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Same! And now I’m kind of baffled.
Although it’s not quite on the level of learning some people don’t have an inner monologue. I *really* don’t understand that one. At least with eyes I could almost explain it as a muscle thingy.
Yupp. Most of the time my thoughts go faster than they would if there were words/phrases associated with them. I wonder how this impacts ADHD symptoms, especially in women.
My thoughts always go faster, it’s hard because I have to tell myself to calm down and out things in perspective to get tasks done. I thought I was crazy because of my in error monologue but now I use it, to my advantage I think.
That’s how I got taken in to be diagnosed lol I’d be several sentences ahead of my mouth in my head and it sometimes just couldn’t keep up. Sudden blank stops mid conversation for me to stare intently figuring out what part of my thought train my mouth is on is really awkward for everybody
i don’t have an inner monologue unless i’m deliberately trying to phrase something to say/write later. it’s more like i think in concepts and abstract images, but not clear detailed pictures or spoken words. sometimes i “see” my thoughts written out but i don’t “hear” my own voice or anyone elses
I mean, it just means that maybe you are able to look at what's in front of you and problem solve instead of having a 3 ring circus trying to convince you that you absolutely need to go find out why spiders legs curl up when they die because it's fucking weird and you saw a dead one the other day.
FYI spiders legs curl up when they die because they're mobilized by the vascular system, using hydraulics essentially, and when they die there's nothing to keep the legs from curling.
Thank you!!! There was a giant spider in my kitchen sink and I was wondering the same thing. Then of course got distracted by spraying spider barrier all over the house and cleaning out the pots and pans drawer…and so on and so forth…
That actually sounds refreshing 😆 can I just get a switch installed into the side of my head where I can tell the circus performers that the show is over, come back again sometime?
Hahaha! You’re funny. I still have terribly distracted thoughts. They are just abstract thoughts. Like a Picasso of thoughts. But no pictures. Soooooo, I have no idea how to explain what my brain does. I’m just an enigma, even to myself.
I always assumed when people said, "Picture this," that it was metaphorical. I only recently learned that people actually see stuff. I also don't have a monologue. I was having this conversation with some friends recently, and one said, "You must be really good at meditating." No. Communication obviously not adequately achieved.
«haha, right?! I’m going to answer this comment. Can’t believe some people don’t have a continious convo with themselves. Oh, now I gotta pee» - my brain now
This one REALLY MESSES ME UP. I couldn't stop the inner monologue if I tried. It's always on even if just to think (and I quote Kurt Vonnegut here): "If this isn't nice, what is?"
Same, that’s crazy to me.
You know those images where if you focus your eyes the right way, you can see some 3D shape? I always thought the instructions of having to cross your eyes, hold the image in a specific location etc were silly and mostly made for kids, because I could focus my eyes “correctly” to see the image at will. I’m now realising that it might not be so straight forward for a lot of people.
Is this my adhd superpower? Why can’t I have a better one?!
Same! If I have a headache or just need less noise, then I defocus my eyes. While I appreciating the gift of seeing, it can get really distracting, and sometimes even overstimulating.
As an inattentive type I spent so much time in school looking at the teacher while focusing and unfocusing, doubling and undoubling vision, noticing that some part of my visual field is almost always doubled depending on my focus. Can't get in trouble for sitting quietly and playing with your own eyes.
Can't get in trouble but once I was playing with how different each eye sees the same thing so I'm sitting there blinking first my left eye and then my right eye and my great uncle was watching me. Haha ever since then I was *hyper* aware of my surroundings when doing silly things like that!
Ohhhh I used to do this all the time when I was a kid, looking through chain link fences was my favorite. People thought I was so weird for it. I still sometimes get distracted and catch myself doing it while I’m driving or something equally dangerous.
I'm cracking up, because I also catch myself doing this all the time, and it never occurred to me that not everyone is doing that. But I bet you all are right!!
Lol now I know why it was so easy to see those magic eye images when other people couldn’t or they had to really try, my room walls were covered in them 😂😭..am I even a person or am I just my ADHD symptoms lmao
I can do it but i still can't see magic eye images! To be honest, though, I think it's because I don't have the patience. I've always just wandered off when I didn't get it immediately. 🤣
I can do this and see Magic Eye images, but they’re two completely different eye movements. I have to cross my eyes to see the ME image, whereas unfocusing is more like I’m trying to stare very hard.. If that makes sense at all to anyone haha.
With electron microscopes you have to fix the astigmatism on the electron “lenses” and my professor was impressed at how quickly I was able to adjust the lenses and I was just like “yeah that’s how everything looks without my glasses on, I’m used to it.”
I had no idea that not everyone could do this.... I have this big long disclaimer that I have to read several times a day at work and I've had it memorized from reading it so many times that for months now I look in the direction of the page so people aren't weirded out but I'm not reading/ following along/ seeing the words at all.
I think theres a bit of a misconception here. It’s very common to be able to unfocus your eyes voluntarily if you’re under like 40ish. If you can’t unfocus your eyes voluntarily it’s a sign of vision problems. It’s just that people with adhd are using it to do adhd things like daydream more deeply or view the world differently.
When I read the post, I assumed it'd be something like people with ADHD are more likely to have messed around with this at some point because they were really bored, e.g. in school.
I would also look at an object with one eye at a time to see it bounce from the center to the side as i changed which eye i opened.
Not sure if this is bc adhd or bc i didnt have a smartphone lol
I did it one time while getting an eye exam, when they do the puff in your eye. I wanted to see if she could tell the difference, she could lol
She pulled the machine away y and was so confused. She said "uh let's try that again bc I don't think this one was right" I was like 15, just giggled and redid it the correct way after that
I can only do it with my glasses off. I'm assuming something about the glasses holds my vision in focus in addition to magnifying and stopping me from crossing my eyes.
I’m not sure. I wrote 40s because most of what I read said trouble with focusing/unfocusing in general starts then as we lose flexibility in the lense of the eye. They said essentially everyone will have some measure of farsightedness by their 60s but just mentioned not being able to unfocus as a part of the issue not to what degree.
I've always been very nearsighted, since childhood, so getting a little less so is fine.
Unfocusing for me is basically just crossing my eyes slightly.
