I have weird quirk/tendency to stop listening / be distracted when someone explains something like during lectures for example. I fking hate this and it makes me dangerously close to failing college.

Generally, I don’t have it elsewhere. Just when someone is doing a verbal explanation, online or in person.

Perhaps it’s an issue of concentration, although generally I am able to do homework when I’m alone and focussing on it. At same time, I do get distracted relatively easily.

What is wrong with me? How to force myself to pay attention during classes and not doze off?

  • loopy
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    1 year ago

    I know most people want to jump to “You have trouble concentrating? You must have ADHD.” The biggest thing that differentiates a disorder from simply having symptoms is the severity of impact on a person’s life. If it causes a person so much distress that they cannot maintain classes or a job or family life, then intervention is needed.

    I think it’s more likely a difference in attention stamina. I’m not sure about you, but going from high school to university was a large difference in attention demand. I didn’t have 70 min lectures in high school, but suddenly I was expected to pay attention for college classes.

    I would highly suggest looking into attention stamina training, such as the increasing pomodoro training. Short spans of attention with breaks, and slowly increase the intervals. It is highly effective and used by medical student applicants in preparation for long attention demands for the entrance exam.

    If the difficulty with attention is still very persistent, definitely talk to a counselor about it. Some of the first things they may ask you is whether you are getting regular and adequate sleep, and if you consume caffeine, as they each have a pretty large effect on concentration with everyone.