What's your attention span like? Mine's incredibly short. It's prevented me from reading many books or from participating in ATM where the the threads require one.

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Freedom For Fission A breath of fresh Iodine-131

Yeah, if a thread is too long already, I just skip it, because after a few pages, i don't even know what's going on. If I have a post on the first couple of pages, I'll pursue it more purposefully, but generally I can't be bothered straining my brain to pay attention, which is a real shame, because most of the long ones are long because they're really good.

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Begone, braggage!
My bible!

This thread is already too long for me. Further more...oh look! That dog has a puffy tail! Here puffy tail...

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"I think therefore I am"
A pity, half the world isn't even aware that they don't exist.

ohhh! bunnies! Here bunny, bunny. Here bunny, bunny. Cute little bu...oh a chocolate cake! Yum.

It's often interest. The best of us can lose attention when you hit a tiresome passage of an otherwise ok book or text.

Have you considered patience? Maybe it's not your attention span but your patience that makes you that way. As we grow older (I know I have) and are more occupied with more serious school, the sentence that immediately comes to mind after 5 seconds of anything is "IS THIS GOING SOMEWHERE?", after 10 seconds it's "GET TO THE FREAKING POINT ALREADY!", after 15 seconds it's "I'M JUST ABOUT READY TO DROP THIS GUY.". If what you (or at least I) precisely wanted hasn't arrived yet I go ballistic, insult everyone, throw and tear up the book, smash the computer screen, slam the nearest door and leave.

My attention span ranges from shockingly short to ridiculously long. I can rack up these little tetris blocks for hours on end, right up until my eyes can't stop crying and become itchy and with big blood vessels. I'm not even finding it interesting! I just have to do it. I'm compelled or forced to do certain things. I can stay and read that "applied analysis" math book until I can't feel my legs anymore. Other times I can't even stay focused for 2 seconds.

There might be an explanation for this. Everyone told me that I have some kind of disorder when they see that I can scratch myself all the way through my skin. And I don't mean it becomes red. I mean I'm tearing off layers and it's bleeding on my hands a lot. Sometimes it's involutary as I said, other times it's voluntary and I do it for a reason nobody, and I mean nobody in here wants to know, trust me (No I wouldn't get banned but I would certainly be seen as very very weird in the least).

Can I suggest a course of action for your attention span? When you stop paying attention something else comes on your mind (whether it is you feel like setting a piece of paper on fire, kicking that ball on the ground, or throw rocks at the nearest individual). Do whatever you feel like, get it out of your system, and you'll be ready for a long strech of attention.

If you're really unable to pinpoint what it is, I suggest exercise, it's what I do in those cases. If you can't fix what's on your mind then extenuate yourself into submission. It's what I do when I feel like this. Buy yourself some weights, let them down somewhere, and when you lose attention go do a longish session of exercise. It tires you in a weird way, you're still sharp in your head (sharper than before actually) and a lot faster. Do all of your exercises to failure (meaning you can't take it anymore, you try as hard as you can to move but the weight won't budge, or will move very little) and concentrate on every movement you do to make it perfect. Take a few minutes of rest, and enjoy a free free mind until the next morning and your newfound long attention span.

As far as I can tell this should take care of your problems for a few hours, at the very least long enough to assimilate whatever part of book you want or any text.

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"...bartenders and shiny stuff and dreams are made of stooped necromancers he seems like a banana wrist having strayed too close to the constellations on their shaved skulls. The rain of frogs ended and a rain of blood comes down. "

Some days I have the attention span of a gnat. Too easily bored and too easily distracted to follow the very long threads.

It generally depends on what I'm reading. If it's a JayUtah post, even a longish one, then I'm riveted because I'm probibly learning something new. If it's a woowoo'er, then it tends to end up reading like so much blah, blah, blah. That's the 2 ends of the scale...everything else falls somewhere in between.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the king of short attention spans! That's why I live a nonconfomity life.

My attention span is a variable beast, oftentimes its shortest for the things it really should be there for, and longest for the most trivial thing that's only going to take me exactly nowhere. Another word comes to mind for all this, procrastination.

I can read as much as anyone-the words form a pretty patten on my retina-what else is reading for?

It depends. For the most part, I have the attention span of... I'm sorry, what was I saying?

When it's an interesting task that requires creativity (code design, especially), I can keep my mind on that task quite nicely. If the conditions are just right, I can focus to the point that the world around me fades away and all that's left is my mind, my muse, and my code, and I'm not entirely sure they're not all the very same thing.

As far as writing is concerned, I have little trouble staying on task writing something when I have something to say. It's something else again when my muse deigns to whisper (or on rare occasions dictate quite firmly) in my ear.

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[Dr. Horrible]___________________________[Penny]
Listen close to everybody's heart________And you believe there's good in everybody's heart
And hear that breaking sound_____________Keep it safe and sound
Hopes and dreams are shattering apart____With hope you can do your part
And crashing to the ground_______________To turn a life around

Advertising patterns in radio and TV sure aren't compatible with concentration, at times even encouraging the anticipation of the next 'break' because certainly one is coming. How much, if at all, does this conditioning affect other activities?

Vlah! I can't be bothered reading all that.

(Actually, if I'm interested in something then my attention span is limitless).

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I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, was in no way fair comment and was motivated purely by malice. I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.

I usually find my attention span is long enough to get stuck into the details of something. However, I struggle to find the time to read all the posts in a thread, so if there are more than about 50 posts in a thread, I won't read it unless either (a) the thread title is really intriguing, or (b) I already posted in the thread.

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The quarrelsome oarsmen were rowing,
The great violinist was bowing;
But how is the sage
To tell, from the page:
Was it pigs or seeds that were sowing?

i'm like you glom... i bore easily. my mind has a habit of moving on mid...
uh, yes. short attention span.

taks

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goodbye richard pryor :(...