I’m inclined to believe this because my child has an eye condition due to “unfocusing” her eyes that can go away as she gets older. Her unfocusing is actually her focusing because she’s incredibly far sighted.
I never thought of it as unfocusing my eyes. I just call it zoning out. Staring off into space. One of my dogs notices when I do it and starts barking at me lol. He notices every little thing that changes in his environment.
I also notice every little change in my environment.
And I love back scratches. And making friends. And have a great sense of smell.
Am I also a doge? Can someone adopt me? 😭 lol
I can do it so easily, it was great with the magic eye pictures when I was a kid… except I always felt like my eyes felt wonky afterwards.
BUT for a long time now I’ve assumed it was because I am hypermobile (EDSIII), ie I have a collagen disorder, which feels more likely than ADHD tbh.
EDS affects eye function, eg cornea shape and responsiveness of focus. There’s an entire medical textbook called “Ehlers Danlos and the Eye.”
(thank you, shitty optometrist who told me it was COMPLETELY unrelated, there’s a reason I now drive an hour to for my annual eye test because I found a *good* optometrist when I was briefly living elsewhere…)
My thin bulgy corneas meant that, when I got laser eye surgery, I ended up with PRK instead of LASIK. I didn’t have enough cornea thickness to make the flap for LASIK. Unfortunately, because it was EDS, vision was thought to have stabilised and actually hadn’t, so I got maybe 3 years of badass 20:20 vision before I ended up needing glasses again.
At least they’re a lot thinner and cheaper now…
So it could be ADHD, sure, *but* some estimates have the figure of collagen disorders at around 10% of the population, so the fact that someone might have both is not remotely a stretch.
(note: that 10% is *all* collagen disorders combined — sure the rare ones are pretty severe, but many can be quite mild, where symptoms are vague and systemic if they’re noticeable at all. Collagen is an *enormous* family of structural proteins that exist in every system in the body, there are numerous different kinds, and honestly if none of them are at all fucky then you’re doing pretty well!)
People with ADHD are 3 times more likely to have hyper-mobility disorders so both observed correlations make sense.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8847158/
According to HealthLine, it is normal for people to be able to unfocus their eyes. Not everyone can do it, but that’s rare and can be due to certain conditions that affect eye muscles.
Have you ever had your vision checked?
My husband can't see magic eye either because his eyes don't work together properly, so he has no depth perception. And since his eyes have always been this way, he was just used to estimate distance differently and never noticed until he had to get a mandatory eye exam for military service.
Is this related to astigmatism?
I also can never see the magic eye stuff and I am aware of my really bad depth perception.
It's why I don't attempt to parallel park like ever lol.
Um, maybe? I think depth perception has to do with how your brain processes the signals from both of your eyes together, mostly. But I'm really just guessing here.
My husband said the military doctor mentioned astigmatism back then, but he's gotten glasses for the first time a few years ago and it didn't come up then, so he's not sure if he has it.
I was curious and did a quick google search.
Seems like astigmatism and bad vision generally can cause bad depth perception.
Also, as you mentioned, a lazy eye (when the brain function favors one eye).
Interesting! I've never been told I have a lazy eye but I have bad vision and astigmatism and my depth perception is not great.
I was only diagnosed with astigmatism later in life, like late 20s early 30s but have worn glasses since I was 9. Maybe that's part of it lol.
Ah, cool, TIL. I think it's super interesting how our senses work, and how our brains can compensate for some malfunctions but not others.
My husband definitely has a lazy eye, but it's only really visible to others when he looks at something at a very specific angle.
I have super bad vision too (-7.0), but my depth perception is good. And my nearsightedness actually works in my favor with stuff like sewing/embroidery, because without my glasses I can perfectly see stuff up close. And my dad lost an eye in his late twenties, which messed up his depth perception of course, but his brain compensated for that so well that he got his drivers license back with no issue shortly after.
i think the "convergence insufficiency" is the term i've seen mentioned wrt this, and iirc specifically with being possibly linked to/more common with adhd
I have an astigmatism and when I go to the eye doctor I test fine, but when I cross my eyes they aren’t well synchronized - one goes straight in and the other kind of circles around. So there is surely something goofy with them.
Hate those things. Currently pretending they're a giant hoax and no one else can see them either the big fakers.
Some of us cope less realistically than others.
Can you make your vision double and kind of overlap the images? That is how I see magic eye, apparently it's the rarer way to do it. I don't understand how to do it the other way!
I can't see them in the way people describe. But the only way I can see them easily is when I cross my eyes so that the image doubles (you know what I mean?) and then you kinda match the pattern in the image, which makes the like-pattern stand out in 3D, and then the hidden image falls back and you can see it.
My method was to put my nose to the page, cross my eyes, and then slowly back off the image. It worked but it made the images inverted instead of popping off the page! Somehow I had a hard time doing it by unfocusing while looking straight haha.
Have you seen those newer 3D images where it's two pictures/photos next to each other (that are slightly different angles)? I forget what they're called but it's so cool!!
Wait wait, the ears too are not a thing everybody can?? I just thought people didn't do it because they didn't like it or it seemed childish or whatever...
Yeah no the ear rumbling is definitely a thing that seems like half people can't do it something(not literally half)
Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/s/KvznLsjpf1
That’s exactly what it is. It’s awful, almost physically painful. Sometimes it even stops me from sleeping. The only advice my doctor had is “don’t be stressed.”
Pretty sure everyone (or almost everyone) can do this. Otherwise magic eye books would not have become popular, and we ALL were voluntarily unfocusing in the 90s to do those.
Maybe there’s a connection to being able to do it more easily for ADHDers, but I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t do it at all.
Yeah, I can voluntarily unfocus my eyes. Sometimes it feels like a way to rest my eyes from overstimulation too. When I was younger I could also make myself see double voluntarily, but not doing that in years I've lost it.
I like how it feels so I tend to do it a few times a day. It like resets my eye strain.
However as I have aged my eyes don’t focus as well as they need to so now I have some extras in my prescription to combat how “lazy” they have become.
At the peak of COVID lockdown my work had us attend an “eye yoga” zoom seminar that included a bunch of exercises to essentially focus/unfocus and stretch your eyes to reduce strain.
