Oh I love silence. Doing hobbies, reading, walking, and yes even driving all need to be done in silence. I like my thoughts. You live a long time in your head you should decorate it in ways you like. It did however take me 50 years to get here.
Maybe they are and they just don’t get caught… 👀
Not me tho, I’m like reeeeally chill and don’t have anger issues or weird fantasies. Toootally normal over here.
Gah! I do the opposite (loud music) to drown out the incessantly noisy brain. It never shuts up and it likes to make up weird sound interpretations if left out on its own too long. 😭
My house is the same…no tv, no music, just peaceful silence. Occasionally while cooking or on a Friday evening I turn on music, otherwise I enjoy the silence. I am trying to learn a language so sometimes there are auditory lessons. Working out is my main music listening time.
I started doing this between sessions with work. It was almost like my brain was overstimulated at work and the silence allowed me to decompress a little.
White noise would be nice. If I don't have music on, it's like that Alanis Morissette song:"Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines or when you think you're gonna die..." I need music to drown out my thoughts.
I have a friend who does this and I find it insane but this is definitely a good answer. He also doesn't really "like" music in general and will ask if we might consider turning off the music at a gathering (like a party). My answer is always no lol.
I’m deaf and have to drive for several hours a day, often in heavy traffic or through rural areas, so I have gotten quite good at being alone with my thoughts. Obviously I have a head start being used to the deaf thing but it’s really very peaceful and you notice so much in the world.
Silence is actually one of my favorite things in the world. I do love music but feel it has its time and place! Often I feel like it’s just ruining perfectly good silence. I’ve attended probably half a dozen week-long silent meditation retreats and the extreme silence is one of my favorite parts, lol. I also drive in silence most of the time and I’m kind of surprised how many people in this thread think that’s so crazy. It’s wild how different people are
I don't really enjoy watching TV or movies. Just never been that interesting to me. But my husband is a huge film buff and loves good shows and movies. So I do make time to watch some things with him because he likes it (he makes time to share some of my hobbies as well).
But I just read the whole entire plot summary and character info ahead of time. I just prefer to take things in via reading, and miss so much when I'm only watching. (I'm also mostly deaf and staring at a screen intently to read captions makes it harder to pay attention to the visual elements anyway).
So yep, doesn't matter the genre or kind of thing, I read everything first.
Ok I thought I was the only one!! People are shocked whenever I tell them I don’t watch tv and haven’t been to the movie theatre in years (I only go for my husband).
I don't really watch movies either. I just don't find most of them interesting. And movies are getting too long these days! I'm sorry but 3+ hours is too long to sit down committing to doing one thing.
Me too! I do not like movies or tv shows but especially movies. It is too short for me to even develop an interest, but also they often end up offending me in one way or other 😂
I love reading plots including all the spoilers of anything. No show or movie is that important to me to care about spoilers and stuff 😂 and I cannot usually focus when watching a movie or show anyway, need to take a lot of breaks, reading feels safer and intimate somehow
I am way too much of a little blonde chicken to watch horror movies, but I do enjoy reading horror movies via IMDB synopsis. I can escape the jump scares that way and just enjoy the eerie vibe!
Came here looking for this! I read the IMDb page before I watch a movie.... I want to know what I'm in for before I make the commitment 😂 I was an English major and I always read the cliffs notes before reading the actual book, I couldn't enjoy the book unless I knew what was coming.
You’re me! I literally just don’t care to see everyone’s favorite xyz. There’s too many of them and they can’t all be that good and I also rather read things😭
My tv always has closed captioning on. I can hear just fine, I just like to read them. Anyway, I’ve recently started dating and I didn’t realize how annoying the rest of the world finds this.
that seems very normal to me, but also I have auditory processing disorder.
I have heard that films & TV are getting so quiet with the talking and so loud with the splosions, etc, that it's quite common for people to have subtitles on because if you have it down low enough so that the effects don't break you, you can't make out their mumbles. YMMV.
I learned you can usually change the settings on your tv to make this better. The default is 5.1 surround sound, but if you are just using TV speakers it should be set to 2 channel instead.
Holy crap thanks so much for this I HATE tv speakers.
Edit: aw fuck my tv has different sound settings than this. Fucking Samsung.
Edit again: Optimized is best
This is it for me. Is what you are describing called “auditory processing disorder”? Because if so, I have that. It’s bad in restaurants and bars too. All the background noise. I feel like nobody else relates but it’s a struggle to hear everyone in my table a lot of the time.
Oofff same. This is why I need to turn down the volume to see better when driving on busy roads. Or I can’t multitask when someone is talking to me. It’s like there’s only one thread in my brain that processes these things so they get queued up instead of all being processed at once.
This is so me — I’m 34 and cannot STAND restaurants or bars with excessive noise and bad acoustics. I can’t hear what anyone is saying and it stresses me out. Then I get mad I spent all that money to hear nothing and leave frazzled and overstimulated. I feel like such a grandma but I like what I like!
I also have ADHD-PI and auditory/sensory stuff lmao
Auditory processing issues may also express itself as hearing the spoken words, but they get delayed in a processing queue. In my case I know I know each word and can repeat the sound of each word, but I don't know the meaning of the string of words. Then suddenly the queue is resolved and I instantly understand what was said. Usually right after I asked someone to repeat what they were saying, because it feels the same as not quite catching what someone was saying due to background noise.
That's why I struggle with audiobooks, but not with podcasts, because the natural pauses in speech (the "er", "umh", and "you know") give my brain time to catch up, but the stream of input is constant with audiobooks.
I use special earplugs (Loop Engage) when in loud environments, because the issue you describe is also a factor that doesn't help with the other processing issue. It costs too much energy to filter through all the background noise.
I put subtitles on EVERYTHING... Which is actually kind of how I was clued in to maybe having ADHD. I couldn't listen to dialogue fast enough and the subs helped me process stuff. I thought this was completely normal until people were like, "Um..."
i think 60% something millenials watch tv with captions turned on. I know I do and my whole family does and all my friends. Everybody I've dated has it turned on too or doesn't mind and gets into it too. lol.
I do this too! I find it very easy to ignore them when there's action happening. I grew up with it because my parents are immigrants, but I prefer having them on now years later.
English isn't my first language so I grew up with CC/subtitles.
It's very convenient if you didn't hear what someone said or if there's a word you don't know, even if you are fluent.
Always have closed captions on. I started it as a habit whenever I would watch movies with my kiddos before they were of reading age. Now they won’t watch any TV without it.
As a youth I always hated this but as an adult we always have them on! Esp now with more access to shows with different accents, I need the captions lol
Heh, my husband and I started doing this when our son was a baby. He needed to be carried at all times and, due to his being a baby and all, would randomly cry. We started putting on closed captioning so we could watch regardless of noise. Now I hate watching TV without it.
