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I had, and to some degree still have this daydreaming "problem". But it didn’t really affect me in any significant way. Pomodoro helps while working/learning.

by rg111 3y ago

I had, and to some degree still have this daydreaming "problem". But it didn’t really affect me in any significant way. Pomodoro helps while working/learning. Social Media was a much bigger problem for me. Which I got rid of after reading Deep Work. And I, from my childhood have had, what is often called "directional disorientation". Everyone who knows me considers me smart, I have achievements to demonstrate that. But, I can never remember how to navigate to an address. It takes me about 6-7 times navigating via Google Maps before I can visit it without Maps. I am sometimes confused about some streets of my home town! I don't have problem focusing for longer times. I can work hard and learn quickly, but familiarity with physical spaces has always eluded me. Edit: Over the years, I have talked with at least half a dozen people on the internet who told me that they believe that they have this thing, if it is a thing.

justinlloyd 3y ago
Google Maps and its ilk are like the contacts in your phone. If you teach your brain you don't need to remember that detail because you have a gadget to do it for you, you brain won't remember it. I have a pretty good mental map of the world around me, and can navigate pretty well, but the moment that a GPS navigation system gets involved, my brain shuts off and I don't remember how to get anywhere or where things are in relation to other things. I noticed this effect 25 years when I got my first in-car navigation system. I'm really good at recalling long sequences of numbers, six or seven credit cards and bank cards, including CV2 and expiry dates between my wife's wallet and my wallet, but the numbers in my contacts list on my phone, I don't remember any of those, my brain has learned it doesn't need to. I have observed the same effect in code navigation tools in IDEs for a quarter of a century, myself and other people forgetting the function they wrote just ten minutes ago. With the rise of chat GPTs I wonder how long we stop remembering details about documentation when there is an application that will just tell us what we need to know. There was even an Outer Limits episode about this very subject 30+ years ago.
- rg111 3y ago
  But I had access to Google Maps not from my childhood, but from about the age of 16/17. I was like this even before that.

by rg111 3y ago

justinlloyd 3y ago

Google Maps and its ilk are like the contacts in your phone. If you teach your brain you don't need to remember that detail because you have a gadget to do it for you, you brain won't remember it. I have a pretty good mental map of the world around me, and can navigate pretty well, but the moment that a GPS navigation system gets involved, my brain shuts off and I don't remember how to get anywhere or where things are in relation to other things. I noticed this effect 25 years when I got my first in-car navigation system. I'm really good at recalling long sequences of numbers, six or seven credit cards and bank cards, including CV2 and expiry dates between my wife's wallet and my wallet, but the numbers in my contacts list on my phone, I don't remember any of those, my brain has learned it doesn't need to. I have observed the same effect in code navigation tools in IDEs for a quarter of a century, myself and other people forgetting the function they wrote just ten minutes ago. With the rise of chat GPTs I wonder how long we stop remembering details about documentation when there is an application that will just tell us what we need to know. There was even an Outer Limits episode about this very subject 30+ years ago.

rg111 3y ago
But I had access to Google Maps not from my childhood, but from about the age of 16/17. I was like this even before that.