I read an interesting article yesterday about brain fog.
It caught my attention because it’s something I’ve really been suffering with the past couple of years. I thought it was because of my wonky thyroid (it is a symptom), getting on a bit and because I’d stopped working and my poor mind was just atrophying but according to this piece, there could be a different cause. Research had shown that since the dawn of the digital age – smart phones being especially guilty – our concentration focus had gone from over 12 seconds to less than 8. I assumed people would have longer concentration spans than 12 seconds, but I guess it’s a special sort of bit of concentration?
Anyway! The theory is that we could be doing too much all at once for our brains to cope with! How true is this of bloggers!? We’re constantly multi-tasking – checking emails, writing posts, faffing on twitter and facebook, liking on instagram, taking pictures, jotting notes. Now apparently the brain LIKES a bit of a multi-task now and again, because with each little job you finish, you get a little shot of dopamine – the happy chemical! But too much of these little shots and the brain gets a bit…knackered. It forgets what it’s doing. It won’t provide that word you’re looking for mid-conversation at the school gates. Poor brain.
The journalist writing the article then went on to have a colonic irrigation to make her gut happy and therefore her brain too (apparently there is some sort of nervous connection between the two, as anyone with a “nervous belly” will no doubt gladly testify) I’m not sure that’s ever a path I would like to go down, having someone shoot several pints of water up my bottom with a hose isn’t my idea of a good time, even if it did fix my brain fog.
Instead it seems like a good idea to me, to really really try and stop letting myself get distracted with a million and one things at the same time, and set my daily tasks out in time blocks instead. This is something I’ve been trying to do this week anyway as something suggested to me in a blogging course I just did. It’s a great way of getting things done, because you get to concentrate on just one thing at at a time, and it seems it could well sort out the brain fog as well. Here’s hoping anyway, because it’s very embarrassing trying to have a conversation with someone and forgetting half your vocabulary! And I really don’t want a hose near my bum.
Do you suffer from bloggers brain fog?
Oh, definitely. I tend to get really distracted at work too and working on something for a few minutes, then pop onto something else, check social media (which is part of my job, honestly!), open an email, etc. My ability to concentrate has been shot to s**t. I blame the internet with all its cat videos and pop-up notifications. There’s no point in fighting it.
Definitely guilty of this, the more “into” the blogging game I get. I want to try and catch everything, all the time, and it’s just not possible. I produce much better work when I’m just focused on one thing and switched off from media. Right now for example. I’m supposed to be doing something in Canva and instead I’m reading this, having just read your new camera review, gah! Do excuse me while I close all the tabs.
Definitely! That explains a lot 🙂 I am glad that I now I have an excuse for not really hearing/being able to focus on a word my husband says! I do work better with a drawn up list – maybe I should use them more! #ablogginggoodtime
So, other than a hose up the bum, which is something I don’t fancy paying for, or getting for free come to think of it, how do we solve the issue? Don’t tell me to lose the smartphone. It’s my lifeline! #ABloggingoodtime
Yes yes yes! Thank god it’s not just me. I hate it, I keep putting it down to age but my 72 year old Nan seems to have a better attention span than me! I need help! #ablogginggoodtime
Oh my goodness yes! I definitely have brain fog! I hadn’t realised until I was a blogger how much there is to do and I start one thing and then end up doing ten other things all – none of which are particularly productive – and then I’m finding when the kids start to talk to me I almost have no more power of speech! How great to know it’s a real thing – I’m going to use it as an excuse now when I tell my husband to put the milk in the washing machine, or to empty the oven instead of the dishwasher :). #ablogginggoodtime
This is totally me! Even now I’m multitasking, it seems the only way to fit everything in. I am trying to do more time blocking though
#Ablogginggoodtime
Yes is the simple answer. I am going through the menopause so find myself suffering from menopausal and blogger brain fog all at the same time and I used to be so good at multi-tasking too! #ablogginggoodtime
Absolutely this. In fact I’ve just forgotten where I am and what I’m doing! Seriously though it’s so hard to focus these days!! I do like being busy though… #chucklemums
I struggled to multi-task before having a child and now with a mixture of child/blogging/tweeting/facebook/work/running a home, I’m literally crazy scatter-brained! My partner always moans that I’m on my phone in the evening but I feel it’s the only time I can sort stuff in peace! #chucklemums
I definitely suffer from brain fog. I find list making helps… only now I have whole books of lists of tasks I haven’t done! #Chucklemums
I think I have it but only because there is always so much going on but no way am I getting near a colonic irrigation. I’ll stick to getting a Personal Assistant? I have to convince the partner to agree to one. Thanks for hosting #chucklemums
Yep this is me! However, having a hose up my bum would not help me concentrate. #ChuckleMums
Yes, I do! It’s really hard for me as well with the 2 year old at home with me all day. I always say I will get things done when she’s asleep, but some nights she’d up until half past nine and I am exhausted by then. I had a colonic once…never again!
#chucklemums
All the blog fog, I congratulate myself daily if I’ve remembered Twitter, linky badges and #writing a post! #chucklemums
I totally do- I get so overwhelmed at all I have “going on” blogging then I think…I can let some of this go. I basically make ZERO dollars doing it.
Sometimes I don’t know whether I’m on my arse or my elbow when it comes to blogging and all the tasks that come with it. One thing I know for sure is that I’d rather not have a hose up my backside either! #chucklemums
My attention span is definitely worse since the rise of smart phones. I thought I was multi-tasking already but then I started blogging and it went to a whole new level. Sometimes I think a digital detox is the way to go. #chucklemums
Whizzing back for a quick #chucklemums before I whizz back into my blogger fog!
I think I’ve got everything fog. I blame lack of sleep. But you’re right about multi-tasking. I must waste so much time checking my phone at the same time as doing something else, thinking I’m being “efficient” when actually the opposite is true. #chucklemums
Kind of. Hold on, what were you saying? I was messaging you on Twitter and Facebook at the time. #chucklemums
The multi-tasking is so true. My brain feels constantly foggy – and I can never remember what I’m supposed to be doing!!! I do the Getting Things Done thing at the start of each week which really helps – just do a brain dump which is really good. #chucklemums
Yep, I have a brainstorming session on a Monday. Unless I get distracted and forget. Ahem.
I do… sooooo bad!! I am now trying to time block so that I actually give myself time off too!!
thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime