Eli5 Why do we “zone out”?
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Focusing on specific thoughts that take us down a rabbit hole sometimes due to something happening around us that causes the disassociation
When you focus on your “inner world” which is your thoughts and imagination and such, it can cause a disconnection with the outer world, such that you don’t really notice what’s going on around you.
Basically your brain is giving higher priority to what’s going on inside your mind than it is to what your senses are currently reporting.
It’s commonly called day-dreaming as well! We lose interest in what’s happening, so we basically “sleep” while we’re awake. When nothing exciting is happening, it’s like our brain is taking a break, allowing it to rest for a little while.
I zone out when there’s not enough in front of me to keep my attention. I prefer the term, “disassociate” because “zone out” makes it sound like intellectual laziness, and that’s not it.
I disassociate when I’m reading if the topic doesn’t interest me. I’m the guy who reaches the bottom of a page and realizes he only remembers reading the first 3 sentences.
I used to disassociate in school when the topic bored me, which it usually did. Despite my difficulties with staying focused while reading, I still learn very well and much, much better if I’m given the material and allowed to work through it on my own. Waiting for a slow-ass teacher to regurgitate the lesson onto a whiteboard at a pace that suits the other 29 brains in the class was awful.
Despite being an honor roll student my entire time through school and being designated as ‘gifted’ for a pilot program in the 5th and 6th grades, the disassociation was still very real. My brain wants to be constructively occupied at all times and when it’s not, it finds something else to ponder on that’s more interesting than what’s in front of me.
Sorry, what did you say?
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