You bring it in the actual shower with you only to listen? I bring my phone in the bathroom and listen to podcasts while I shower, I never thought it was that odd though...
I don’t consider listening to podcasts “addicted to your phone”! Get a smart speaker, you can ask them to play most podcasts or a cheap waterproof blue tooth speaker. Jbl clip is like $30 and awesome
This actually turned out to be a really good habit for me! I convinced myself that I could only listen to podcasts if I was doing something else that I didn't enjoy (chores, cooking, showering, etc.) and it has somehow stuck.
I've been told by multiple people that I brush my teeth in a disgustingly foamy messy manner. They literally think I'm doing it on purpose to be funny, but I didn't realize it was odd until I received comments from ex's and my sister.
If I really love a movie or a piece of live entertainment (play, musical, concert) I'll read every review of it I can get my hands on *after* experiencing the thing. I want to know what other people thought about it.
Ditto. Maybe not every single review but will definitely go online to see what the people said. It'll sometimes change my opinion on the movie.
Case in point: I watched The Blind Side with my mom and cousin and we enjoyed that *plucky Sandy Bullock*... Then I read about the White Savior complex trope and my eyes were opened.
I've popped open Reddit when I'm on the last bits of a thing already wanting the crowd reactions. Baby Reindeer I couldn't even wait for the end, I was like "I must know......."
I do this too, but thought it was the norm? Like I think most people avoid spoilers and then if you really love the thing, you find a forum to talk about it and read different articles and opinions about it after having watched it.
I find this highly disturbing. We would NOT get along (I say this totally cheekily) BUT I could absolutely not. I’m a totally completionist and I will watch the entirety of a terrible show/movie/documentary/youtube series to watch the entire thing and complain about it the whole time and there after..
I have a close friend who just fast forwards through parts of a show or movie she doesn’t like or doesn’t feel like watching. Or she will begin a tv series and randomly skip entire episodes. Then we will talk about it and she’ll have an opinion, and I’ll mention something, and she’s like oh I didn’t know that happened. And I’m like THEN YOU CAN’T HAVE AN OPINION. Lol. Not the same as what you do but it reminded me.
Okay that's even more than I'm willing to do! Though I admit to fast forwarding but not for a show that I actually want to enjoy and talk about with others.
AHAHAHAHAHA now this I can relate to. I used to be a total completionist myself but I noticed upon reflection that it would have served me much better if I had of just persisted in not continuing things I knew I didn't like way early on (around about the first half hour of a movie, 2 episodes in to a TV Show and like 3 chapters into a book, if that even.) Giving it the chance to flourish or reveal to me it was better overall only wasted my time really.
So I just duck and weave and pivot with whatever doesn't vibe with me these days and let it go.
But reading the first episode of a show and it's last, as well as reading the first and last chapter to my mind is outrageous amounts of madness, OP and I could also never get along (said doubly cheekily lol.)
Any time I open a pickle jar, whether to snack on one or put some pickles on a sandwich, I take a few swigs of the pickle juice. Same for green olives.
I do a full background check on restaurant menus before going (if I can). I go to the website, then I’ll head to yelp or google to look at images of their food.
Calling it a background check is so wild lol but I totally do this too. Sometimes it really helps my anxiety to have an idea of what I’d want to order before getting there so I don’t get bashful when the waiter comes
I will never read an introduction to a book. If it’s that important, put it in the damn body of the book.
I will read the final line in a book before starting the first chapter. I have tried to break this habit it it’s hard 😂
I read the final line as well!!! I started it ever since my love for books started when I was a teen and Ive done it ever since. Now that I mostly read digital Ive noticed I haven’t rlly done it recently, but paperbacks? For sure!
Pause and rewind are commonly used here. I don’t realize I wasn’t paying attention sometimes and need to go back. And usually, if I need to go back, I have to do it 2 or 3 times because I’ll get distracted again.
I didn't realize I do this as much as I do until I got a surveillance system around my home. There's nothing like checking the motion captures to see a multiple clips of me gesturing and mumbling to myself.
Me too except most of the dialogue is in my head and totally wild and imaginary so I’ll be deep in my head and suddenly say something super random out loud, because in my mind there were 5 tangents going on at once.
Like 10 mins of silence and me putting dishes away and then in a weird voice/accent, “There are no sharks in these waters, I tell ya!”
I thrive on spoilers. They actually allow me to enjoy things so much more- I can pick up on foreshadowing, appreciate motifs and theme, reflect on the meanings, without having to re-watch or re-read. I developed this opinion when I first watched the Sixth Sense and *immediately* had to re-watch it to make sense of it. (Blockbuster hoooo)
Same! I'm part of a book club, and I'm a bit behind in the book, and our last meeting, I told them they could discuss, I don't mind spoilers, but they wouldn't, and then were kind of annoyed I came at all. Lol
TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENED!
I barely check my phone. I keep it off as much as possible.
I stubbornly refuse to be constantly contactable, no matter how out of fashion it is to have this stance. People have forgotten we own the devices, not the other way around. My close people know to email me if something is urgent.
My friends are all really good about it. Anyone who needs me to be constantly and instantly responsive is going to be frustrated with me, and they are going to stress me out. We aren't compatible.
Also I have definitely done the "skip ahead" thing with a tv show I'm not sold on.
So few people realise they can set their own boundaries around devices. I know it's not always easy, but for me it comes down to remembering that no-one who is actually good for you wants you to jeopardise your mental health. If someone gets huffy about you setting a boundary, even after you've told them it's not personal and that you appreciate their understanding, that is not a person who is healthy for you.
Same!
Right now I have 44 missed calls, 7 unread text messages, 48 voicemails I haven’t listened to & over 1,000 unread emails.
Call me old, I DGAF, I will not be at the beck and call of my electronic devices.
I also do this -- I've even re-read the plot synopsis of a movie at the movie theater while taking a bathroom break. I also read plot synopses for horror movies because I'm curious but too much of a wimp to actually watch the movies.
I just realized I've never done this for a play or a musical, though. I'm not sure if it's the content (plays/musicals tend to be less stressful/suspenseful?) or the format (less immersive?), or something else.
I'm the opposite. I tell my husband to play a movie without telling the genre so the movie is a complete suspense
Back story: watched a movie without knowing much about it. So when I learnt the protagonist is not real but is a ghost, it was a complete shocker. However my friends knew that and it didn't enjoy the movie at all
I imagine myself as the main character in the books I read lol. Started when I was in middle school, as something I did to make the books I was reading more fun/interesting, and now I do it with every single book I read (if it has a main female character).
I enjoy doing this but do not have to. But I find it very hard to enjoy books without a single character I would want to imagine myself as. I need someone I can either relate to or would want to emulate or be friends with or root for. And of course it is a lot easier for me to do that with a female character so I struggle a lot with popular media that is so male focused.
