Does your mind tend to blank out when you listen to directions? If so, why do you think this happens?
I ask because I think I might have a problem with this, and I want to discover the reason for it. I thought for a long time that I just wasn’t able to retain information on cooking and mechanics, because whenever people describe how they cook something or how a car works, my mind goes into an unfocused buzzing. Then I started thinking that I just don’t learn well in an auditory way – which I don’t; I retain things best when I read them. But now I think my two theories must both be partly true, in combination – that my trouble might hinge on listening specifically to directions. I think so because I noticed the other day, reading over my notes from class, that when my professor started telling us what to read for next week that my notes just stop for a moment, and then resume when he got back to the content of our discussion. Reviewing my memory of that class, I remember him starting to talk about next week’s reading, and then myself zoning out for a few minutes, and then snapping back into the moment suddenly.
Do any of you also tend to zone out when people give directions? Why do you think you do this? Care to extrapolate a theory on why this might be a common (or uncommon) phenomenon from your experience or lack thereof?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
18 Answers
In my experience, it is often because until I have done something myself, it is hard for me to retain how to do it. I learn better from doing something than from hearing about doing something. So when I get a lot of directions, I know that I need them written so that I can do them later. It’s not that I don’t want to listen, it’s just that without something hands on to back them up, they won’t be worth much to me.
Could you repeat the question please?
I can listen for an entire three-hour class period and then at the very end zone out when the professor is giving essay advice or homework directions or relating some information that’s pertinent to my grade.
Maybe it’s because I don’t want to acknowledge my schoolwork. Probably not. But I really don’t want to acknowledge my schoolwork.
I do that too. I try to picture what they’re saying in a sort of imagination-movie while they describe it. Or I’ll just write it down and play dumb. I always feel like an idiot when it happens.
I think it has to do with trying to visualize the turns you are going to be making while also trying to retain the info. It happens to me most when I am in an unfamiliar area.
@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I’m confused about your request. Is it meant to be a sardonic answer? If so, would you mind elaborating? I have trouble understanding sarcasm.
cause your fear of failure looms so large when your’e expected to get said directions right you never heard a thing
Whenever I have trouble with directions that are given orally, it’s usually because I haven’t given images to their instructions. I agree with EmpressPixie; I need to have done the work and gone through the process to have retained that information, but I feel like I can partially learn from just picturing myself doing the work as I am told.
@wildpotato If you recognized it as sarcasm, then you have no trouble understanding it.
My mind wanders, it always has and it is getting worse as I get older!
@RealEyesRealizeRealLies No, I tried looking at it that way and it still didn’t make sense. You would have been implying that you zoned out while reading my question, as a way of poking fun at the situation in some way or another. But in order to be a pertinent remark, my question would have to have been something other than it was: directions. Humor is based on the juxtaposition of incongruous things. I can’t identify the things I’m supposed to be juxtaposing here. If what you were responding to were, in fact, directions, I would have identified those things as [my passage as meaningful/attention-keeping] being juxtaposed with [my passage as not meaningful/attention-losing]. To put it more bluntly, it would have been funny because here’s me talking about not being able to maintain attention when engaging in a certain activity, and here you come along and pointedly pretend to not be able to maintain attention when I’m [engaging in that activity]. Now, that last bit I put in brackets because it is, in fact, missing. Which is why I genuinely couldn’t understand what the hell you were talking about, before you responded again just now. Now I understand – you were just making a really bad joke.
I don’t know if you all are being obtuse or you are joking around, but it is funny to observe!
@rooeytoo Funny again?! Wait, no! If you think we’re being funny, then RealEyes really did make a good joke, which means that his contrast was by and large evident, and that means that I must have been talking about whatever he was talking about…unless this is where the joke lies! Ah ha! And maybe YARNLADY’s remarks were really supposed to be sarcastic, so it was funny because she’s being deliberately backwards and obtuse about what RealEyes was saying! Or maybe- no!...can’t…understand…humor…aargh! ::head explodes::
I have no idea what you just said, but thank you for the response, heheheh!
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