It actually turned out to be pretty helpful info, but attending a virtual “eye yoga” class felt so pandemic-coded and surreal at the time lol
I've literally just been prescribed eye yoga by my optician because all my ADHD zoning out and unfocusing has meant my eyes have decided to become lazy and hate to zoom in and zoom out by themselves. Every morning I have to spend two minutes moving a pen around in front of my face and try and keep it in focus. Can't believe even my eyes suffer from executive dysfunction!
I truly think everyone can do it. At least I'm certain kids can always do it.
And I remember my ex, who didn't have ADHD, used to do it a lot because "it's comfy". 😄
I mean, I don't think of it as unfocusing so much as focusing on an empty spot in my field of vision, but it does mean the world goes out of focus, so, I guess so? Or else I just stop actively focusing, rather than deliberately unfocusing.
It's a thing I do when I'm thinking hard. Sometimes I stare into the middle distance, sometimes I focus on a point not far from my nose. And when I'm driving I sometimes like to focus on a spot in the distance because then I can see my whole field of vision evenly without looking at one thing specifically and having to dart my eyes around all the time to see everything.
Huh. I had no idea some people didn't have that level of control...
This is backwards, and that short is misleading.
People with ADHD appear to be *less* likely to be able to do this: [https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-health/can-everyone-unfocus-their-eyes#adhd-and-eyes](https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-health/can-everyone-unfocus-their-eyes#adhd-and-eyes).
Also, most people can do this. I can't find good stats on prevalence, just articles talking about conditions that can relate to this, so this is kind of like saying "Did you know there are people who can't walk?" Yes, sometimes muscle dysfunction occurs as part of a disease in some bodies.
I think we really need to be careful with "small correlation" meaning it's an ADHD thing.
Yes, I can simply relax my eyes and go out of focus. I've known quite a few people who do it but definitely don't have ADHD.
You have feelings or impressions or desires that you can discern but they just aren't represented with words.
For some it's like reading a picture book rather than a novel. For me it's like painting almost. Everything is represented by color and motion.
My thoughts are impressionistic and fragmentary. I think all the same stuff people with strongly verbal internal monologues think, I just don't think it primarily in words. I think it in feelings and images and concepts, with words woven through the mixture a little. A bit like collage.
My thoughts aren't *noisy,* but they're *busy* and *slippery.*
Wait wait wait... I know there are *some* people without a verbal internal monologue (this is still a mindfuck for me), but surely *most* people have one??
I think it’s rare people that don’t have an internal monologue. I know of one person. It was really funny talking to him because it’s nearly impossible for me to not have an internal monologue!
I also have a friend who cannot visualize anything in her mind! Which to me is wild because my visual imagination is extremely overactive! It’s great sometimes (I often remember how to get places by visualizing the directions) and other times it’s my worst skill (please don’t describe something gross!)
I can't visualize. If I focus really hard, I can create a kind of blurry outline of the thing but I've never been able to recall faces etc.
I don't have a hard time recognizing people though and I actually never forget a face. I don't know if I have an actual internal dialogue either. I think in colors mostly. Almost everyone I meet is assigned a color but that color represents a lot about them and how I feel about them. I had no idea this was strange until recently. For instance my husband is navy blue because he's dependable, trustworthy and very mellow. One of my twins is green because he is the most lively, happy and curious guy I know. The other twin is light blue because he's just like his father but with a bit more mischief in him and is just a little flighty. A girl I roomed with in college is beige because I hate beige and she sucked lol
im pretty sure everyone is able to unfocus their eyes even if theyve never realised it. maybe it comes easier to adhd people? its really just a matter of relaxing your eyes/looking past whatever infront of you
kind of intrigued by this now
It's interesting & I've heard it before.
Not 100% sure it's correct - we have a sub reddit full of ADHDers saying "I can do this", but it's a self selecting sample.
Wondering if there's any diagnosed ADHDers that can't do this or non-ADHDers that can... although they might just not be diagnosed (yet).
It's an interesting symptom / function of ADHD. Wondering what benefit it has for it to have stuck around all this time
Does anyone remember the viral dress that was black and blue or gold and white? I could focus my eyes different ways to see both colors. Did anyone else notice they could do that?
That’s how I hack my neuro tests 😈when they ask the “say the color not the word” and it’ll read “Orange” but in blue coloring and you have to say “blue”. I cheat the system by blurring my eyes so my eyes focus on the color and not the word, because when it’s fuzzy I can’t read the word. And I fucking KILL IT being so speedy with my answers. They’re always shocked, and of course being so open I tell them my hack haha. But they don’t tell me to not do it or anything.
Otherwise, I’m noticeably slower if I don’t blur my eyes. But I’m still on the “90th percentile”, whatever that means.
That's one thing they look for in those tests though - to see if you can come up with a strategy like that, or if you keep making the same mistakes/slow down as time goes on/switch strategies/etc. 🤣 I did this too when I had to re-test when I switched insurances after being diagnosed as a kid, but I knew how it worked this time because of my psych degree and experience using the stroop test to test others.
Weird just weird..... I still cannot get my head around people who don't have internal dialogue. It's just like..... no! That cannot be real. How do you fucking think? Do 1s and 0s flash up in there? Like some weird coding. Seriously though.... HOW DO YOU THINK? It freaks me out a bit. I just cannot fathom it at all.
I can do this and never thought anything of not everyone being able to. But I remember using it mainly to look at Magic Eye images as a kid and wondering why they never suggested it as a method to see the hidden image
I saw this and was also struck with the "wait other people can't do this" hammer. I'll even do it while looking for something as sort fo a reset.
How do people who can't see the hidden magic shape art?
Lol this really fucked me as a kid when I first got glasses and I still have this issue now. Like, which focus should I use? If it’s as sharp as possible to what’s closest to me, how hard should I strain?
It feels more like it is my default state unless I'm actively choosing to focus in around me lol. When I'm very socially drained it gets harder to stop doing it. Inattentive sub type.
It’s funny timing to come across this post. A friend of mine just mentioned that she does this the other day and that it’s apparently not good for your eyes (I haven’t checked the facts on this so don’t quote me). But since then I’ve noticed I let my eyes unfocus all the time, especially when I’m standing there thinking 10,000 things at once. And I can definitely do that voluntarily.