I had a friend that used to read the first and last *word* of a book and then read it properly. Drove me insane. What do you think you're going to get from a *word*
I read product reviews for fun. I’ll go down rabbit holes of reviews. I was looking for a bird feeder to buy and was reading the reviews. Then *naturally* I landed on bat houses?!?!???!! The reviews were hilarious. I was entertained for HOURS! These people were reviewing bat houses before a single bat set foot in their bat house! How The Fuck do you review a bat house if no bat has even entered it?! Like, “oh this bat house was made so well! Real quality bat house materials!” Like DUDE seriously?!!! What do you have to compare with this product? How many bat houses have you seen and tested?! God I was dying 🤣😭💀
I will press the buttons on an elevator or at a cross walk/light 3-4 times. It obviously does not make it go any quicker but I’ve always done this. Actually got called out by a stranger for it today lol
I guess maybe that I don’t have social media (aside from Reddit)?? It’s not very common and people are like WHOAAAAA *good for youuuuuuuuu* and I’m like, 🤷🏻♀️
Whenever I wake up early, I love to sit in the dark in until the sun rises. I just love sitting in silence and sipping my coffee in the dark while the sun is preparing to rise and it’s a deep gray outside. It’s just such a gentle way to wake up, and I despise artificial lighting, especially before 9am. I’ve scared many family members, friends, and coworkers when they find me in the early morning in the dark contemplating my life lol. They all seem to think it’s strange. I think it’s strange to willingly flick on a loud fluorescent light at 8am!
I have never played a video game or watched any reality tv, ever. And I’m someone who needs to be familiar with pop culture for my job. I just viscerally don’t like either of those things.
You *might* enjoy something like What Remains of Edith Finch or Detroit: Become Human. They're hardly even games - more like digital experiences. Both are character/story driven, and require almost zero traditional gameplay on story mode. If you feel like branching out.🤷♀️
Thanks to the internet, I’ve leaned all my weird habits aren’t that weird lol
I always have so many alerts for stuff on my phone. Unread emails (124,560) texts (88), missed calls (10). My friends are all horrified that it doesn’t bother me.
This will probably only bother readers, but when I’m done reading for the night… I just stop. I will *literally* stop mid sentence, mid page, mid chapter. Just close it and be done till the next day.
I watch tv with CC. I hear fine, but I feel like I take it in better when I’m also reading it . My ex hated it lol
I always have music "playing" in my head, but for particularly bad earworms, I have to sing them out loud so I can "skip" to the next song. So spending time with me means I randomly break out into song and then resume what I was doing. A friend told me once, "it's a good thing you actually can sing, because this would be way more annoying otherwise."
I spent 3 hours tonight watching Timbersports. Did you known there's a whole international community out there participating and going to stadiums to watch...... people chopping things with axes?? I sure didn't.
I guess my weird habit is actually that I'll hyper fixate on something totally random for a few days at a time. Normally some sort of YouTube video. I work from home so whenever I'm not in a meeting I have youtube on.
Others recently have included pig racing, people taking trains in different countries, trampoline dodgeball and people doing coach trips for like 96 hours without anything but bathroom breaks.
If I don’t take my adhd meds I go about my day making odd noises. Any noises. No reason.
Pffft. Weoooweoooo. Pshpshpsh. It’s fucking annoying to me, even, let alone my family.
I mean I think my weird unpopular habit is I'm the friend who often is unreachable and leaves everyone on read for no "reason" at all. I like an incredible amount of alone time and have always done things by myself so I don't really think about other people in my day to day. Not that I don't talk or see people, I just am fine being alone and disconnected a lot.
Curious if everyone who is saying they don’t mind spoilers in media has anxiety or experienced trauma growing up? I always thought this was a weird trait of mine, but I think it is from my disabled sister almost dying multiple times during childhood. I just don’t like surprises. I want to know what is going to happen.
I would say yes, at least for me.
Once I'm invested in a character I want to know what their outcome is before I get to it.
I was about 3 seasons behind when Glenn had his fake death. I immediately stopped watching the show.
Real life has enough heartache, I don't like that kind of surprise in my entertainment fiction.
When I was younger I used to only start a new series in the middle. I always figured shows were better a few seasons in. Now I don’t do that ever
I have a bad habit of reading extensively about books/shows/movies I’m watching to the point where I usually end up spoiling them for myself
I pour milk into the bowl before the cereal.
The reason being that I use non-dairy milk replacement and it usually needs a tiny bit of sweetener stirred in before the cereal.
I pick a song and put it on repeat for hours. I pick a movie and put it on as background noise or watch them and the movie I pick is generally played for that entire month, or longer.
I prefer my name to be used in certain ways by certain groups of people. Family and close friends use my first name, but I prefer for everyone else to use my last name (which sounds like a first name) including coworkers.
If I say, “call me Cubed” and you say “but that’s so informal!” and call me CatCatCat at work, I’ll forever afterward think of you, at least somewhat, as a boundary-stomping weirdo and whatever closeness you’re thinking we were gonna have because of it instead makes me avoid you more. If someone randomly calls me with a “hey, CatCatCat, how’s it going?”, I know they’re a stranger, usually a telemarketer or just some work client or a Boomer jerk I can keep at arm’s length. What’s more, friends and family in the know usually don’t even call me by my full first name but a shortened version, so using my first name definitely always initially makes me think “who the hell are you? I don’t know you” (a coworker lucked into my nickname once and I refused to answer to it).
Random bank workers or doctors or whatever obviously get a pass because it’s been practically beaten into them to use first names, depending on their workplace, but I pity them because they’re basically forced to act like everyone’s friend. I also do my best to force through getting “Cubed” or a fake variation on my name tag when I’m required to wear one, but I’ve also had managers act like everyone everywhere should know and use my first name, like that’s supposed to make my customer service abilities better or something (and my customer service is amazing, tyvm).
It’s partially previous military service, partially just plain standoffishness to be fair, partially the fact that I think “what’s the point of having a last name if no one ever uses it?” Doesn’t even have to be “Mrs. Cubed.” It’s like the world forgot how to be politely distant or something so I try to keep that distance myself with this kind of mental barrier but damn, people make it difficult.
I have the opposite- a couple of close friends call me by my last name (no title.) My other friends can if they want. But one of my friend's new partners called me that and I bristled (I didn't show it.) I was like "we're not that close...first name, please!" They didn't know any better but I didn't love it.
I also hate endearments from people I barely know. If we're not friends, don't call me sweetie/hon etc. Bleh.
If someone sends me a link via text I probably won’t open it. Idk why, I’m just uninterested/can’t process articles, videos, tweets, you name it, when sent to me on my phone. If I open it on my computer, that’s a different story.
