Distractible? Distracted? means

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The two words: Distractible - Distracted - very often come up when talking about ADHD - ADD - Hyperactivity.

What do those words mean to you?

What is meant by involuntary distractibility?

Is it visual in nature?

Is it auditory in nature?

Is it both?

How can distractibility yank a person's attention away from the task at hand to something else?

Experiences?

I think the word distract can be a difficult one in itself.

I don't even know what it really means.

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Sounds

Am aware that a few persons can be involuntarily distracted by ordinary background noises vs most persons who seem to automatically adjust to the normal background noises and tune them out.

...

Sights

Am also aware that while movement/motion can yank some persons' attention, many persons are able to automatically sort out/filter out movements and continue concentrating such as football players/a quarterback during a football game.

http://www.balametrics.com/

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Blindness to Motion

http://www.hhmi.org/senses/b210.html

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_overload

dis (anti)/ tract (tract from the same root as 'trace', to draw. distract = 'draw apart from', or to draw in a different or opposite direction.



You're standing on a street corner talking to a friend about a movie you both just saw and really enjoyed - you're so caught up in this film and its storyline, that's all you're thinking about, recalling scenes, quoting dialogue, talking special effects

BOOM!

A car T-bones a minivan in the intersection, making a deafening explosive noise and sending glittering bits of safety glass raining all over the street. Steam rises from the first car's engine block, and the silence in the aftermath of the chaos is deafening. Is anybody hurt? Should you run over and see? Will one of the vehicles explode?

You're not thinking about the movie anymore. Not even a little. In fact, its so far gone from your mind, you can't even remember what you were doing five seconds ago. Why not?



The example may be dramatic, but its the same thing that happens to us a dozen (for me a hundred or more) times a day on a smaller scale. It doesn't take a car accident to yank my mind away from one thought and cause it to wander off on another tangent, forgetting all about the first.

Stopping in the middle of an email to refill my water glass, I may pass a stack of laundry I forgot to finish putting away yesterday, so I stop to do that. While hanging shirts in the closet, I see my watch on the dresser that's been dead for a week and I remember I have some spare batteries, but I don't recall where I've put them. I go into the kitchen to rummage in the junk drawer. There's still laundry to be put away, but I've already forgotten all about that. I sit down at my desk to switch out the watch battery and realize I've still got an email to finish, so I push the watch aside - I'll get to it in a minute. Now I'm engrossed again in composing the email and don't even see the watch anymore. Dammit - my water glass - where did it go?

I don't understand how anyone can not understand what distraction means.

If I get "distracted" it means I was meant to do another thing... but who really decides what I'm "supposed" to do?

Who decides what the main track is?

This describes almost exactly a period of time earlier today, except in my case the watch was some dust on the floor that needed sweeping up, and a sink that needed cleaning. The dust is still there now

Hah! Let me add to the confusion. No! No! It's fine. You can thank me later.

First of all, I never go by popular or individual perceptions or connotations for meanings of words. I go straight for the dictionary every time. It eliminates most confusion for me.

Distract: Dictionary Definition

Simple, right?

WRONG! While I like to simplify the foundation for my thinking, once that's done, that's when I proceed to build confusing architectures of perception, connotation, and context. In other words: COMPLICATE IT!

The dictionary uses the example of being distracted from your work by music. Ah! So if you are trying to work, but can't get your mind off the music, the music is distracting you from your work.

But what if you're an Aspie? And your boss is NT? What if you're special interest is music, and you are INTENTIONALLY focusing on the music, because it interests you? Now, you're boss comes along, and says, "Shut that music off! It's distracting you from your work!" but you are thinking, "Noooo. YOU are distracting ME from the music!"

The question is: Whether you are Aspie, or ADHD or whatever, are you really distractible, or is it that the NT's around you don't understand that what you really are is focused, but just not focused on what they want you to be focused on?

Confused now?

You're welcome!

Man. My head couldn't have done it better.

Again:

You're welcome!