Just Admit That You've Zoned Out

A June 2024 LessWrong post arguing that zoning out is so common — even when listening to someone you respect explain something interesting — that any community focused on rationality, scholarship, or understanding ought to normalise the act of saying "Sorry, I zoned out, could you repeat what you said after the mitochondria part?" Joec argues both that the listener's comprehension is dramatically better and that the speaker should resist taking offence; he uses a personal anecdote of a friend who modelled the behaviour for him.