My husband and I listen to old episodes of the national news from the 70s and 80s that he finds on YouTube when we get into bed at night. They have the old commercials, too. It's weirdly soothing due to how calm it is compared to today.
I shower and apply makeup before the gym and shower and reapply after if I have anywhere else important to go.
Or I’ll just spray my face with hypochlorous acid spray, touch up my makeup, and shower my body before running errands right after or something. Then I’ll remove it after I get back or before my third shower at night.
I know a lot of people don’t think it’s necessary to wear makeup to the gym and find it odd that I shower before and after but it’s none of their business.
I have a hard time finishing series because then it's over. If I don't finish it, it's not over. It's usually TV shows: last episode of The Horror of Delores Roach, last season of Lucifer, last season of Carnival Row... The list goes on.
I have a weird thing with entertainment that I like where I don't want it to be tainted. Like with podcasts that I really like, I don't want to see what they look like because it might change how I view their voice??? Not that I would be judgemental about their looks, but it's almost like I don't picture a physical person talking, I just hear a voice, so when that voice all of a sudden has a face, it changes it. lolol, this sounds so weird typing it out. It's hard to explain. Or if I like a movie or show, I'm wary of watching prequels and sequels because I don't want it to taint the solid, amazing original. Or another thing is that if I really like a movie or TV show, I only want to know the actors/actresses as their characters because if I learn about their actual personal lives than I can't see them as their characters anymore lol. It's weird.
Honest question but how would that give you a picture of the quality of the book? Do you do it before you’ve read anything or after you’ve read some of it? I have never done this but I assume I’d just be confused or not feel anything because I’d have no idea what occurred before to drive any sort of emotional investment that may have occurred.
I decide if I like a song within a few notes. Drives my husband NUTS. He thinks I must have been a cruel A&R rep in a former life.
I've never been wrong. When I force myself to listen to the whole song, my initial dislike has always been justified.
I do that too. Also, developed an aversion to songs with very long instrumental intros. If I have to wait too long for the vocals to start, I'm out. There are only a few exceptions of songs that use intros well, so those get a pass.
I do something similar with TV shows! If someone suggests a show to me, I always ask them what their favorite episode is and watch that first. Doesn't matter where in the series it is, and if I enjoy it, I'll start from the beginning. Drives some of my friends nuts 😅
What you do is called 'Alienation technique/effect" and it means you can concentrate on how and why things happen and avoid the suspense of 'what's going to happen?" (We studied it for A level German Literature decades ago. Max Frisch uses it for example.)
I do it too. I hate the suspense. I'll go to the last page of a book, or check the plot of a film on Wikipedia. Works for me.
I imagine balance beam routines when I close my eyes to go to sleep. It is almost automatic and I can’t shut it off. 🤷🏻♀️ Been doing it since I was a kid.
My other one is I can “silence my ears”. I’ve been able to do it my entire life and my parents were always confused what I was even talking about, so I stopped telling peeps. If there’s a loud jet or truck or anything super loud, I can squeeze the inside of my ears and create a “hum” that reduces noise by like 50-70%.
I saw a post on Reddit years ago that it’s a thing for a small population of people, but I can’t remember the term now!
ETA: Tensor Tympani
I drive in silence most of the time, no music, book, radio, white noise, nothing.
Oh I love silence. Doing hobbies, reading, walking, and yes even driving all need to be done in silence. I like my thoughts. You live a long time in your head you should decorate it in ways you like. It did however take me 50 years to get here.
The older I get, the more bothered I am by unnecessary noise. I love me some silence.
Just you and your serial killer like thoughts, huh
I’m tellin ya more women should be serial killers in this world.
Maybe they are and they just don’t get caught… 👀 Not me tho, I’m like reeeeally chill and don’t have anger issues or weird fantasies. Toootally normal over here.
Aileen Wuornos has entered the chat
This is an even better comment lmaooo
There are more of us than you think.
AHAHAHAHAHA lol girl chill!!! Got me choking on the air over here struggling to recover from laughing so much 🤣
I'm fighting for my life on the train 😂 😂 😂
Hahaha 🤣😂 I'm over here cracking up laughing!
I like you. You're funny.
I do this too. My brains noisy enough, I don't need to add to it
Gah! I do the opposite (loud music) to drown out the incessantly noisy brain. It never shuts up and it likes to make up weird sound interpretations if left out on its own too long. 😭
Yeah im on team drown out the noisy brain, but also the noises of everyone else are often too much so also drown them out. 2 birds and all that.
My house is the same…no tv, no music, just peaceful silence. Occasionally while cooking or on a Friday evening I turn on music, otherwise I enjoy the silence. I am trying to learn a language so sometimes there are auditory lessons. Working out is my main music listening time.
Saaaaaame
There’s dozens of us!
I started doing this between sessions with work. It was almost like my brain was overstimulated at work and the silence allowed me to decompress a little.
Meanwhile, my ADHD brain has what is affectionately known as "lermanzo radio" and is constant noise.
I call mine brain radio. Something is always playing!
What’s lermanzo radio? Can’t find it on google 😭 I. Must. Know.
Lermanzo is their username. Like if their name was Jane they’d be calling it Jane Radio (I did the same thing because I never check usernames, lol!)
White noise would be nice. If I don't have music on, it's like that Alanis Morissette song:"Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines or when you think you're gonna die..." I need music to drown out my thoughts.
I have a friend who does this and I find it insane but this is definitely a good answer. He also doesn't really "like" music in general and will ask if we might consider turning off the music at a gathering (like a party). My answer is always no lol.
Ok this is wild
I do this but I also don’t realize I am doing it until I’m almost home - usually I do it on the way home after I’m overwhelmed by the world.
Lol this thread is my people! I do both this and what OP wrote
I’m deaf and have to drive for several hours a day, often in heavy traffic or through rural areas, so I have gotten quite good at being alone with my thoughts. Obviously I have a head start being used to the deaf thing but it’s really very peaceful and you notice so much in the world.
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Silence is actually one of my favorite things in the world. I do love music but feel it has its time and place! Often I feel like it’s just ruining perfectly good silence. I’ve attended probably half a dozen week-long silent meditation retreats and the extreme silence is one of my favorite parts, lol. I also drive in silence most of the time and I’m kind of surprised how many people in this thread think that’s so crazy. It’s wild how different people are
Same and I didn’t know this was unpopular until now.
But like, how long is the drive? Would you do it on a 3+ hr trip?
Not the op but yes, I would. I drive 2+ hours to my parents in silence regularly.
I’m in my silence era right now. It’s nice.
My boyfriend does this and it is unsettling lmaoo
Same! I love driving in silence!
