Does anyone else's social skills drop during hyperfocus?

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Lanceeselhombre
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18 Oct 2018, 3:36 pm

When I do my school work I hyperfocus on it, and while I'm doing it I have really bad social skills. When people try talking to me I can barely respond with a few words before I get frustrated at them for interfering with my focus and tell them to leave me alone. But the second someone pulls me out of the hyperfocus at a point that i feel comfortable leaving it, I'm my usual happy, social self (not to say that I'm very skilled, I make lots of mistake even though I like people.)


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Magna
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18 Oct 2018, 3:40 pm

Yes. When I was a child and I was hyper-focused on something or deep in thought "zoned out", I couldn't hear people at all. They would have to say my name over and over and maybe on the sixth time, I'd slowly start to come out of it.



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18 Oct 2018, 3:56 pm

Yeah, when I am in hyper focus or lost in thoughts, there are def times I don't hear anything said, and it always makes me annoyed to be brought out of it.

If I'm preoccupied I also am way worse at reading people and catch subtlety than I am when paying attention. (Although I think that's somewhat universal).


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18 Oct 2018, 5:26 pm

Same as all the above. When I'm hyper-focused I barely register my own hunger, thirst, cold, etc. and lose track of where parts of my own body are; never mind what anyone else might be doing!


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19 Oct 2018, 4:30 am

when somebody pulls me out of hyperfocus (aka info-cocoon aka well whatever we call it), i am REALLY paining, disoriented and frustrated. so i do my best to not go in it when somebody can. like when my kid isnt awake around me. i know the danger. and ya i'd snap much too. practically hating a person who tries to do that, hating them much more if they did it. i need to cycle down carefully to be safe, ya. so i guess its common among us, m? rly try to hyperfocus when u are alone, if u can afford it, it helps)


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Joe90
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19 Oct 2018, 12:44 pm

I find a lot of people are like this, but I'm actually the opposite. If I'm writing or drawing or playing on my phone, I can still hear what everyone around me are saying, and I can join in conversations and respond whilst doing my activity.

Some people completely get hyperfocused on a TV programme or on their phones, and when you try to talk to them they don't seem to hear. I just cannot hyperfocus on anything unless I'm on my own and am physically comfortable (like I can only get into a movie if I'm laying with a blanket over me with a fair-sized screen close enough to not get too distracted by my periphery).


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Prometheus18
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19 Oct 2018, 2:55 pm

That sounds about right, though I'm not sure it's an Aspie thing.



jimmy m
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19 Oct 2018, 5:17 pm

When I am hyperfocused or spaced out, my mind is actively thinking at a million miles per hour and I place my body in auto drive. So during that time, I am two people at the same time. I can even be driving during this time.

I do not like to be brought out of this state because then I will completely lose my train of thought. And it is very difficult to return back to my focus or even find my logic train again. I can engage in minimal conversations during this phase but nothing that requires major thought. I can instantly snap out of hyperfocus, for example if a deer was to jump out in front of the car. So I still retain good reaction times to any threats.


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21 Oct 2018, 8:47 pm

Yep, this happens to me. It actually lead to a serious social mistake the other week.


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27 Oct 2018, 7:49 pm

I recently posted a thread about unlearning social skills quickly and am realizing hyperfocus has a lot to do with it. When I am working on a project that is taking days/weeks, I cannot stop thinking about it as it is unfinished. As a result, I lose my ability to tune back into "social mode". I think that then spirals into less practice and deteriorating social skills overall.


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