakens my mental discipline.
 

Lexicon

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I've overall remained the same. I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, but teachers tried to get my mother to explore that when I was a kid. Because she did not, I had to find ways to adapt without the aid of medications. I switch between modes of a kind of hyperfocus (sometimes on necessary tasks that may not pique my interest, but I am intent on completing them- I'm not fully present in mind with these activities, though my body performs the actions, & it's hard to tear me away from it). On other occasions (on the same given day) I'm scattered completely in body/mind, highly distractable, short attention span, inability to sit still. Medications have helped even out the field, but I find I revert back to the same variations when I don't take them. I can function either way. The full recommended dosage would increase my ability to focus, but it diluted elements of my creativity- that internal spontaneity that makes anything worth doing in the first place- so I take less than half the recommended dose, if I take it at all.

In short, medicated intervention aside, my attention span has been about the same. All over the damn place.
 

cafe

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I was dxed ADHD (inattentive) but have learned coping mechanism. I can read long books with no problem as long as they are stories, but I have to listen to audiobooks to keep on task doing boring stuff like washing dishes. Music doesn't keep enough of my mind engaged to keep me on autopilot.

In classes, I take notes to help keep my mind from wandering. Though a lot of the classes I've taken have been interesting enough to keep my attention because I like learning new stuff.

What I really hate are things like graduations and church services, etc where it is rude to read something and you just have to sit there not really learning any new information for over an hour. I think if I ever had to do church regularly again, I'd buy a kindle and put a Bible on it so no one would know what I was reading unless they were rudely nosey.
 

five sounds

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it's not great. my mom has tried to talk me into trying to get ADD meds for a while now. maybe i'll do it one day.
 

prplchknz

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everyone has add/adhd or bipolar these days. I think the people who need treatment are the ones that don't have a mental disorder, since clearly they're diagnosing more people to make more money
 

1487610420

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wait-what.jpg
 

The Ü™

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I'm ADD as shit. I can barely focus on anything for five minutes without losing interest or at the very least, needing a break, and I've always had trouble reading, especially if the subject isn't about me (I have to read the same fucking paragraph three times before I understand what someone else has written) -- I much prefer writing over reading. But I'm sure much of this could be bipolar, as well, or maybe my intense desire for change in my life that's prevented due to my work and stuff.
 

Sunny Ghost

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If not the same, it's probably shorter now. But longer in situations that need it. Does that make sense?

For instance, I never had a great attention span for school when I was younger. My mind drifted off a lot. I even had that problem when college first began. But after I took time out of school and returned, I found my attention span had increased and I am capable of focusing on the materials I need to focus on.

However, when I was younger I was capable of focusing a lot of mental energy on just pondering and on artistic pursuits. I liked to draw and would focus a lot of energy on 'seeing' and then recreating the beautiful world around me. Now that I'm older, I find it harder to sit and do those types of things. I used to also focus a lot of time on journaling and putting my thoughts out there. But now, it seems almost exhausting to even think about writing like that.

Overall, I feel well adjusted and dull.
 
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