I do this, but it’s a serious condition called delayed hearing, which you can’t read about anywhere, because I made it up.
It’s actually a common thing with adhd
I keep coming across relatable posts followed by someone saying it’s ADHD and it’s making me paranoid whether it’s just good ol internet spreading fake news or memes or if I actually have ADHD. I don’t think I have ADHD but I have to question myself every time this happens.
All things that are symptoms of ADHD are also things that everyone experiences sometimes. It’s when they become detrimental to daily life that it might be ADHD.
So it’s normal that you find them relatable.
If it hurts, it’s ADHD. If it’s good for a story, it it isn’t.
It’s all a spectrum. Our minds, in some ways, are brute forcing ways to approach survival. Each individual’s brain settles on some patterns that they determine work for them, and when you look at the collective, we can end up with very different ways of thinking but they are all based on balancing the number of neurons devoted to various tasks like visual processing, audio processing, social skills, various physical skills, etc. ADHD is based on how attention is tuned, both how long you can pay attention to something you might not want to and also how your attention is divided between tasks you’re focusing on vs other things going on around you.
Personally, I don’t really give that much attention to things going on around me. I’m usually either actively doing something or lost in my thoughts. This has the advantage of being able to think through things, but at the cost of missing things around me, which can include someone addressing me. It’s pretty much an always on thing. I do hear it and my brain can often process it after I realize I’ve been addressed. But I’d guess that most people are like that when they are actively concentrating their full attention on a task. Or thinking, I’m sure non-ADHD people do that, too, but the balance between time spent focusing on thoughts vs processing general surroundings might be different.
Though tbh I have no real idea. My entire experience is inside my own head and I can only guess at how different things are from brain to brain (and to what level other organs contribute to that, since they’ve all got neurons, and chemistry that they all play a role in can have huge effects, too).
Think of it this way. Many ‘normal’ people can exhibit different symptoms that get associated with ADHD. With people who are diagnosed with ADHD, they must pass a certain threshold number of these symptoms and severity.
IIRC, it’s a similar approach to ASD
which is honestly so enormously stupid, like the problems don’t exist just because you’re 2% shy of a diagnosis
it’s like not giving someone a wheelchair just because they can walk 2 meters before falling flat on their face
Of course it fucking is
This mental checklist of things that point to me having adhd is growing uncomfortably large. Is there anything that can point to someone not having adhd?
In my experience my adhd makes normal people things harder, like yes sometimes everyone needs a minute to process information, sometimes everyone forgets why they walked into a room, sometimes you’ll get way too excited on a subject and so on
But you know everyone also pees but when you pee 60 times a day you usually see a doctor
makes normal people things harder
I’m like this… Stuff most people find easy is especially hard for me. But on the flip side, stuff that’s really hard for most people is easy for me.
A Delayed Hearing Diagnosis?
Or APD
The actual name is auditory processing disorder, and I do actually have that, as it’s often comorbid with ADHD. But your version is funnier and made me laugh.
I hate you.
But enough of us have experienced it that it must be a real thing.
I have a hearing defect that affects how I hear speech. It sometimes takes a second or two until the second level support in my brain could parse what was said.
I feel like people who make sweeping comments about innocuous behaviors to accuse others of psychopathy are psychopaths.
Also, why blur the profile pics but not the account handles?
Also, why blur the profile pics but not the account handles?
Psychopaths
Narcissistic, septicemic, malignant, pathological, psychopathic, sociopaths.
Probably uses Xitter too.
That’s a lot of slurs
It’s one slur you dirty, lazy, smelly antigrammarian
Yes but two of the adjectives on the slur are slurs in their own right, and the rest make the slur worse.
More like adslurjectives
Sometimes you figure out what was said after saying “huh”.
It’s like how I catch all my mistakes only after sending my email.
I push undo timer to the max on every app possible
This is why I always end up re-reading work emails over and over again before sending, and also use the outlook delay-sending to allow for “unsending” lol
It’s like rubber ducking yourself in the span of two seconds.
Huh?
Fuck you I’m buffering.
Actually me. I do this all the time and it drives my friends, family, and girlfriend nuts.
I think my brain processes what is said after it is finished processing what I am currently thinking about and what I am really doing is multitasking in thoughts before rounding my way to the next one.
People who just ask a question out of the blue without engaging first:
How the fuck do you expect us to react? I gotta load the social processing module first.
I have to load up the listening module first, if you catch me off guard I litterally hear gibberish the first sentence.
Oh that’s just your language processing module.
If it was the listening module you would hear nothing at all or just static
Also something that happens!
Same. I sometimes miss like 10 entire seconds when someone starts talking.
For real, give me the ol’ “Hey, bud?” first and then when it’s clear I’m paying attention, then ask.
When the ear-to-brain ping is 900ms
Sometimes it’s because their brain wasn’t set to receiving mode.
If someone says “hey” or my name before starting a sentence, I am paying attention. When they just start talking without doing that, I tend to miss the first part of the sentence.
Then I’m like “huh?”. And sometimes I’m able to guess what they meant. Other times, not so much.
I like the Arabic word “ya” that can functions as an extra attention-grabber when referring to someone
So instead of
NaoPb, can you bring me the screwdriver? you say ya NaoPb, can you bring me the screwdriver?
so the word “ya” prepares your brain to recieve a name of a referrant, and if that name is your name then your brain then pays full athention
Kinda like yo
Or “hey” or “oi” or “INITIATING HUMAN SPEECH PROTOCOL”
Or it’s those of us who have slower auditory processing and we need that brief moment to process the question
Then say “uhhhh” like everyone else!
Processor too slow. Can save 1 default reaction only.