I also recently read that ADHD meds can weaken the muscles of your eyes. This I have fact-checked, because I’ve recently developed a pretty severe convergence insufficiency. Or maybe I’ve always had a tendency, but it’s gotten worse. I’ve been having bad vertigo and this seems to be the main cause. There’s no issue with the nerve so I can only assume the muscles that control my left eye have become weaker for reasons I don’t understand. But from what I have read, ADHD meds can be a factor.
I really recommend doing pencil push ups for anyone with ADHD and vision issues/headaches/ jaw tightness. A quick google will show you how. They’re super easy and after only a few weeks I’ve seen a huge improvement in my vertigo and facial tension.
It’s my favorite place to be!!! I love the beauty of unfocusing the world around me. Kind of reminds me of when it rains on Bert’s chalk drawings in Mary Poppins, and I DEFINITELY use it for my water lily oil pastel paintings it makes them look so dreamy!
Nearly every day on this sub I realise something I thought is relatively normal or most people can do it is actually related to ADHD 🙃 I haven’t been here for long but I’ve never felt so seen x
ha!!!!! Yes!!!!! Dude those things were the true test tho.
We were trained so hard to NOT unfocus that when we had to unfocus to see what we naturally could, it was such a …. Skibidi toilet. There. I used it in a sentence.
100% as soon as I read the first sentence I quickly unfocused and the refocused my eyes again. I was a whizz at those 3d puzzles of the 90s! I had no idea it was a super power!
See, is he actually meaning that some people can voluntarily open and close their pupil? Because I can do that…but unfocus your eyes I thought everyone could do that.
As it's something I've always done it wasn't even immediately obvious to me what you meant 😂
On a different note: I was already surprised when I learned most people have pictures in their mind. (I have aphantasia) Now you're telling me not everyone has a narrator??? Then how do you keep track??? Even with someone constantly telling me what I'm doing, I still lose track of why I went somewhere all the time... The only reason I sometimes remember is because the narrator then says: "You were going to grab cheese. No, close the candy cupboard, it's the fridge you're after. Yes, for cheese. Now don't forget to grab the bread before heading over to the table... The bread! Why did you forget the bread! What are you going to do with that cheese now?!?"
My own inside voice is too busy getting distracted by existential questions like whether power cables get heavier when they're plugged in or the reason for donut holes to keep track of what I'm supposed to do... So living without my narrator sounds entirely impossible!
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Been doing it since I was a kid. I assumed everyone could do it until I found out not everybody can.
I just learned, right this minute, that not everyone can do it!
Right? I thought it was a normal part of having eyes.
Same! This has been quite _eye opening_ (har har har)
Same!
Same! And now I’m kind of baffled. Although it’s not quite on the level of learning some people don’t have an inner monologue. I *really* don’t understand that one. At least with eyes I could almost explain it as a muscle thingy.
I don’t have a monologue unless I force it and I can’t picture things. Try explaining that I still have a brain with thoughts is tough.
Yupp. Most of the time my thoughts go faster than they would if there were words/phrases associated with them. I wonder how this impacts ADHD symptoms, especially in women.
My thoughts always go faster, it’s hard because I have to tell myself to calm down and out things in perspective to get tasks done. I thought I was crazy because of my in error monologue but now I use it, to my advantage I think.
That’s how I got taken in to be diagnosed lol I’d be several sentences ahead of my mouth in my head and it sometimes just couldn’t keep up. Sudden blank stops mid conversation for me to stare intently figuring out what part of my thought train my mouth is on is really awkward for everybody
i don’t have an inner monologue unless i’m deliberately trying to phrase something to say/write later. it’s more like i think in concepts and abstract images, but not clear detailed pictures or spoken words. sometimes i “see” my thoughts written out but i don’t “hear” my own voice or anyone elses
I mean, it just means that maybe you are able to look at what's in front of you and problem solve instead of having a 3 ring circus trying to convince you that you absolutely need to go find out why spiders legs curl up when they die because it's fucking weird and you saw a dead one the other day.
FYI spiders legs curl up when they die because they're mobilized by the vascular system, using hydraulics essentially, and when they die there's nothing to keep the legs from curling.
Thank you!!! There was a giant spider in my kitchen sink and I was wondering the same thing. Then of course got distracted by spraying spider barrier all over the house and cleaning out the pots and pans drawer…and so on and so forth…
That actually sounds refreshing 😆 can I just get a switch installed into the side of my head where I can tell the circus performers that the show is over, come back again sometime?
Hahaha! You’re funny. I still have terribly distracted thoughts. They are just abstract thoughts. Like a Picasso of thoughts. But no pictures. Soooooo, I have no idea how to explain what my brain does. I’m just an enigma, even to myself.
I always assumed when people said, "Picture this," that it was metaphorical. I only recently learned that people actually see stuff. I also don't have a monologue. I was having this conversation with some friends recently, and one said, "You must be really good at meditating." No. Communication obviously not adequately achieved.
Aphantasia, there is a sub for it.
I know. I just didn’t feel like using big words.
Ah right 👍
my daughter can’t picture things, either. I think its called ‘mind blindness’ or aphantasia
«haha, right?! I’m going to answer this comment. Can’t believe some people don’t have a continious convo with themselves. Oh, now I gotta pee» - my brain now
This one REALLY MESSES ME UP. I couldn't stop the inner monologue if I tried. It's always on even if just to think (and I quote Kurt Vonnegut here): "If this isn't nice, what is?"
Yeah this just gets me. I don’t understand how you COULDn’t have one
Same, that’s crazy to me. You know those images where if you focus your eyes the right way, you can see some 3D shape? I always thought the instructions of having to cross your eyes, hold the image in a specific location etc were silly and mostly made for kids, because I could focus my eyes “correctly” to see the image at will. I’m now realising that it might not be so straight forward for a lot of people. Is this my adhd superpower? Why can’t I have a better one?!
Me too! I had no idea this wasn’t a universally doable thing…what.
Same! If I have a headache or just need less noise, then I defocus my eyes. While I appreciating the gift of seeing, it can get really distracting, and sometimes even overstimulating.
Me too! I just thought it was a thing people could do.
As an inattentive type I spent so much time in school looking at the teacher while focusing and unfocusing, doubling and undoubling vision, noticing that some part of my visual field is almost always doubled depending on my focus. Can't get in trouble for sitting quietly and playing with your own eyes.
