One actual attention superpower is dichotocity, the ability to hear two different things at the same time, eg, two different tunes playing on a two-channel headset, and listen to / understand / remember them both. It’s not terribly uncommon, and a lot of successful musicians have it.
Some people are really good at concentrating their attention. (when writing software, playing games, reading etc). It's a superpower. What are other attention superpowers?
Submitted 1 year ago by dope@lemm.ee to [deleted]
Comments
Nemo@midwest.social 1 year ago
theKalash@feddit.ch 1 year ago
It was @NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world that first made this topic about mental illness, OP was literally just talking about people that can concentrate well.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Woah! I never heard of that one. That’s amazing.
Smokeydope@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I think paying attention to your experience in the moment is a kind of superpower. So many people are wound up in their own minds constantly focused on their life dramas and current problems and what they are anxious about and all that. Learning to get out of your own head, stop the never ending flow of thoughts and impulses, and appreciate the beauty right in front of you. Not zoning out, learning to silence your mind while paying attention to the world through your senses.
Most days if weather permits around the last hour or two before sundown I will swing in my hammock, smoke some pot, and bask in the sunlight. It does wonders for my mental health.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
So you are getting silence, but you are doing it without concentrating.
Well this is exactly the kind of alternative superpower that I’m looking for in my OP question.
Concentration brings silence (and clarity etc), but it also brings some other stuff.
You are getting the silence, but without that other stuff. That’s a big deal.
OrderedChaos@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I think you’re doing what I found I was doing a little while ago. Concentration is the ability to bring yourself back to what you ultimately want to do. Absorption is the exclusion of all else. I think you want absorption and your concentration is likely fantastic. Most people concentrate really well and don’t realize it.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
But what about my actual question?
PlexSheep@feddit.de 1 year ago
Sometimes, breaking the Alltag (everyday life) can lead to what I call “spark of inspiration”. It’s hard to describe, but it’s when you suddenly think diffrently about things, come up with especially new and interesting, maybe also stupid new ideas.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Like looking up from your phone to notice the clouds.
RedEyeFlightControl@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My coping mechanism to deal with untreated ADHD was to develop my working memory, so I have very good memory. It is like a superpower IMO. I remember lots of things like they were yesterday, that many others have simply forgotten.
Because of ADHD I can get in “the zone” and focus solely on something for hours, lost in time. I vape a lot of weed to quiet my mind down to a reasonable level.
520@kbin.social 1 year ago
How did you develop your working memory? Mine's a bit shit, so I coukd use some advice here
snooggums@kbin.social 1 year ago
Sounds like they self medicated, which is not a bad thing if the outcome is positive.
linearchaos@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They’re all double-edged swords.
Concentration, hyperfocus, and fixation is often as detrimental as it is useful.
But to answer your question how about compartmentalization? I can focus on the important things but also bucket and sort them, prioritize them, and deal with them in order.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Ya but what’s something other than concentration that I can do with my attention. A different superpower. That’s what I’m asking.
squiblet@kbin.social 1 year ago
Pretty much anything that one with sufficient aptitude studies and practices enough.
- playing instruments
- blowing glass
- aerobic sports like jogging or bicycling
I'd say driving but that's an odd kind of attention... once you get into it it's a very relaxed awareness, which I suppose counts.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Ya but whats an attention-related superpower OTHER than concentration (and its associated powers)?
One guy here was talking about getting high and laying on his hammock.
And the Buddhists have an “alternative to concentration” type meditation technique.
squiblet@kbin.social 1 year ago
Sex.
theodewere@kbin.social 1 year ago
my attention superpower is the ability to ignore people who need attention
Drunemeton@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Listening. Not “paying attention” but actually listening.
Seraph@kbin.social 1 year ago
Truly an undervalued skill.
I've been trying to be better and I'm catching myself when I start to tune out but it's hard. But it's an incredible way to show appreciation to those around you when to them it seems no one wants to listen. It helps me stay present.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
A kind of clarity. There would be other clarities too. Clear seeing, thinking, smelling…
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My hyperfocus is not a super power at all. It’s detrimental to my relationship, and basically everything else in my life. Don’t fetishize adhd like it’s behavior to strive for.
Witchfire@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Man I feel you because same. I can hyperfocus on one task for 4 hours and become masterful at it, but I can’t remember to put away the thing that’s been sitting out for a week
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
In the OP I asked for something other than concentrating. But all the replies so far refer to the fruits of concentration.
Like talking about sticking out your index finger, and then talking about all the amazing things that you can poke with it (and yes the horrors of fingercramp etc).
But what else can I do with my hand?
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Being neurodivergent definitely can have benefits as well as drawbacks. My ADHD and Autism make me unbelievably productive as long as I am interested/fixated with the thing I am working on. That can be very valuable both for school and for a career. But of course they have huge drawbacks in other areas of life. You gotta take the good with the bad.
dope@lemm.ee 1 year ago
But you left out the rest of the story.
Hyperfocus allows you to immerse yourself to a profound degree.
To observe your subject with surpassing clarity. To control it deeply. To see what others cannot see. To create what others cannot create. To solve the hardest riddles.
We owe much of our great art, science and technology to it.
If that isn’t a superpower then I don’t know what is.
Maybe you just lack commitment.
rikudou@lemmings.world 1 year ago
Dude, just read what you wrote again, slowly. Telling people with an illness that maybe they just lack commitment is a very shitty behaviour.
There’s no rest of the story, most people agree that it’s a huge disadvantage in life. And most importantly, it’s their story, not yours, so don’t pretend like you have the right to tell others what their life is like.
snooggums@kbin.social 1 year ago
ADHD ends with 'disorder' which includes not being able to control or commit to things by choice. If someone can focus really well on something they commit to, then it isn't a disorder.
PlasterAnalyst@kbin.social 1 year ago
It's called a manic episode.