Those specific activities seem like they require more focus from you. Does the same thing happen when you're doing tasks like washing dishes or folding laundry?

Even if I am doing something as simple as putting my camera gear away, I don't have the ability to talk, because if I start talking, I'm going to put a camera down and forget where I put it, or drive home with a mount still on the car, or forget what I was doing and waste time.

It's so frustrating. Going from being a high level multi-tasker, to the goof that looses your eyeglasses in the refrigerator.

I wonder if this is what it's like being an old computer. Start out as a fast, state of the art machine, now too many open tabs causes the fail.

I relate to this intensely, my brain can't hold on to a thought or task if I have to engage someone in conversation. It's like it exceeds my mental bandwidth. It's always been like that for me. I chalked it up to being an ADHD thing but maybe it's a more broadly experienced cognitive phenomenon.

This is something I've dealt with my entire life. ADHD meds have helped, but I can still have someone talk directly to my face and I'll have to either pause or ask them to repeat themselves because I heard them, but I couldn't process what they say, and stopping what I'm doing to talk derails evythg

I was struggling with that as well, this video really gave me a new perspective on the struggle with focus and distractions. This is coming from someone who doesn't have ADHD but found themselves struggling to focus more than usual - www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxJkj-C4vjs

That shift in focus ability is real. Environment design helps a lot - I made a tool called FocusGuard that blocks distracting apps/sites during work sessions on Mac. Worth a look: pebbleware.gumroad.com/l/focusguard

Audio processing difficulties can come from broader conditions FWIW. Mine amplified considerably because of chronic migraines.

Of course it is a neurodivergence. Part of the spectrum of processing issues.