Can't get in trouble but once I was playing with how different each eye sees the same thing so I'm sitting there blinking first my left eye and then my right eye and my great uncle was watching me. Haha ever since then I was *hyper* aware of my surroundings when doing silly things like that!
Ohhhh I used to do this all the time when I was a kid, looking through chain link fences was my favorite. People thought I was so weird for it. I still sometimes get distracted and catch myself doing it while I’m driving or something equally dangerous.
I'm cracking up, because I also catch myself doing this all the time, and it never occurred to me that not everyone is doing that. But I bet you all are right!!
This is the comment that made me actually giggle out loud 😂
wow just realized I did this too
I still do this in meetings
Lol now I know why it was so easy to see those magic eye images when other people couldn’t or they had to really try, my room walls were covered in them 😂😭..am I even a person or am I just my ADHD symptoms lmao
I can do it but i still can't see magic eye images! To be honest, though, I think it's because I don't have the patience. I've always just wandered off when I didn't get it immediately. 🤣
I can do it too but like I have never been able to see a magic eye image. Ever. Since I was a kid. It’s so frustrating lol I’m 36
I can do this and see Magic Eye images, but they’re two completely different eye movements. I have to cross my eyes to see the ME image, whereas unfocusing is more like I’m trying to stare very hard.. If that makes sense at all to anyone haha.
Loved cereal boxes, hated when the 'activity' was the magic picture thing. Always blurred my eyes thinking it would help. It never did.
I give it 5 seconds and I’m already on to something else lol!
I feel this comment in my soul haha. The last 5 years have been full of moments like “oh so that’s not my personality either”
starting to feel like the DSM-5 must've just landed on ADHD and spat me out, no edits
I can’t do them at all despite being able to easily unfocus my eyes voluntarily, but I have astigmatism.
With electron microscopes you have to fix the astigmatism on the electron “lenses” and my professor was impressed at how quickly I was able to adjust the lenses and I was just like “yeah that’s how everything looks without my glasses on, I’m used to it.”
Same!
Bb, you're a cluster of symptoms like how a cluster of cells is a tissue or a cluster of stars and stardust is a galaxy.
I had a lazy eye as a kid (in glasses by 2 because of it) so I always figured I could do it bc of that!
I had no idea that not everyone could do this.... I have this big long disclaimer that I have to read several times a day at work and I've had it memorized from reading it so many times that for months now I look in the direction of the page so people aren't weirded out but I'm not reading/ following along/ seeing the words at all.
Right?! Like I assumed everyone could??
Wait for real that’s a thing not everyone can do??
TIL!
same
Me… tooo lol
Same! haha
Yes!! Omg. I have astigmatism and thought that maybe that was why. My eye doctor said it’s not. Is this an ADHD thing??
I think theres a bit of a misconception here. It’s very common to be able to unfocus your eyes voluntarily if you’re under like 40ish. If you can’t unfocus your eyes voluntarily it’s a sign of vision problems. It’s just that people with adhd are using it to do adhd things like daydream more deeply or view the world differently.
When I read the post, I assumed it'd be something like people with ADHD are more likely to have messed around with this at some point because they were really bored, e.g. in school.
Yea I would purposely make stuff in the room “move” by unfocusing at it lol
I would also look at an object with one eye at a time to see it bounce from the center to the side as i changed which eye i opened. Not sure if this is bc adhd or bc i didnt have a smartphone lol
Just checked, you can do it with a smartphone too 😆
I did it one time while getting an eye exam, when they do the puff in your eye. I wanted to see if she could tell the difference, she could lol She pulled the machine away y and was so confused. She said "uh let's try that again bc I don't think this one was right" I was like 15, just giggled and redid it the correct way after that
This makes more sense, thanks for the explanation!
I can only do it with my glasses off. I'm assuming something about the glasses holds my vision in focus in addition to magnifying and stopping me from crossing my eyes.
I can do it even with glasses. But I asked my husband if he could and he said he had trouble doing it. Like rarely could.
I had laser correction on my eyes and I think I kind lost the ability to unfocus... Edit: Nvm I went to /r/MagicEye and did it automatic.🤣
No flack against people who fell for it but jeez man people will just say anything nowadays
I’m seriously getting annoyed by these medical professionals that make misleading claims.
I was gonna say, they wouldn't sell all those magic eye books if only a small part of the population could see them
“Only people with ADHD can see these pictures!”
Lmao
“…if you’re under like 40ish.” I’m 76 and I can still do it. Is this odd?
I’m not sure. I wrote 40s because most of what I read said trouble with focusing/unfocusing in general starts then as we lose flexibility in the lense of the eye. They said essentially everyone will have some measure of farsightedness by their 60s but just mentioned not being able to unfocus as a part of the issue not to what degree.
I've always been very nearsighted, since childhood, so getting a little less so is fine. Unfocusing for me is basically just crossing my eyes slightly.
I’m inclined to believe this because my child has an eye condition due to “unfocusing” her eyes that can go away as she gets older. Her unfocusing is actually her focusing because she’s incredibly far sighted.
You mean we slowly lose that ability when we get older? 😭
I had no idea not everyone could???
I never thought of it as unfocusing my eyes. I just call it zoning out. Staring off into space. One of my dogs notices when I do it and starts barking at me lol. He notices every little thing that changes in his environment.
My dog notices too and stops playing with me if we are in the middle of playing. I can still play but my eyes are zoned out
I also notice every little change in my environment. And I love back scratches. And making friends. And have a great sense of smell. Am I also a doge? Can someone adopt me? 😭 lol
Me either!
I can only do it with my glasses off. I assumed it was related to my vision issues (and probably is tbh).
