When I'm in the zone, here's something that happens: SO asks a question and somehow I hear the question but I don't process it, the question/event goes on some

When I'm in the zone, here's something that happens: SO asks a question and somehow I hear the question but I don't process it, the question/event goes on some kind of stack. Then 5 or 15 minutes later I answer the question. External stimuli is simply processed differently. There can even be a phone ringing for minutes, driving SO and kiddo mad. Yet I don't hear it: or at least it doesn't disturb me. It even happens, rarely, that I get out of the zone and notice SO is gone and I'm a bit lost then I have to "focus" on the stack now: "ah yup, she said she went to pick her mom for she eats with us tonight". I honestly don't know how to describe that as something else than being in some kind of zone. I've seen friends studying for exams being in the same kind of state. I like being there and I'm convinced I'm doing better work when I'm there. EDIT: and there's something I do like in TFA: I separate my computer in "virtual desktops" assigned to different things. The main coding virtual desktop / workspace is ads-free for example (got a browser open but only for dev / for testing the (ad-free) thing I'm working on). I've got a "private email" virtual desktop, a "professional email" one (which is separate from the main coding virtual desktop), etc. It just makes sense to me.