Author Topic: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown  (Read 7244 times)

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #50 on: 28 November, 2020, 08:53:20 am »
Quote from: Mike J
My attention has definitely got worse, the worst example is in work meetings, ...  I stop paying attention quite a lot.
You obviously had far more interesting meetings then we ever did.  These days I can use the time for getting on with *real* work while a management drone (ha ha) drones on about some powerpoint slide that he (it's always a he) has wasted $deity alone knows how many hours on, rather than day-dreaming about machetes, axes and wreaking violent death on the individual wasting *my* life with his (did I mention it's always a him?) pointless, pointless and utterly irrelevant to my job *drivel*.

Back OT.
My ability to concentrate is pretty variable at the best of times (from intensely focussed to, "hello birds, hello sky" within the space of a couple of hours) and I can't say I've noticed it having got any worse than usual.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #51 on: 28 November, 2020, 09:19:37 am »
If you are interested I would recomend having a search for ADHD and me by Rory Bremner.  It is both a radio show and a Horizon TV documentary program.  It does give an interesting view.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #52 on: 28 November, 2020, 12:24:37 pm »
I have to be honest, but I find the need to pathologize everything a bit odd.

It's what you have to do when accessing services (eg. education) from people who subscribe to (or have to work within a funding framework based on) the medical model of disability.

Yes, it would be brilliant if teaching was accessible to everyone by default, but that's a bit too social model, as it would mean doing things differently and possibly *gasp* spending money.

I blame Thatcher.
It's spending the same money, except spending it on medicalising personality traits instead of on educating people.

Like so much of the rot in modern society, it's about making sure the money spent comes from someone else's budget.

Mike J

  • Guinea Pig Person
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #53 on: 28 November, 2020, 04:34:49 pm »
Quote from: Mike J
My attention has definitely got worse, the worst example is in work meetings, ...  I stop paying attention quite a lot.
You obviously had far more interesting meetings then we ever did. 
 

It was probably more my ability to feign interest rather than the actual interestingness of the meetings.

rob

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #54 on: 28 November, 2020, 05:29:40 pm »
I think taking someone with a disorder that effects concentration and telling them to try harder is like telling someone with acute anxiety to pull themselves together.   Neither thing works.

I had my head in the sand with J and thought it would fixed if I just shouted at him more to focus harder.  It took a medical professional to tell me that he just can’t concentrate on a task before it fell into place.  We didn’t have to make any major changes but he was given longer to finish tasks and extra time in exams.  When he sat his entrance exam at his new school it was all on a computer and he got the second highest mark they had seen without requiring extra time.  It’s about making little adjustments here and there.

To go back to when he sat at the kitchen table sobbing as he couldn’t finish a task was heartbreaking.

ian

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #55 on: 28 November, 2020, 07:37:12 pm »
I have to be honest, but I find the need to pathologize everything a bit odd.

It's what you have to do when accessing services (eg. education) from people who subscribe to (or have to work within a funding framework based on) the medical model of disability.

Yes, it would be brilliant if teaching was accessible to everyone by default, but that's a bit too social model, as it would mean doing things differently and possibly *gasp* spending money.

I blame Thatcher.
It's spending the same money, except spending it on medicalising personality traits instead of on educating people.

I find it loathsome and think it's probably unhelpful, long term, as it removes some personal responsibility in overcoming ones own limitations.

This, I suppose, explains it. It seems a bit mad, telling kids they're unwell and not (in the majority of cases) just, well, different. Like most things, this seems a game the middle-classes are good at. They know how to browbeat GPs and teachers until they'll do anything just to get rid of them. Again though, it's not that I don't think there are cases like rob's, where there is a genuine need, but that's not every other kid, and to be honest, if everyone is fighting for this, it yanks the resources from the kids who genuinely need them. We seem to be stumbling towards the US model, where vast numbers of schoolchildren are being routinely medicated.

But if I were in charge of the world, I'd dump exams and all that shit immediately. This may explain why I'm not in charge of the world, of course. It's probably good that I don't have kids, I'd have to find some kind of hippy school to put them in. They'd grow up to hate me.

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #56 on: 29 November, 2020, 12:06:15 am »
What it says in the title.  Couldn't settle to anything under first lockdown, didn't really recover during the summer and it's twice as bad now. :(

Are you in France?

