Oh my, no. This is like a list of the worst things for me.
I can’t concentrate on something if they’re are voices in the background, my brain forces me to focus on the voices, I can’t tune them out to focus on my main task.
So when I’m working, music helps me focus a little, but it MUST not have vocals. No-Vocals Vaporwave/Synthwave is my jam.
I could never watch two films at the same time, or have a podcast on while I’m trying to watch a film, etc, I hate distractions and background noises while I’m trying to focus on a film.
If I tried to watch two films at once… my brain would just be overwhelmed and I’d be able to watch neither.
I also hate noise in general and cherish blissful silence, so while I do run a fan when it gets very hot, I do my best to avoid it.
Quiet silence is best, the more things like noise assault my senses the more I feel oppressed in my own brain.
This. I got the “physically unable to multitask” ADHD instead of the “needs multiple sources of stimulation” ADHD.
I find loud, fast/rhythmic music works best for me. Anything with a d-beat is generally solid, so metal (osdm, trad/speed, thrash, black) and punk (hardcore, crust) make up a chunk of my focus music, definitely not in the multiple sources category either, more of the “drown out everything else so I can only think of one thing” sort.
Haha yes it’s a strong possibility that I have both, going off what I’ve learned these past few years of research and community involvement!
It’s going to be a looong time before I can get checked for autism though as I’m poor, so for now I just have to wait and wonder :-)
Take the raads-r test. It’s so close to a psychiatrist evaluation that it has a high confidence even for a self test. https://embrace-autism.com/raads-r/
Just knowing you are autistic and learning about it can improve your life
Oh my gosh, same. If I’m trying to concentrate or focus on something there can be no words in music or better yet no music. The only exception to that is a task that is just movement and a playlist with songs I know all the words to. Then I’ll sing while I work. I like classical for the no words, even opera is ok because I don’t know what they are saying. I used to set my alarm in the morning to the French CBC. I don’t speak French so it was just melodic sounds instead of sounding like someone is yelling at me first thing.
I also don’t like watching movies/tv/youtube. I always feel like there’s something else I should be doing. I will watch a movie, but it takes a bit for me to settle and get my brain to realize that that’s what I’m doing. It feels so sedentary. Though I can game for hours haha. I’m doing something! There’s the added bonus that tv is like coffee for me, makes my brain WIRED, then I can’t sleep. Books for the win!
My hearing is quite bad now so that also adds to the feeling of a dull roar of confusion. Yay getting old.
*Edit to say hook me up with the synthwave playlists! Love that sound.
Yeah, I find that the music helps me when I’m doing boring work, but as soon as the work requires any real significant focus, like, more than 70% brainpower, I pause the music for a bit so I can really focus.
Here’s the one I put on most often! :-)