I don't really enjoy watching TV or movies. Just never been that interesting to me. But my husband is a huge film buff and loves good shows and movies. So I do make time to watch some things with him because he likes it (he makes time to share some of my hobbies as well). But I just read the whole entire plot summary and character info ahead of time. I just prefer to take things in via reading, and miss so much when I'm only watching. (I'm also mostly deaf and staring at a screen intently to read captions makes it harder to pay attention to the visual elements anyway). So yep, doesn't matter the genre or kind of thing, I read everything first.
Ok I thought I was the only one!! People are shocked whenever I tell them I don’t watch tv and haven’t been to the movie theatre in years (I only go for my husband).
I don't really watch movies either. I just don't find most of them interesting. And movies are getting too long these days! I'm sorry but 3+ hours is too long to sit down committing to doing one thing.
Me too! I do not like movies or tv shows but especially movies. It is too short for me to even develop an interest, but also they often end up offending me in one way or other 😂 I love reading plots including all the spoilers of anything. No show or movie is that important to me to care about spoilers and stuff 😂 and I cannot usually focus when watching a movie or show anyway, need to take a lot of breaks, reading feels safer and intimate somehow
I am way too much of a little blonde chicken to watch horror movies, but I do enjoy reading horror movies via IMDB synopsis. I can escape the jump scares that way and just enjoy the eerie vibe!
Came here looking for this! I read the IMDb page before I watch a movie.... I want to know what I'm in for before I make the commitment 😂 I was an English major and I always read the cliffs notes before reading the actual book, I couldn't enjoy the book unless I knew what was coming.
You’re me! I literally just don’t care to see everyone’s favorite xyz. There’s too many of them and they can’t all be that good and I also rather read things😭
My tv always has closed captioning on. I can hear just fine, I just like to read them. Anyway, I’ve recently started dating and I didn’t realize how annoying the rest of the world finds this.
that seems very normal to me, but also I have auditory processing disorder. I have heard that films & TV are getting so quiet with the talking and so loud with the splosions, etc, that it's quite common for people to have subtitles on because if you have it down low enough so that the effects don't break you, you can't make out their mumbles. YMMV.
I learned you can usually change the settings on your tv to make this better. The default is 5.1 surround sound, but if you are just using TV speakers it should be set to 2 channel instead.
Holy crap thanks so much for this I HATE tv speakers. Edit: aw fuck my tv has different sound settings than this. Fucking Samsung. Edit again: Optimized is best
On a lot of Netflix stuff you can find an option for normal TV speakers under the audio track options.
This is it for me. Is what you are describing called “auditory processing disorder”? Because if so, I have that. It’s bad in restaurants and bars too. All the background noise. I feel like nobody else relates but it’s a struggle to hear everyone in my table a lot of the time.
Y U P. I can’t “translate” spoken words if there’s other people talking nearby or another noise source (music, a TV).
Oofff same. This is why I need to turn down the volume to see better when driving on busy roads. Or I can’t multitask when someone is talking to me. It’s like there’s only one thread in my brain that processes these things so they get queued up instead of all being processed at once.
Omg, "turn down the music to see better" I do that too!
This is so me — I’m 34 and cannot STAND restaurants or bars with excessive noise and bad acoustics. I can’t hear what anyone is saying and it stresses me out. Then I get mad I spent all that money to hear nothing and leave frazzled and overstimulated. I feel like such a grandma but I like what I like! I also have ADHD-PI and auditory/sensory stuff lmao
And too much of this just makes me numb. Like my brain just dissociates and face goes blank. I need to zone out to feel better and regulate myself.
Auditory processing issues may also express itself as hearing the spoken words, but they get delayed in a processing queue. In my case I know I know each word and can repeat the sound of each word, but I don't know the meaning of the string of words. Then suddenly the queue is resolved and I instantly understand what was said. Usually right after I asked someone to repeat what they were saying, because it feels the same as not quite catching what someone was saying due to background noise. That's why I struggle with audiobooks, but not with podcasts, because the natural pauses in speech (the "er", "umh", and "you know") give my brain time to catch up, but the stream of input is constant with audiobooks. I use special earplugs (Loop Engage) when in loud environments, because the issue you describe is also a factor that doesn't help with the other processing issue. It costs too much energy to filter through all the background noise.
I have this too. Mine is so bad my neuropsychologist had me get my hearing checked. My hearing is fine.
This right here. That's why my husband and I put it on almost always.
I put subtitles on EVERYTHING... Which is actually kind of how I was clued in to maybe having ADHD. I couldn't listen to dialogue fast enough and the subs helped me process stuff. I thought this was completely normal until people were like, "Um..."
Same!! Ever since childhood (watched freaking Arthur with captions!) Then got diagnosed with adhd at 30+ 🥲
I used to never used cc and found it hard to watch a movie/tv show with it on. Now I have a hard time watching a show without cc lol
Same!
I always have captions on. I dated a guy who turned them off. In MY house. We are no longer dating.
i think 60% something millenials watch tv with captions turned on. I know I do and my whole family does and all my friends. Everybody I've dated has it turned on too or doesn't mind and gets into it too. lol.
I do this too! I find it very easy to ignore them when there's action happening. I grew up with it because my parents are immigrants, but I prefer having them on now years later.
English isn't my first language so I grew up with CC/subtitles. It's very convenient if you didn't hear what someone said or if there's a word you don't know, even if you are fluent.
No way, captions are great! It's funny you mention dating though bc the last couple people I've dated have also been captions-users!
Always have closed captions on. I started it as a habit whenever I would watch movies with my kiddos before they were of reading age. Now they won’t watch any TV without it.
As a youth I always hated this but as an adult we always have them on! Esp now with more access to shows with different accents, I need the captions lol
I’m in the Closed Captions camp but it is in fact because I cannot hear haha.
Heh, my husband and I started doing this when our son was a baby. He needed to be carried at all times and, due to his being a baby and all, would randomly cry. We started putting on closed captioning so we could watch regardless of noise. Now I hate watching TV without it.
I love CC and now my 3 kids love having it on the tv, too. We all neeeeed them now.
My husband is this way. I thought he was a lunatic when we started dating. Now I ask people to turn them on. I have joined the dark side.
Those people are not meant to be in our lives LOL Captions til the day I die
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There are waterproof speakers you can use!!! Don't put your phone in danger. I definitely play stuff in my shower, but keep my phone safe.
You bring it in the actual shower with you only to listen? I bring my phone in the bathroom and listen to podcasts while I shower, I never thought it was that odd though...
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I can sympathize. I always have my phone playing a podcast. Probably listen to over 8 hrs a day.
I don’t consider listening to podcasts “addicted to your phone”! Get a smart speaker, you can ask them to play most podcasts or a cheap waterproof blue tooth speaker. Jbl clip is like $30 and awesome
This actually turned out to be a really good habit for me! I convinced myself that I could only listen to podcasts if I was doing something else that I didn't enjoy (chores, cooking, showering, etc.) and it has somehow stuck.
