If there are literally any other voices or sounds at or near the same volume that you're speaking to me, I ain't gonna be able to focus on you. Especially if what you're saying is more boring than whatever else is going on.
Oh yeah. Another one is if I'm driving and you're talking to me, we will miss our turn or I will completely miss what you said. It happened last night to me. I was taking a friend to the train station, and she was talking a lot. I missed the station. We had to do a 5-mins turn-around in silence until we got there. This might be an autism trait tho.
I once ran a stop because I had 3 people trying to talk to me while I was driving around an area I was unfamiliar with. And then I spent the rest of the drive being yelled at by those 3 people for running the stop sign.
My fiance does this when I'm watching TV and used to get a little offended that I would pause the TV. Then I explained to them that I can't focus when you're speaking, so I pause the TV to listen to you and give you my attention. I guess he thought I was annoyed he was interrupting when I would pause it, that is not the case at all. What he says is more important than anything on the telly
My wife and I recently read that people remember things different ways. One of the ways people remember is the emotions around a situation and not so much the words that were said.
This is me perfectly, I can’t recall what happened but i remember how everyone felt about it.
So I can’t tell you the words that someone said about going to the airport, but I can tell you they don’t want to go. But just not the words they used.
My wife started taking meds that have severely affected her ability to concentrate and remember things short term. Then, like a week ago, she described how it felt and asked me if that is what it's like for me all the time. She said she finally understands what it's like and has been extra supportive on my hard days.
The fourth time, I was listening. My auditory processing disorder kicked in and it took a good seven seconds for my brain to comprehend what you just said. So I looked at you and said, "What", as if I didn't hear you. But then, about a third of the way through you repeating yourself a fifth time, My brain finally caught up and I understood what you said the fourth time.