I’m going to admit up front that this is to help me with a class presentation. This will not be used for research of any kind, although it might give me ideas to use for future studies. Your name will not be used. I’m just looking for examples of this phenomenon that are beyond my own limited experience. You can comment here or send me an email or an owl or however you want. I’m doing a presentation on April 30th, so you’ve got some time to get your responses to me.
Do you ever get so engrossed in something that you completely lose all track of time? You’ll think to yourself that you’ll just do whatever it is for a few more minutes and then you’ll stop and get on to other things and the next thing you know it’s been a couple of hours.
What types of things do you find do that for you? How do you feel about those activities? Have the types of activities that you get lost in changed over your life? Was it one thing when you were younger and something else now? Or has it remained the same?
Some examples from my life:
I used to get in trouble when I was little because my mom would ask me to set the table for dinner and I’d tell her I’d do it as soon as I finished the page I was on. Except 20 minutes later I wouldn’t have realized I’d finished that page plus the next several chapters, and the table wouldn’t be set. A few years ago I was reading a book and told myself I’d stop after the next chapter and go to bed. Next thing I knew it was 6am and I had church in three hours.
I’ve also lost complete track of time working on computer code. I’ll look at the clock at one point, do just a few things, and the next thing I now it’s an hour or two later.
Quilting will do that for me too. Just this next step and I’ll stop. And then suddenly the sun’s coming up and the quilt is finished.
What about you? What do you lose track of time doing?
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
Blogging – I can hardly believe how much time I spend reading (and enjoying) about other peoples lives. I log on with the notion of just posting a quickie and then notice that so and so has an update, which leads to others, which leads to checking to see if my ‘private’ friends have updated or any of the people that I follow….. even writing this is something that was a distraction 😉 however pleasant.
Need more info/detail? let me know and I’ll give it to ya!
when I am involved in a craft project 2 or 3 hours can go by and I don’t know it.
The first time I remember this happening to me was in a practice room in High School. I was working on a particularly difficult section of Tocatta & Fugue in D Minor. I started practicing after school – 3:15 or so, and a few minutes later, Mr. T, my band director, was kicking me out so he could go home at 5:30.
When I get involved in a programming project I really enjoy, time just flies by. That’s why I like my job so much. Some days, the eight hours seems more like 2 or 3.
I can also get too involved in video games if I let myself. I have fortunately learned that, and I only REALLY play games with my sons. At least then it’s “family time.”