Absent-mindedness

In the field of psychology, absent-mindedness is a mental state wherein a person is forgetfully inattentive.^[1] It is the opposite mental state of mindfulness.

Absentmindedness is often caused by things such as boredom, sleepiness, rumination, distraction, or preoccupation with one's own internal monologue. When experiencing absent-mindedness, people exhibit signs of memory lapses and weak recollection of recent events.

Absent-mindedness can usually be a result of a variety of other conditions often diagnosed by clinicians, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and depression. In addition to absent-mindedness leading to an array of consequences affecting daily life, it can have more severe, long-term problems.