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #57 on: 29 November, 2020, 10:23:41 am »
But if I were in charge of the world, I'd dump exams and all that shit immediately. This may explain why I'm not in charge of the world, of course. It's probably good that I don't have kids, I'd have to find some kind of hippy school to put them in. They'd grow up to hate me.
It will be interesting to see if Wales ever go back to actual exams, given they have approved assessments in place of the 2021 exams...

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #58 on: 29 November, 2020, 10:35:30 am »
I tend to work on a 'What if / All points covered' basis, and sure, occasionally it goes tits up but, for the most part, my client thinks that I can walk on water.

Planning is fine. I can do planning. But I can also relate to what people are saying here about not being able to complete tasks.

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to putting up the last few panels in the kitchen. Only four years since we did the refurb. And I still haven't finished off the skirting boards in the conservatory after replacing the flooring seven years ago.  :facepalm:

(So why the hell am I on yacf talking about it rather than just doing it?  ??? )
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #59 on: 29 November, 2020, 09:08:52 pm »
planning isn't the problem, it's other people, they are the distraction.

It's always "Me, Me, Me!, Now, Now, Now!".

If you want it done properly, stop mithering me, look at the plan - yes it says 5 weeks because that's how long it takes. Hanging on the other end of a keyboard won'tmake it take three weeks. Oh, and you want that as well now, OK, I'll drop this, which puts it back another two days.

In terms of absolute focus, having my office separate from the rest of the house, and setting Do Not Disturb on Teams is the first step.  Then I decide what priorities I'll address and give myself enough time to get my brain into soemthing. Then I have to contend with the birds hopping around the bonsai, and last week a mouse running round for about 5 minutes, and t'internet
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #60 on: 29 November, 2020, 09:11:25 pm »
Shut down email and only look at it start and end of day. It isn’t so urgent it needs addressing as soon as a notification comes up.

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #61 on: 29 November, 2020, 09:30:54 pm »
Shut down email and only look at it start and end of day. It isn’t so urgent it needs addressing as soon as a notification comes up.

That's great if you've got a job where you can do that but many can't, and in the context of this thread it's also verging on "Just pull yourself together" kind of advice.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Chris S

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #62 on: 29 November, 2020, 10:31:06 pm »
Shut down email and only look at it start and end of day. It isn’t so urgent it needs addressing as soon as a notification comes up.

That's great if you've got a job where you can do that but many can't, and in the context of this thread it's also verging on "Just pull yourself together" kind of advice.

That kind of depends on the job. If you have a job that puts you "on call" and needing to react to things, then yes - but then you are "at work".

I guess Phil is referring to genuine down-time when you actually don't need to look at your work email because you're not at work, and it's officially Somebody Else's Problemtm

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #63 on: 30 November, 2020, 08:57:29 am »
Shut down email and only look at it start and end of day. It isn’t so urgent it needs addressing as soon as a notification comes up.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA

Erm, yes it is. That's exactly what my job is. Responding to emails, sharpish. My job is 95% firefighting.

rob

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #64 on: 30 November, 2020, 09:15:19 am »
I went away with some University mates and one quite vocal member of the group had made his way to being pretty senior in a large insurance company.   He kept giving me a hard time for checking my mails regularly over the weekend.   He was able to turn his phone off on a Friday evening and not look at it again until he went back to work.

I have spent most of the last 20 years working for American trading businesses.  They will contact you whenever and wherever you are to ask the most meaningless question.   Whilst never formally being on call I was always able to be contacted.

I have been with a Swiss company for nearly 3 months and I'm now at the point where nothing happens out of hours.   I do still check my mails into the evening and on holiday, though.   Old habits die hard.

ian

Re: Concentration gone to hell under lockdown
« Reply #65 on: 30 November, 2020, 09:44:55 am »
Americans are terrible for the always-on culture. I was off at the end of last week which coincided with thanksgiving. I still have fucking emails from the Americans this morning (though fortunately fewer). I had to tell one of my colleagues specifically not to work on something – it'll wait. Go spend your time with your wife and kids.

I switch my mothership phone off in the evening and for any holiday. Unless you generally have a life-and-death job, nothing is really that important.