Pretty old for a raccoon, but who really believes I'm an actual raccoon?
Anyways, for the last several years when I try to focus my attention entirely on a TV show or a movie, I frequently find myself checking my email, checking BLF, surfing the web, or getting something to eat or drink.
Today I told my doctor about my problem, and I suggested that I might have Adult ADD.
EDIT: ADD = Attention Deficit Disorder.
My doctor told me that 90% of the population goes through this and that what I was experiencing was normal.
I think he was exaggerating with the 90% part, but I get his point.
He said that this was a result of modern technology, and that even he experiences this.
I feel better, even though I hoped a medication would fix the problem.
My son is ADHD, and has never had a problem concentrating fully on video games or any TV show/movie . The visual stimulation holds attention completely. Teachers often told us this was normal and in fact it would be unusual for an ADD/ADHD person to not be held captive by the constantly changing images.
I think it is likely an entirely different kind of restlessness you are experiencing, but of course I am in no position to diagnose, just speculating.
I doubt you have ADD. It seems more like you're interested in many things, as most of us are, and pursue those interest all during the same time frame more or less. When I watch a movie with my wife, I have my pc open, email open, and when she goes and plays her online games for whatever reason she tells me she needs to do, I walk back in the other room for a minute and poke around my emails, forums etc. I think it's pretty normal. I can just as easily though sit right through a movie or tv show still as a rock if I find it interesting enough.
I don’t watch much TV. Nothing really on that interest me. I might watch 2 hours of TV in a given week. I’d much rather be on the radio banging away on a morse code key to tell you the truth. Either that or I am outside working on something on the shooting range out back or tinkering with too many projects that aren’t getting any closer to being done. I will occasionally watch a football game or a race but that’s about it. I check in here a few times a day to see if I am missing any good deals and see what is going on in my strange hobby, as my wife calls it. But I do understand what you mean. When someone else is watching TV and I happen to be in the same room I either can’t pay attention long enough to know whats going on or I realize I just really don’t care whats going on. I’d rather read a book by flashlight even though I paid the electric bill and there is a working lamp right next to me. Maybe there is something wrong with me.
I think we all do this, there is so much tech at our fingertips we get easily distracted, for sure I ruined my LCd tv with serious burn in years ago from pausing netflix for too long, still using the tv, and still pausing it and getting ghost images lol while I fidget with ipad or pc or knives and lights.
Don’t watch TV, it’s that simple
If the show/movie/whatever is interesting, you’ll end up browsing BLF anyway and be frustrated…
And if the show/movie/whatever is crap, you’ll end up doing anything else…
That said, I don’t watch TV anymore… shows are terrible, reality shows being the worsts, movies are available everywhere else and you can chose when you watch them, and news are mostly biased…
Yeah, sure… hey I’ve swapped an XP-L in my Tool AA, did I talk to you about my drone, and how do you like my new bike, oh I’ve got a plasma cutter at work it would be cool if we could have a beer one day, I should buy a boat
EDIT :
To be a LITTLE bit serious, I can’t stay still in front of a TV… even if I love what I’m watching, I always end up browsing Reddit, or BLF, or modding a light (my mod box is right under the table…)
I see that as a good sign… you just can’t stay passive, swallowing a flow of pictures and sounds, you just need to DO something, even if it’s useless !
Keeping your hands busy is a priority, but look at the “hand spinner” craze and you’ll see most of people struggle to focus on a single task…
I get distracted as well. It’s not because of any technology paradise or anything though. I am probably a pretty modern technological idiot. For instance. I just got rid of a perfectly good huge screen iphone of some sort for a proper phone that flips open. When I started getting into lights it took me a minute to realize things don’t really use NiCads much anymore. I don’t know what Facetube, Twatter, or Snachchat is all about. I don’t have a actual key to my car, that still freaks me out. I just now started paying bills online. I know the difference between supper and dinner. I can fix any transistor or tube type radio. I can fix your VCR, beta or vhs, or your Tube TV. I can develop black and white film. I think I am part of a generation that I don’t understand. Maybe I would watch more TV if I knew how to work it.
I understand though. There are way too many cool things to do and experience these days to keep any normal person from concentrating on the TV for more than a few minutes or so. I think your perfectly normal and require no help whatsoever.
I watch plenty of TV. Sure, most is reality bullsh*t but some shows are fairly entertaining. My favorites: Banged up abroad, Air Crash Investigation, Moonshiners, Gold Rush and Gold Divers. I can’t stand the adds of old fashion linear TV though, I record them and fast forward through the adds. I have no issues at all being distracted, and personally think it’s not perfectly normal if you do get distracted.
Anyhow, more to the topic… I find myself checking BLF and social media quite often, but I refuse to do so on my phone. I sit in front of my PC when I do all that stuff. Because I’ve stuck to this since the beginning of the smart phone era I think I have remained some what uninfected. I don’t check my phone unless it beeps with an old fashion text message or phone call… and besides sending text messages or calling, I only use banking apps, netflix app and the occasional maps (have good old fashion dedicated GPS sat-nav for the car).
So my obvious suggestion is to stop using your phone for a while, but that’s like telling a junkie to stop taking drugs.
This ∆ combined with not being too busy with work. Of course, I still need to be present at work so I look at the mobile which just encourages the tech addiction being talked about here. I like it when I’m busy at work and don’t have time to look at the phone.