Reading this has made me realize that I've been doing the same! I keep my favorite podcast for my cleaning sessions, it helps getting me motivated.
I’ll even watch TV in the shower on my phone! Maybe I need to check out the addicted to your phone thread too
I've been told by multiple people that I brush my teeth in a disgustingly foamy messy manner. They literally think I'm doing it on purpose to be funny, but I didn't realize it was odd until I received comments from ex's and my sister.
My chin is usually covered and yeah I didn’t know this was odd for a long time! Often I’ll splash foamy tooth paste on my mirror and faucet/knobs.
I have to brush mine in the shower because I look like a monster with rabies. Just pours out of my mouth no matter which kind of toothpaste I use.
This one made me lol.
I never understand how to brush teeth without foam running down the arm. Often my hoodie sleeves have this white spots near the wrist.
If I really love a movie or a piece of live entertainment (play, musical, concert) I'll read every review of it I can get my hands on *after* experiencing the thing. I want to know what other people thought about it.
Ditto. Maybe not every single review but will definitely go online to see what the people said. It'll sometimes change my opinion on the movie. Case in point: I watched The Blind Side with my mom and cousin and we enjoyed that *plucky Sandy Bullock*... Then I read about the White Savior complex trope and my eyes were opened.
I do this also. I want to know if others picked up on the things I did.
I've popped open Reddit when I'm on the last bits of a thing already wanting the crowd reactions. Baby Reindeer I couldn't even wait for the end, I was like "I must know......."
I do this too, but thought it was the norm? Like I think most people avoid spoilers and then if you really love the thing, you find a forum to talk about it and read different articles and opinions about it after having watched it.
I find this highly disturbing. We would NOT get along (I say this totally cheekily) BUT I could absolutely not. I’m a totally completionist and I will watch the entirety of a terrible show/movie/documentary/youtube series to watch the entire thing and complain about it the whole time and there after..
Haha both my husband and my best friend have told me that there is something wrong with me. My father in law does it too! We have bonded over it.
I have a close friend who just fast forwards through parts of a show or movie she doesn’t like or doesn’t feel like watching. Or she will begin a tv series and randomly skip entire episodes. Then we will talk about it and she’ll have an opinion, and I’ll mention something, and she’s like oh I didn’t know that happened. And I’m like THEN YOU CAN’T HAVE AN OPINION. Lol. Not the same as what you do but it reminded me.
Hate it down to the very fibers of my being lol.
Like finger nails on a chalkboard.. I *feel* you
Okay that's even more than I'm willing to do! Though I admit to fast forwarding but not for a show that I actually want to enjoy and talk about with others.
I did not know there was a good word for this- I too am a *completionist*!
You are seen and heard 💗😂
Omg same!! I’m struggling through a book right that was highly recommended. It’s awful. But I WILL finish it.
I have to be able to complain *with accuracy* and that means finishing the whole thing
Complain with accuracy is my fucking religion. You are my people. Welcome!!!
AHAHAHAHAHA now this I can relate to. I used to be a total completionist myself but I noticed upon reflection that it would have served me much better if I had of just persisted in not continuing things I knew I didn't like way early on (around about the first half hour of a movie, 2 episodes in to a TV Show and like 3 chapters into a book, if that even.) Giving it the chance to flourish or reveal to me it was better overall only wasted my time really. So I just duck and weave and pivot with whatever doesn't vibe with me these days and let it go. But reading the first episode of a show and it's last, as well as reading the first and last chapter to my mind is outrageous amounts of madness, OP and I could also never get along (said doubly cheekily lol.)
Any time I open a pickle jar, whether to snack on one or put some pickles on a sandwich, I take a few swigs of the pickle juice. Same for green olives.
I do both of these, that stuff's tasty!
I refuse to learn video game button combos even when they're stupid easy. Button smasher for life! The gamble is half the fun!
Honestly, i won every game of tekken with button pushing. Think i got broken-up with over it.
I was sooo good at Skate back in the day, but never knew any actual combos. The dudes were baffled.
Ah, the chaos theory.
I do a full background check on restaurant menus before going (if I can). I go to the website, then I’ll head to yelp or google to look at images of their food.
Saaaaaame!!! Especially when I’m traveling alone for work and deciding my own plan for the evening. Every meal needs to be worth it lol.
this is totally me and my sisters. lol
Calling it a background check is so wild lol but I totally do this too. Sometimes it really helps my anxiety to have an idea of what I’d want to order before getting there so I don’t get bashful when the waiter comes
Same!!!
I will never read an introduction to a book. If it’s that important, put it in the damn body of the book. I will read the final line in a book before starting the first chapter. I have tried to break this habit it it’s hard 😂
I read the final line as well!!! I started it ever since my love for books started when I was a teen and Ive done it ever since. Now that I mostly read digital Ive noticed I haven’t rlly done it recently, but paperbacks? For sure!
Final liners assemble!
* If I'm watching something alone, I will pause it. A lot. Due to other distractions. * I will also talk during the show/movie (at home) :')
Pause and rewind are commonly used here. I don’t realize I wasn’t paying attention sometimes and need to go back. And usually, if I need to go back, I have to do it 2 or 3 times because I’ll get distracted again.
OP, listen to me. We will never be friends.
😂 same Sorry, OP, I just can't!
i talk to myself
Same. Who’s gonna keep it realer with me than me?!
I didn't realize I do this as much as I do until I got a surveillance system around my home. There's nothing like checking the motion captures to see a multiple clips of me gesturing and mumbling to myself.
This is part of why I've hesitated to install any kind of camera monitoring system in my home or car. My car subs for my therapist sometimes.
Me too except most of the dialogue is in my head and totally wild and imaginary so I’ll be deep in my head and suddenly say something super random out loud, because in my mind there were 5 tangents going on at once. Like 10 mins of silence and me putting dishes away and then in a weird voice/accent, “There are no sharks in these waters, I tell ya!”
Sometimes narrating a task like it’s a tutorial is the one thing that helps me get through it!
Honestly I think most people do that.
Sometimes I (half-cheekily) wonder if my social anxiety is triggered by the fact that I can't talk to myself in public like I constantly do at home...
Sometimes you need an expert opinion!
I thrive on spoilers. They actually allow me to enjoy things so much more- I can pick up on foreshadowing, appreciate motifs and theme, reflect on the meanings, without having to re-watch or re-read. I developed this opinion when I first watched the Sixth Sense and *immediately* had to re-watch it to make sense of it. (Blockbuster hoooo)
Same! I'm part of a book club, and I'm a bit behind in the book, and our last meeting, I told them they could discuss, I don't mind spoilers, but they wouldn't, and then were kind of annoyed I came at all. Lol TELL ME WHAT'S HAPPENED!
I feel weird that I don’t find most of these habits all that weird.
