This is why studying takes me 4 times longer than the average person. I have to reread so many things to make it sync in. It annoys me how somone can just look or read something once and they have it already
I call it "reading with my eyes but not my brain", but I'm one of those weirdos who doesn't think you need to turn every god damned niche thing into a new word or initialism just to gatekeep against those who didn't know the new word just made up.
I did find this paper where somebody used the term “mindless reading”
Smallwood, J. (2011). Mind‐wandering while reading: attentional decoupling, mindless reading and the cascade model of inattention. Language and Linguistics Compass, 5(2), 63–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818x.2010.00263.x
Seems that is the term used for it such as this talk in 2006
Abstract: "Mindless reading" occurs when, during reading, our eyes continue to move across the printed page in spite of the fact that we are busy thinking about things that are often completely unrelated to the text.
I can sometimes do this without my attention even shifting. I'll mentally read every word individually for a while, but forget to put them together to actually understand them.
Back when I came into the office every day, it was a 45-minute commute. At least one day every week, I had no active memory of getting from the north side of the beltway to my house (about 20-25 minutes). I'd reach this point, and it was like someone flipped a switch, and I became aware that I existed.
I've done this with Audio Books. I've listened to 2-3 chapters, and they'll mention an assassin; Brain goes, wait, assassin? WHAT ASSASSIN? I start rolling back find out I completely tuned out 20 minutes of the story.
Podcasts and technology connections on YouTube. I totally enjoy them, but if I'm halfway tired and my mind doesn't want to focus and I put either on, I'm passing out after 10 minutes.
Thank god this relatable to so many of us, I was wondering if this was a symptom of a larger disorder whenever this happens to me.
The worst is when I'm reciting word for word technical information about chemistry or physics, because I often like to explain how things work to friends and family while I work on stuff, and then I'll get interrupted or distracted and have no memory of wtf I was just saying for the last several minutes straight.
I was a professional driver for 20 years. I can attest that autopilot is a real thing.
It’s easy to monitor traffic on either side but end up daydreaming and miss a turn.
I’ve been out of the transport industry for five years now and I still occasionally find myself auto-piloting to places I used to deliver to. It’s so weird.
I use a website called "speechify" but there are a lot of options.
Still helps to read along with it, but having that auditory input in tandem with visually reading will keep you on track like you've never experienced.
Sure bud, tell me about the condition I’ve had all my life and how my life didn’t get immeasurably better when I finally got diagnosed and treated by a professional in my 4th decade of life.
So ignorant and arrogant at the same time. Trump voter?
No I’ve done this when I was interested. This happens to me when I’m stressed about something and my brain goes off to think about it even though my eyes are going through the motions with the words on the page. Then I have to start again.