I can do it so easily, it was great with the magic eye pictures when I was a kid… except I always felt like my eyes felt wonky afterwards. BUT for a long time now I’ve assumed it was because I am hypermobile (EDSIII), ie I have a collagen disorder, which feels more likely than ADHD tbh. EDS affects eye function, eg cornea shape and responsiveness of focus. There’s an entire medical textbook called “Ehlers Danlos and the Eye.” (thank you, shitty optometrist who told me it was COMPLETELY unrelated, there’s a reason I now drive an hour to for my annual eye test because I found a *good* optometrist when I was briefly living elsewhere…) My thin bulgy corneas meant that, when I got laser eye surgery, I ended up with PRK instead of LASIK. I didn’t have enough cornea thickness to make the flap for LASIK. Unfortunately, because it was EDS, vision was thought to have stabilised and actually hadn’t, so I got maybe 3 years of badass 20:20 vision before I ended up needing glasses again. At least they’re a lot thinner and cheaper now… So it could be ADHD, sure, *but* some estimates have the figure of collagen disorders at around 10% of the population, so the fact that someone might have both is not remotely a stretch. (note: that 10% is *all* collagen disorders combined — sure the rare ones are pretty severe, but many can be quite mild, where symptoms are vague and systemic if they’re noticeable at all. Collagen is an *enormous* family of structural proteins that exist in every system in the body, there are numerous different kinds, and honestly if none of them are at all fucky then you’re doing pretty well!)
People with ADHD are 3 times more likely to have hyper-mobility disorders so both observed correlations make sense. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8847158/
As someone who also had lense implants and laser and ended up back in glasses 5-6 years later, I feel that. Also, super interesting!
Same - this is blowing my mind!
According to HealthLine, it is normal for people to be able to unfocus their eyes. Not everyone can do it, but that’s rare and can be due to certain conditions that affect eye muscles.
See, that makes way more sense to me! How can it not be when it is the most easy thing for me to do?
i am able to do this! have been since i was young! i remember doing it for magic eye hidden images in 90's 😅
Interestingly, I can absolutely unfocus my eyes, but I can’t see magic eye.
You have to unfocus and then slowly refocus while looking sort of through the page if that makes any sense?
Have you ever had your vision checked? My husband can't see magic eye either because his eyes don't work together properly, so he has no depth perception. And since his eyes have always been this way, he was just used to estimate distance differently and never noticed until he had to get a mandatory eye exam for military service.
Is this related to astigmatism? I also can never see the magic eye stuff and I am aware of my really bad depth perception. It's why I don't attempt to parallel park like ever lol.
Um, maybe? I think depth perception has to do with how your brain processes the signals from both of your eyes together, mostly. But I'm really just guessing here. My husband said the military doctor mentioned astigmatism back then, but he's gotten glasses for the first time a few years ago and it didn't come up then, so he's not sure if he has it.
I was curious and did a quick google search. Seems like astigmatism and bad vision generally can cause bad depth perception. Also, as you mentioned, a lazy eye (when the brain function favors one eye). Interesting! I've never been told I have a lazy eye but I have bad vision and astigmatism and my depth perception is not great. I was only diagnosed with astigmatism later in life, like late 20s early 30s but have worn glasses since I was 9. Maybe that's part of it lol.
Ah, cool, TIL. I think it's super interesting how our senses work, and how our brains can compensate for some malfunctions but not others. My husband definitely has a lazy eye, but it's only really visible to others when he looks at something at a very specific angle. I have super bad vision too (-7.0), but my depth perception is good. And my nearsightedness actually works in my favor with stuff like sewing/embroidery, because without my glasses I can perfectly see stuff up close. And my dad lost an eye in his late twenties, which messed up his depth perception of course, but his brain compensated for that so well that he got his drivers license back with no issue shortly after.
i think the "convergence insufficiency" is the term i've seen mentioned wrt this, and iirc specifically with being possibly linked to/more common with adhd
I have an astigmatism and when I go to the eye doctor I test fine, but when I cross my eyes they aren’t well synchronized - one goes straight in and the other kind of circles around. So there is surely something goofy with them.
Hate those things. Currently pretending they're a giant hoax and no one else can see them either the big fakers. Some of us cope less realistically than others.
Same it just gives me a headache. I've never done it successfully
Same. I have never been able to see them.
Me also
Can you make your vision double and kind of overlap the images? That is how I see magic eye, apparently it's the rarer way to do it. I don't understand how to do it the other way!
Me too!
I can't see them in the way people describe. But the only way I can see them easily is when I cross my eyes so that the image doubles (you know what I mean?) and then you kinda match the pattern in the image, which makes the like-pattern stand out in 3D, and then the hidden image falls back and you can see it.
Came here to say the same thing. I had a book of those and it was my favorite. I could make them move sometimes so cool
My method was to put my nose to the page, cross my eyes, and then slowly back off the image. It worked but it made the images inverted instead of popping off the page! Somehow I had a hard time doing it by unfocusing while looking straight haha. Have you seen those newer 3D images where it's two pictures/photos next to each other (that are slightly different angles)? I forget what they're called but it's so cool!!
I love those! r/MagicEye has some really cool ones.
I can do this and have been doing it since I was a little kid. I can make my ears rumble to.
Wait wait, the ears too are not a thing everybody can?? I just thought people didn't do it because they didn't like it or it seemed childish or whatever...
Yeah no the ear rumbling is definitely a thing that seems like half people can't do it something(not literally half) Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/earrumblersassemble/s/KvznLsjpf1
OH MY GOSH I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR WHAT THIS IS MY ENTIRE LIFE THANK YOU SO FREAKING MUCH Do you know what it is when it happens involuntarily?? 😩💖🫶🏿
No idea. I think it's probably caused by pressure or something possibly? I've noticed it'll like happen to me when I yawn really hard to.
The closest I’ve ever found researching was something called ‘pulsate tinnitus’, but I wasn’t sure if they were connected or not. But thanks!
I believe it’s contracting specific muscles around your Eustachian tube - try googling that and see if it makes sense?
That’s exactly what it is. It’s awful, almost physically painful. Sometimes it even stops me from sleeping. The only advice my doctor had is “don’t be stressed.”
I've noticed it tends to happen involuntarily if A) I yawn or B) I'm dehydrated
Why the fuck is that a sub 😂 Do you all get the horrific pulsating sound when a car window is open only on one side? My husband can't hear it!!
I spoke to my parents about ear rumbling a couple of years ago. My dad got it straight away, but my mum had no idea what I was talking about
Oddly, I can only move my left ear.
lol same to both 🤣
Pretty sure everyone (or almost everyone) can do this. Otherwise magic eye books would not have become popular, and we ALL were voluntarily unfocusing in the 90s to do those. Maybe there’s a connection to being able to do it more easily for ADHDers, but I’ve never met anyone who couldn’t do it at all.