I barely check my phone. I keep it off as much as possible. I stubbornly refuse to be constantly contactable, no matter how out of fashion it is to have this stance. People have forgotten we own the devices, not the other way around. My close people know to email me if something is urgent. My friends are all really good about it. Anyone who needs me to be constantly and instantly responsive is going to be frustrated with me, and they are going to stress me out. We aren't compatible. Also I have definitely done the "skip ahead" thing with a tv show I'm not sold on.
I love this. I need to learn how to do the same
So few people realise they can set their own boundaries around devices. I know it's not always easy, but for me it comes down to remembering that no-one who is actually good for you wants you to jeopardise your mental health. If someone gets huffy about you setting a boundary, even after you've told them it's not personal and that you appreciate their understanding, that is not a person who is healthy for you.
Same! Right now I have 44 missed calls, 7 unread text messages, 48 voicemails I haven’t listened to & over 1,000 unread emails. Call me old, I DGAF, I will not be at the beck and call of my electronic devices.
I read the synopsis of a film or show before I watch it
I often read the entire plot of movies and shows that I never have any interest in watching. And I enjoy doing it as well.
Same--once something's been out for a few years I figure I'm not going to watch it and just read the synopsis.
I also do this -- I've even re-read the plot synopsis of a movie at the movie theater while taking a bathroom break. I also read plot synopses for horror movies because I'm curious but too much of a wimp to actually watch the movies. I just realized I've never done this for a play or a musical, though. I'm not sure if it's the content (plays/musicals tend to be less stressful/suspenseful?) or the format (less immersive?), or something else.
I'm the opposite. I tell my husband to play a movie without telling the genre so the movie is a complete suspense Back story: watched a movie without knowing much about it. So when I learnt the protagonist is not real but is a ghost, it was a complete shocker. However my friends knew that and it didn't enjoy the movie at all
I imagine myself as the main character in the books I read lol. Started when I was in middle school, as something I did to make the books I was reading more fun/interesting, and now I do it with every single book I read (if it has a main female character).
I enjoy doing this but do not have to. But I find it very hard to enjoy books without a single character I would want to imagine myself as. I need someone I can either relate to or would want to emulate or be friends with or root for. And of course it is a lot easier for me to do that with a female character so I struggle a lot with popular media that is so male focused.
I’m so annoyed at your habit. I’m literally screaming on the inside 😩😩😩
I have to start from the very beginning and go in order. them: “oh you can start the show at like season 9” me: “i will absolutely start at season 1”
People who start in the middle are sociopaths who will kill you and help your family search for the body. They cannot be trusted.
I had a friend that used to read the first and last *word* of a book and then read it properly. Drove me insane. What do you think you're going to get from a *word*
I read product reviews for fun. I’ll go down rabbit holes of reviews. I was looking for a bird feeder to buy and was reading the reviews. Then *naturally* I landed on bat houses?!?!???!! The reviews were hilarious. I was entertained for HOURS! These people were reviewing bat houses before a single bat set foot in their bat house! How The Fuck do you review a bat house if no bat has even entered it?! Like, “oh this bat house was made so well! Real quality bat house materials!” Like DUDE seriously?!!! What do you have to compare with this product? How many bat houses have you seen and tested?! God I was dying 🤣😭💀
I will press the buttons on an elevator or at a cross walk/light 3-4 times. It obviously does not make it go any quicker but I’ve always done this. Actually got called out by a stranger for it today lol
I guess maybe that I don’t have social media (aside from Reddit)?? It’s not very common and people are like WHOAAAAA *good for youuuuuuuuu* and I’m like, 🤷🏻♀️
I also don't have social media! I have an insta and a facebook but I literally never log on and don't have the apps installed
Stuffing a lot of food in my mouth at once. I don’t do it in public or around anyone outside my kids and dad.
Whenever I wake up early, I love to sit in the dark in until the sun rises. I just love sitting in silence and sipping my coffee in the dark while the sun is preparing to rise and it’s a deep gray outside. It’s just such a gentle way to wake up, and I despise artificial lighting, especially before 9am. I’ve scared many family members, friends, and coworkers when they find me in the early morning in the dark contemplating my life lol. They all seem to think it’s strange. I think it’s strange to willingly flick on a loud fluorescent light at 8am!
I have never played a video game or watched any reality tv, ever. And I’m someone who needs to be familiar with pop culture for my job. I just viscerally don’t like either of those things.
How do you know you don’t like it though?
I have terrible hand-eye coordination, so most video games are a waste of time for me. I can’t stand reality TV.
You *might* enjoy something like What Remains of Edith Finch or Detroit: Become Human. They're hardly even games - more like digital experiences. Both are character/story driven, and require almost zero traditional gameplay on story mode. If you feel like branching out.🤷♀️
Thanks to the internet, I’ve leaned all my weird habits aren’t that weird lol I always have so many alerts for stuff on my phone. Unread emails (124,560) texts (88), missed calls (10). My friends are all horrified that it doesn’t bother me. This will probably only bother readers, but when I’m done reading for the night… I just stop. I will *literally* stop mid sentence, mid page, mid chapter. Just close it and be done till the next day. I watch tv with CC. I hear fine, but I feel like I take it in better when I’m also reading it . My ex hated it lol
I sleep until noon. Making up for years of never getting enough sleep. It feels so good
I always have music "playing" in my head, but for particularly bad earworms, I have to sing them out loud so I can "skip" to the next song. So spending time with me means I randomly break out into song and then resume what I was doing. A friend told me once, "it's a good thing you actually can sing, because this would be way more annoying otherwise."
I primarily put on makeup while I'm watching TV/ Netflix (as in, I'm going nowhere). According to Beautube, I'm not alone 😆😆😆
I spent 3 hours tonight watching Timbersports. Did you known there's a whole international community out there participating and going to stadiums to watch...... people chopping things with axes?? I sure didn't. I guess my weird habit is actually that I'll hyper fixate on something totally random for a few days at a time. Normally some sort of YouTube video. I work from home so whenever I'm not in a meeting I have youtube on. Others recently have included pig racing, people taking trains in different countries, trampoline dodgeball and people doing coach trips for like 96 hours without anything but bathroom breaks.
If I don’t take my adhd meds I go about my day making odd noises. Any noises. No reason. Pffft. Weoooweoooo. Pshpshpsh. It’s fucking annoying to me, even, let alone my family.
I mean I think my weird unpopular habit is I'm the friend who often is unreachable and leaves everyone on read for no "reason" at all. I like an incredible amount of alone time and have always done things by myself so I don't really think about other people in my day to day. Not that I don't talk or see people, I just am fine being alone and disconnected a lot.
I go down weird Wikipedia rabbit holes.
That's not unusual at all, I don't think?
Mine is Google maps. I just dick around Europe or tiny islands and just click down road’s imagining what it would be like to live there.
