• AceBonobo@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    Trying to focus on a task but all I can hear is someone out in the street talking inaudibly

    • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Or a song repeats on full-blast inside your head, drowning out your own thoughts, all because a car drove by an hour ago with the windows down and that song was on their radio. Now your brain won’t turn it off.

      My brain also does this neat/annoying trick where it connects details I see or experience with details from song lyrics. Like, I could have to stand on a corner waiting to cross a street, and my brain will decide to start playing, Take it Easy by The Eagles for the rest of the day… just because I was “standing on a corner” (though not in Winslow, Arizona.)

      Some people think I have an irrationally strong negative reaction to catchy “ear worm” songs… but I figure it’s because such songs aren’t as debilitating to most people. For me, when songs take over my brain like this, I can’t think a single sentence straight through. They legit hijack my brain and I’ve never learned a way to make it stop.* It’s as distressing as it is distracting.


      * I haven’t learned a way to make it stop in the moment. However, I have found that anti-depressants help prevent this from happening overall. Just as negative thoughts stop looping through my mind when I maintain my Lexapro, songs are less likely to get stuck in my head. Just an interesting sidenote.