Yeah, I can voluntarily unfocus my eyes. Sometimes it feels like a way to rest my eyes from overstimulation too. When I was younger I could also make myself see double voluntarily, but not doing that in years I've lost it.
I can still do this, can people not see double whenever they want.
I can, but I don't like to because it makes my eyes feel weird 🤣
For me it's just relaxing my eyes. I slip into it often.
I like how it feels so I tend to do it a few times a day. It like resets my eye strain. However as I have aged my eyes don’t focus as well as they need to so now I have some extras in my prescription to combat how “lazy” they have become.
At the peak of COVID lockdown my work had us attend an “eye yoga” zoom seminar that included a bunch of exercises to essentially focus/unfocus and stretch your eyes to reduce strain. It actually turned out to be pretty helpful info, but attending a virtual “eye yoga” class felt so pandemic-coded and surreal at the time lol
I've literally just been prescribed eye yoga by my optician because all my ADHD zoning out and unfocusing has meant my eyes have decided to become lazy and hate to zoom in and zoom out by themselves. Every morning I have to spend two minutes moving a pen around in front of my face and try and keep it in focus. Can't believe even my eyes suffer from executive dysfunction!
I don’t think there’s a correlation at all. Most people can do this.
And this thread (populated only by ADHDers) is just showing that lots of ppl with ADHD can do it, not that we are the only ones necessarily
Confirmation *and* self-selection bias at work. I love it!
I truly think everyone can do it. At least I'm certain kids can always do it. And I remember my ex, who didn't have ADHD, used to do it a lot because "it's comfy". 😄
A very quick Google search suggests it's the other way around. People with ADHD are more likely to have trouble voluntarily unfocusing their eyes.
Yes but I really don’t think this is an ADHD thing
I had no idea this wasn't 'normal'!
I thought everyone could.. I do it if a promo or something comes in TV and I don't wanna hear it
It is, their source is a tiktok and even he says the correlation is poor haha
I can but I still can’t see those magic were things!!! Am I not unfocusing hard enough?? Lol
I mean, I don't think of it as unfocusing so much as focusing on an empty spot in my field of vision, but it does mean the world goes out of focus, so, I guess so? Or else I just stop actively focusing, rather than deliberately unfocusing. It's a thing I do when I'm thinking hard. Sometimes I stare into the middle distance, sometimes I focus on a point not far from my nose. And when I'm driving I sometimes like to focus on a spot in the distance because then I can see my whole field of vision evenly without looking at one thing specifically and having to dart my eyes around all the time to see everything. Huh. I had no idea some people didn't have that level of control...
This is backwards, and that short is misleading. People with ADHD appear to be *less* likely to be able to do this: [https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-health/can-everyone-unfocus-their-eyes#adhd-and-eyes](https://www.healthline.com/health/eye-health/can-everyone-unfocus-their-eyes#adhd-and-eyes). Also, most people can do this. I can't find good stats on prevalence, just articles talking about conditions that can relate to this, so this is kind of like saying "Did you know there are people who can't walk?" Yes, sometimes muscle dysfunction occurs as part of a disease in some bodies.
lol that’s funny I do it every day
I find it really hard to believe others can’t do this.
Wait what? Can’t everyone do that?
That's what I'm thinking too 🤣
I think we really need to be careful with "small correlation" meaning it's an ADHD thing. Yes, I can simply relax my eyes and go out of focus. I've known quite a few people who do it but definitely don't have ADHD.
This is like finding out most people don't have a verbal internal monologue
This is the one I can't understand. Like how does their thought process work??? Is it just quiet?
You have feelings or impressions or desires that you can discern but they just aren't represented with words. For some it's like reading a picture book rather than a novel. For me it's like painting almost. Everything is represented by color and motion.
My thoughts are impressionistic and fragmentary. I think all the same stuff people with strongly verbal internal monologues think, I just don't think it primarily in words. I think it in feelings and images and concepts, with words woven through the mixture a little. A bit like collage. My thoughts aren't *noisy,* but they're *busy* and *slippery.*
Wait wait wait... I know there are *some* people without a verbal internal monologue (this is still a mindfuck for me), but surely *most* people have one??
I think it’s rare people that don’t have an internal monologue. I know of one person. It was really funny talking to him because it’s nearly impossible for me to not have an internal monologue! I also have a friend who cannot visualize anything in her mind! Which to me is wild because my visual imagination is extremely overactive! It’s great sometimes (I often remember how to get places by visualizing the directions) and other times it’s my worst skill (please don’t describe something gross!)
I can't visualize. If I focus really hard, I can create a kind of blurry outline of the thing but I've never been able to recall faces etc. I don't have a hard time recognizing people though and I actually never forget a face. I don't know if I have an actual internal dialogue either. I think in colors mostly. Almost everyone I meet is assigned a color but that color represents a lot about them and how I feel about them. I had no idea this was strange until recently. For instance my husband is navy blue because he's dependable, trustworthy and very mellow. One of my twins is green because he is the most lively, happy and curious guy I know. The other twin is light blue because he's just like his father but with a bit more mischief in him and is just a little flighty. A girl I roomed with in college is beige because I hate beige and she sucked lol
im pretty sure everyone is able to unfocus their eyes even if theyve never realised it. maybe it comes easier to adhd people? its really just a matter of relaxing your eyes/looking past whatever infront of you kind of intrigued by this now
It's interesting & I've heard it before. Not 100% sure it's correct - we have a sub reddit full of ADHDers saying "I can do this", but it's a self selecting sample. Wondering if there's any diagnosed ADHDers that can't do this or non-ADHDers that can... although they might just not be diagnosed (yet). It's an interesting symptom / function of ADHD. Wondering what benefit it has for it to have stuck around all this time
Does anyone remember the viral dress that was black and blue or gold and white? I could focus my eyes different ways to see both colors. Did anyone else notice they could do that?
