Are you oblivious?

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This is kind of the opposite of the "why, why, why" thread. Are you oblivious to your surroundings and what's going on around you?

I have to admit that I am. I often feel like my world is very small, containing only myself and my personal space, and I don't notice who's around me, what's going on, etc. I always joke that I am the world's worst witness to an event. If I ever witnessed a crime, and the cops were to ask me what the perpetrator looked like, I would have to say, like they do on Mad TV, "He looked like a man." I don't know that I could give any other details.

I recently reunited with my sister after many years, and we chat about life with our parents. I realized that I never knew or cared about what my siblings were doing. I was just busy doing my own thing. I didn't know some very basic things about my parents that I should have been aware of.

I try to be more observant now, but I daydream or get busy doing my "mental work", as I call it, and don't realize that I am not in the moment.

Is anyone else like this, too?

Sometimes. I think especially socially, that is, with people. Which sounds like it fits with what you are saying.

yes,am only see cats or whatever it is am doing,dont think the rest even gets processed.

Oblivious to what?

ngonz said oblivious to surroundings.

Once when I was on the bus with my bf he told his friends about all the drama that went on outside at one bus stop. I didn't notice it at all.

Nah, I'm totally hyper-aware to my environment. I keep track of everything mentally, and I notice all of the details; all of the small details make the complete puzzle that's ever changing.

Sure, people and animals don't feel real to me, and objects are objects within objects which make objects when they're arranged in a certain way, but I still watch and listen for it all.

The comings and goings of people, and their lives don't concern me, unless it's someone I care about (there's a small list of people).

I go in my own world often.

I think that was supposed to be a joke.

On topic - absolutely. If you're the worlds worst witness, I'm the second worst. My mom was always telling me about how guys check me out, I see nothing. Not only do I not notice people, but in a crowded environment, I actively avoid noticing people. I don't want to meet anyone's gaze.
I look at the decorations or the walls or the floor. Not at the people.

Actually on second though, I might not even notice the crime being committed! I think that makes me the worlds worst witness!!

Fnord, I just got your joke. It's really funny. I usually get jokes right away.

Wouldn't it suck if you were with someone and you two walk into a gas station and you are so into your own world, you don't see your friend robbing the cashier and then all of a sudden your friend yells "Lets go" and runs out and you run out too not knowing why he ran off in a flash. Then all of a sudden a police car pulls up and arrests you both?

Yeah, that would suck. And unless I saw my friend quite a few times, I wouldn't remember what he/she looked like. So, I just might be back to "He looked like a man." hahaha

Oops, I also missed that joke, but I get it now.


I think I'm often oblivious to all kinds of things, (like the joke above, which I probably would have gotten eventually if I read it enough times, as I often discover on successive re-reading of books and watching of movies/tv programs).

I also find that when I focus on something (including things like reading a book, hand-stitching, looking at something in the environment I find interesting, anything where my attention is on a single stimulus in fact), that I do easily loose connection with everything else and become 'oblivious' to other stimulus.

Even when I am not 'mono-focused' on something, I often find myself oblivious to all kinds of things around me in the environment. There's too much around at any one moment for me to keep track of, and there seems to be poor prioritizing of attention, so that instead of noticing 5 useful things, I might notice 1 useful thing and 4 entirely trivial things.

At times I can be quite oblivious to other people and to the rules of social communication; but I never seem to be oblivious to loud noises, unexpected touches, or pungent aromas.

For most the part i guess i am oblivious of my environmental and social surroundings, but i sometimes think its anxiety that at times forces me to take notice of a couple more things. Its hard to explain.

I think this is the perfect way of explaining it.