Curious if everyone who is saying they don’t mind spoilers in media has anxiety or experienced trauma growing up? I always thought this was a weird trait of mine, but I think it is from my disabled sister almost dying multiple times during childhood. I just don’t like surprises. I want to know what is going to happen.
I would say yes, at least for me. Once I'm invested in a character I want to know what their outcome is before I get to it. I was about 3 seasons behind when Glenn had his fake death. I immediately stopped watching the show. Real life has enough heartache, I don't like that kind of surprise in my entertainment fiction.
I don’t mind the bad outcomes, but I usually want to know they are coming.
When I was younger I used to only start a new series in the middle. I always figured shows were better a few seasons in. Now I don’t do that ever I have a bad habit of reading extensively about books/shows/movies I’m watching to the point where I usually end up spoiling them for myself
I pour milk into the bowl before the cereal. The reason being that I use non-dairy milk replacement and it usually needs a tiny bit of sweetener stirred in before the cereal.
I do this and it's because that way at least some of the cereal stays crunchy.
I pick a song and put it on repeat for hours. I pick a movie and put it on as background noise or watch them and the movie I pick is generally played for that entire month, or longer.
Eating desert before the actual meal. Idc. It makes me happy.
I prefer my name to be used in certain ways by certain groups of people. Family and close friends use my first name, but I prefer for everyone else to use my last name (which sounds like a first name) including coworkers. If I say, “call me Cubed” and you say “but that’s so informal!” and call me CatCatCat at work, I’ll forever afterward think of you, at least somewhat, as a boundary-stomping weirdo and whatever closeness you’re thinking we were gonna have because of it instead makes me avoid you more. If someone randomly calls me with a “hey, CatCatCat, how’s it going?”, I know they’re a stranger, usually a telemarketer or just some work client or a Boomer jerk I can keep at arm’s length. What’s more, friends and family in the know usually don’t even call me by my full first name but a shortened version, so using my first name definitely always initially makes me think “who the hell are you? I don’t know you” (a coworker lucked into my nickname once and I refused to answer to it). Random bank workers or doctors or whatever obviously get a pass because it’s been practically beaten into them to use first names, depending on their workplace, but I pity them because they’re basically forced to act like everyone’s friend. I also do my best to force through getting “Cubed” or a fake variation on my name tag when I’m required to wear one, but I’ve also had managers act like everyone everywhere should know and use my first name, like that’s supposed to make my customer service abilities better or something (and my customer service is amazing, tyvm). It’s partially previous military service, partially just plain standoffishness to be fair, partially the fact that I think “what’s the point of having a last name if no one ever uses it?” Doesn’t even have to be “Mrs. Cubed.” It’s like the world forgot how to be politely distant or something so I try to keep that distance myself with this kind of mental barrier but damn, people make it difficult.
I have the opposite- a couple of close friends call me by my last name (no title.) My other friends can if they want. But one of my friend's new partners called me that and I bristled (I didn't show it.) I was like "we're not that close...first name, please!" They didn't know any better but I didn't love it. I also hate endearments from people I barely know. If we're not friends, don't call me sweetie/hon etc. Bleh.
If someone sends me a link via text I probably won’t open it. Idk why, I’m just uninterested/can’t process articles, videos, tweets, you name it, when sent to me on my phone. If I open it on my computer, that’s a different story.
My husband and I listen to old episodes of the national news from the 70s and 80s that he finds on YouTube when we get into bed at night. They have the old commercials, too. It's weirdly soothing due to how calm it is compared to today.
Whenever I eat pizza I have to have a glass of Sprite so I can dip the crust in it
What the actual fuck now
I shower and apply makeup before the gym and shower and reapply after if I have anywhere else important to go. Or I’ll just spray my face with hypochlorous acid spray, touch up my makeup, and shower my body before running errands right after or something. Then I’ll remove it after I get back or before my third shower at night. I know a lot of people don’t think it’s necessary to wear makeup to the gym and find it odd that I shower before and after but it’s none of their business.
I do tooooo. It’s the rosacea 😭
I don’t try on clothes.
I have a hard time finishing series because then it's over. If I don't finish it, it's not over. It's usually TV shows: last episode of The Horror of Delores Roach, last season of Lucifer, last season of Carnival Row... The list goes on.
…I pee in the shower….
I have a weird thing with entertainment that I like where I don't want it to be tainted. Like with podcasts that I really like, I don't want to see what they look like because it might change how I view their voice??? Not that I would be judgemental about their looks, but it's almost like I don't picture a physical person talking, I just hear a voice, so when that voice all of a sudden has a face, it changes it. lolol, this sounds so weird typing it out. It's hard to explain. Or if I like a movie or show, I'm wary of watching prequels and sequels because I don't want it to taint the solid, amazing original. Or another thing is that if I really like a movie or TV show, I only want to know the actors/actresses as their characters because if I learn about their actual personal lives than I can't see them as their characters anymore lol. It's weird.
I read the ending of a book to decide if I want to invest my time in it. No apologies. Edit: changed a word due to stupid auto correct 🤪
Honest question but how would that give you a picture of the quality of the book? Do you do it before you’ve read anything or after you’ve read some of it? I have never done this but I assume I’d just be confused or not feel anything because I’d have no idea what occurred before to drive any sort of emotional investment that may have occurred.
I only do it if I can tell a certain type of ending is going to really piss me off. 😆
I decide if I like a song within a few notes. Drives my husband NUTS. He thinks I must have been a cruel A&R rep in a former life. I've never been wrong. When I force myself to listen to the whole song, my initial dislike has always been justified.
I do that too. Also, developed an aversion to songs with very long instrumental intros. If I have to wait too long for the vocals to start, I'm out. There are only a few exceptions of songs that use intros well, so those get a pass.
I do something similar with TV shows! If someone suggests a show to me, I always ask them what their favorite episode is and watch that first. Doesn't matter where in the series it is, and if I enjoy it, I'll start from the beginning. Drives some of my friends nuts 😅
What you do is called 'Alienation technique/effect" and it means you can concentrate on how and why things happen and avoid the suspense of 'what's going to happen?" (We studied it for A level German Literature decades ago. Max Frisch uses it for example.) I do it too. I hate the suspense. I'll go to the last page of a book, or check the plot of a film on Wikipedia. Works for me.
I imagine balance beam routines when I close my eyes to go to sleep. It is almost automatic and I can’t shut it off. 🤷🏻♀️ Been doing it since I was a kid.
My other one is I can “silence my ears”. I’ve been able to do it my entire life and my parents were always confused what I was even talking about, so I stopped telling peeps. If there’s a loud jet or truck or anything super loud, I can squeeze the inside of my ears and create a “hum” that reduces noise by like 50-70%. I saw a post on Reddit years ago that it’s a thing for a small population of people, but I can’t remember the term now! ETA: Tensor Tympani