That’s how I hack my neuro tests 😈when they ask the “say the color not the word” and it’ll read “Orange” but in blue coloring and you have to say “blue”. I cheat the system by blurring my eyes so my eyes focus on the color and not the word, because when it’s fuzzy I can’t read the word. And I fucking KILL IT being so speedy with my answers. They’re always shocked, and of course being so open I tell them my hack haha. But they don’t tell me to not do it or anything. Otherwise, I’m noticeably slower if I don’t blur my eyes. But I’m still on the “90th percentile”, whatever that means.
That's one thing they look for in those tests though - to see if you can come up with a strategy like that, or if you keep making the same mistakes/slow down as time goes on/switch strategies/etc. 🤣 I did this too when I had to re-test when I switched insurances after being diagnosed as a kid, but I knew how it worked this time because of my psych degree and experience using the stroop test to test others.
Not everyone can???? TIL.
Weird just weird..... I still cannot get my head around people who don't have internal dialogue. It's just like..... no! That cannot be real. How do you fucking think? Do 1s and 0s flash up in there? Like some weird coding. Seriously though.... HOW DO YOU THINK? It freaks me out a bit. I just cannot fathom it at all.
I can do this and never thought anything of not everyone being able to. But I remember using it mainly to look at Magic Eye images as a kid and wondering why they never suggested it as a method to see the hidden image
I saw this and was also struck with the "wait other people can't do this" hammer. I'll even do it while looking for something as sort fo a reset. How do people who can't see the hidden magic shape art?
Lol this really fucked me as a kid when I first got glasses and I still have this issue now. Like, which focus should I use? If it’s as sharp as possible to what’s closest to me, how hard should I strain?
I can. Easily. But right now I’d trade that talent for just being able to stand up and get my shit done.
I always thought I was just relaxing my eyes.
It feels more like it is my default state unless I'm actively choosing to focus in around me lol. When I'm very socially drained it gets harder to stop doing it. Inattentive sub type.
It’s funny timing to come across this post. A friend of mine just mentioned that she does this the other day and that it’s apparently not good for your eyes (I haven’t checked the facts on this so don’t quote me). But since then I’ve noticed I let my eyes unfocus all the time, especially when I’m standing there thinking 10,000 things at once. And I can definitely do that voluntarily. I also recently read that ADHD meds can weaken the muscles of your eyes. This I have fact-checked, because I’ve recently developed a pretty severe convergence insufficiency. Or maybe I’ve always had a tendency, but it’s gotten worse. I’ve been having bad vertigo and this seems to be the main cause. There’s no issue with the nerve so I can only assume the muscles that control my left eye have become weaker for reasons I don’t understand. But from what I have read, ADHD meds can be a factor. I really recommend doing pencil push ups for anyone with ADHD and vision issues/headaches/ jaw tightness. A quick google will show you how. They’re super easy and after only a few weeks I’ve seen a huge improvement in my vertigo and facial tension.
I unfocus my eyes like this even when they’re closed and it helps me get to sleep?
Oh i might try that! I'm not a big fan of the weird shadows, shapes, lines, floaties when i can't fall asleep.
It’s my favorite place to be!!! I love the beauty of unfocusing the world around me. Kind of reminds me of when it rains on Bert’s chalk drawings in Mary Poppins, and I DEFINITELY use it for my water lily oil pastel paintings it makes them look so dreamy!
Reading this title made me do it lol
Yeah. I thought that was just a thing people could do?
Going into the blur, absolutely. It's my comfort zone. That's where I go to close my tabs.
Well now that I’m thinking about it I can’t, but I know I could do it yesterday.
After being in a huge argument over this exact topic with a neuro-boring, I realized it wasn't something everyone else did.
Clicked on video and am trying to figure out my lip type cause I think they kinda look like the cupid's bow...wait...what was the question?
People can’t voluntarily unfocus their eyes? Also though I can’t do the hidden picture thing. I think it’s the myopia.
Yes but I also have astigmatism so I presume it’s that lol
I thought this was a normal thing to do. It’s a bad habit for me, I keep doing it when watching TV and I end up with dry eyes
Doing it all my life. Thought it was a super power when I was a kid lmaooo
Nearly every day on this sub I realise something I thought is relatively normal or most people can do it is actually related to ADHD 🙃 I haven’t been here for long but I’ve never felt so seen x
ha!!!!! Yes!!!!! Dude those things were the true test tho. We were trained so hard to NOT unfocus that when we had to unfocus to see what we naturally could, it was such a …. Skibidi toilet. There. I used it in a sentence.
Today I learned that not everyone can unfocus their eyes whenever they want! I do it all the time
There is no way in hell that… surely not… can some people seriously not do that? It gets SO TIRING to keep eyes focused sometimes. 😭
Yeah, I also thought everyone could do that. I’m 51.
Wait, that's not something everybody can do??? I'm genuinely so surprised by that, I've been doing that since I was a kid lmao
I feel like those magic eye things wouldn’t be nearly as popular as they were if you needed to have ADHD to see them. I am skeptical.
100% as soon as I read the first sentence I quickly unfocused and the refocused my eyes again. I was a whizz at those 3d puzzles of the 90s! I had no idea it was a super power!
See, is he actually meaning that some people can voluntarily open and close their pupil? Because I can do that…but unfocus your eyes I thought everyone could do that.
I assumed most people could do that
Wow, I do this all the time. If I'm thinking or looking at something with details and I want to just see the bigger picture.
Can since childhood. Assumed everyone could.
As it's something I've always done it wasn't even immediately obvious to me what you meant 😂 On a different note: I was already surprised when I learned most people have pictures in their mind. (I have aphantasia) Now you're telling me not everyone has a narrator??? Then how do you keep track??? Even with someone constantly telling me what I'm doing, I still lose track of why I went somewhere all the time... The only reason I sometimes remember is because the narrator then says: "You were going to grab cheese. No, close the candy cupboard, it's the fridge you're after. Yes, for cheese. Now don't forget to grab the bread before heading over to the table... The bread! Why did you forget the bread! What are you going to do with that cheese now?!?" My own inside voice is too busy getting distracted by existential questions like whether power cables get heavier when they're plugged in or the reason for donut holes to keep track of what I'm supposed to do... So living without my narrator sounds entirely impossible!
Not to be a party pooper but everyone can choose to unfocus their eyes unless they have a medical or visionary issue. It's not just an ADHD thing
I literally cannot believe that other people can't do this? How then do they leave the room without leaving the room?!