The other day while practicing piano I played white noise on my headphones so that I could barely hear the piano. It took all my attention to hear myself and I didn't forget what I was playing halfway through the piece.
It doesn't help that in some of these youtube videos, especially the tutorial/teaching kind, people seem to like to speak as slowly as humanly possible.
Doesn’t even have to be on the phone. Just watching something, and then just a slightest thought pups up, and I’m gone. 5min later fuck! I missed it again. Sometimes it takes me 2 hours to watch a 30 min show.
There's that expression about people having their head on the clouds, but I just get lost in my own head. I can spend an entire 5 hour flight with nothing but my own thoughts.
I can't watch TV shows when my brain is on to something.
If I'm not doing something with my hands then I won't be able to tell you what happened in the movie. Even if I was staring unmoving and quiet at the screen the whole time.
Fidget toys. Legitimately, toys for fidgeting children. There are all kinds of designs available. That's how I manage mine. My significant other (who also has ADHD) does the phone thing but none of the problem mitigation and it drives me nuts!
I will be watching a show, flick through the channels during the commercial break and forget what I was watching.
At least with streaming I can just put on my comfort shows (basically anything that comes on adult swim) and just rewatch them over and over. That way there's still background noise and because I've seen the same episodes a hundred times it doesn't matter if I lose track because I've already seen it a hundred times.
Put your phone down. There is literally nothing on it that's interesting or important. You just think you need it. Before 2007, what did you do with your hands?
I agree that OP (and possibly Stamets) are being distracted from boring content.
That said, I probably spent more time on the internet in 2007. It was slower, and there were way more interesting websites, blogs, forums, and journals to browse through.
I blame the skip duration. Yt default is 5s, when playing at 2.5x speed (set via an extension) that becomes effectively 2s. It's perfect. If I need more I just press it again.
I have jellyfin set up and (at least on the webbrowser) the default is 30s. Seriously? Why would anyone need 30s skipping? I had the same issue as you before - but only on jellyfin, with YouTube I almost always hit the exact moment I need.
On YouTube desktop site you can use JKL for -10 pause/play +10 or left space right for -5 pause/play +5 respectively. As well as frame by frame with < > keys while paused.
Passive media consumption is dead. It doesn't matter to me if it's the most interesting movie or series - I'd rather be doomscrolling or upvoting shitposts.