Upgrade to pro and respond ‘uhhh’ in 200ms
yea but during that time you fully believe you didn’t hear the thing being said
So, one way my ADHD manifests is that my brain will just fucking fumble incoming sounds, particularly if I’m not paying attention beforehand. I’ve been near someone who just turned on the radio to the middle of a song and the music made no sense to me at all, like, it was just really weird noise that sounded like it should make sense but didn’t, until it suddenly clicked and the music made sense again. With words, it happens all the time. Someone will just ambush me with words and instead of “hey, can you put the cap on the blender?” It becomes “hey, can you pole a cat fender?” Or sometimes it becomes just “dsfargeg”. I know that nobody would say either of those things to me, so I use a dual track strategy of both playing with what I think I heard to try and make it make sense as well as asking the other person to repeat themselves. Sometimes, I work it out before they repeat it, sometimes I don’t.
I’ve never misheard things with ADHD but I do regularly ask people to repeat things and it’s not that I haven’t heard but it’s like my brain hasn’t fully processed and understood what I’ve just heard. So when someone starts saying what they’ve just said, my brain has finished processing everything.
Exactly. It’s like my (sub)concious was already at least three threads removed from reality and I need to bounce back into the real world to process.
100% agree that this is an ADHD thing. Doesn’t happen to me as often as it seems to happens to you. But sometimes I’ll be actively trying to pay attention to someone talking, and need to have them repeat themselves 3-4 times because the sound isn’t becoming words.
Are you guys saying that’s why I have more trouble than my fellows in understanding people despite having perfect hearing?
It’s definitely one possibility. I wouldn’t diagnose yourself based on a social media thread, though.
I don’t have ADHD but I experience this too. Audio processing disorder.
Sometimes I realise what’s been said after a second or so, other times I can’t figure it out. My go to solution is to just repeat what I’ve heard. It usually gets kind of funny so it takes the annoyance out of it.
I think you’re fine because this sounds totally normal to me
Maybe, but it happens a lot less (that is, not at all) when I’m on my medication.
I have this with languages. If I don’t know what language to expect chances are I’m just gonna hear: w̶̛̫̥͚̎̾̍͋̏̽̀̊̉̈́h̴̘̯̜̖̘̦͈̺̍̾̐͆̿͒̂̔̉̒̀̿̈́̓͊͐͝ę̸̪̹͙̣̣̩̝̖͈͚͋͆̎r̵̫̪̲̬̫̾̓̓̑͊͒̈́̾̀̌̀̋̔̚̚͝͝͠e̵̦̤̲͎͑ ̸̲̪̜̒̈̂͝a̴̛̼̬͙̋̐̊̒̅̆͐̀͆̃̋̎͝ṛ̶̹̫̼̦̦̰̠̹̲͎̳͐̿̋ě̵̜͎͎̠̗͐̀ ̸̧̨̨̖̙̭͈̹̺̪̻̹̟̦̺̰̦̍̾̂̑̓̽̔̓͋́̎͑̉̔̏̇͘ẗ̵͓̙̰́̉̇́̊̌̔̄̅̄͛͒̔͒͠͠͠ḧ̶͎̗̯͉̟͉̘̗͈̜͎̝͙̺̙͉̠́̀̉͑̅͐͘͜͝ͅë̴̺͙͎̩̝̞͕̦͎̝͖̹̫͔̬̦̩́̆͒̄͆͆̍̉̍̈͒͌̚͜ͅ ̸̡̙̠͇̱̙̤̺̀̈̇̂̀̍̉̋̕ͅc̶̢̲̣̻͉̬͕̩̣͇͐̅͛̕̕̚ͅa̸͈̱͇̪͋̐̈̿̃̇̋̀̅̊̓̀̐̈̍̕͠ḃ̷̧͇͔͎͉͇̙͓͇͆̉̽͗͒̑b̴̗̬̺̤̳̈́ͅã̶̧̩̠̹̞̯͔͑̓̓̀̅̀̎͒̓͝͠g̸̨̧̧̱͉̱̲̗̬̟̘̟̩̉̋̇͒̎̇̿̋͌̓e̴͈̦̍̅s̸͓̎͆͛̾́͂̚ͅ.
I’ve done this all my life - I don’t have ADHD.
It isn’t necessarily the case that everyone who does this has ADHD, nor that everyone with ADHD has this as a symptom. You could just have an auditory processing thing. For me, I think it’s related to my ADHD because it doesn’t happen when I’m on medication for it.
My ADHD manifests this way as well and I explain it as, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand English just then.” I only speak one language but it’s true, I couldn’t parse their language.
I also picked up a “quirky” habit where I’ll say the nonsense phrase back at the person, who gets a laugh, then repeats themselves. Since it seems like I’m being cute and quirky instead of having an auditory processing disorder, people don’t get annoyed as often.
I’ll say the nonsense phrase back at the person
I do this too sometimes. My wife in particular hates it.
I dont think this guy, gal, or nonbinary pal knows what psychopath means
I have ADHD, I huh literally everything if I’m not paying attention to you.
I say it at a way of signaling that next time they should establish a connection before just dumping the body of their message onto the line.
Same. Then I answer before you can repeat.
Psychopath…
I wait when people say this. 100% people just need more time to process
Sometimes you gotta play the tape back real quick and re-listen with your echoic memory
I like this. I’ve done that a lot
oes noes! EmperorHenry is a psychopath! RUN EVERYONE! RUN AWAYYYYY
I’m autistic and my mind wanders
Poltergeist, he’s projecting his consciousness too! RUN!!
Actually, I’m telepathic.
I love him but damn that is annoying every episode
Huh?
