Twitter is Great for ADHDers. But Proceed with Caution
You can’t turn around these days without another journalist or blogger fulminating about the great blessing (or scourge, if that’s your persuasion) that is Twitter. It’s now transcended the blogosphere, and virally infected the hidebound world of newspaper journalism: The Globe and Mail, the grand old dame of Canadian papers and the nation’s self-proclaimed paper of record, has run at least half a dozen Twitter-related articles in the last fortnight. The New York Times had three articles on it yesterday alone (according to Lance Armstrong’s Twitter feed. I’m a retired bike racer; of course I follow him on Twitter!).
Twitter seems to have reached a tipping point.
As a coach who specializes in working with adults with ADHD, I am very conflicted about Twitter. Leaving aside the question of whether it’s the Social Network That Will Change Everything or merely a passing fad, there’s still a lot to think about. Overall, I think that Twitter has so much to recommend it that having ADHD is no reason to avoid it. I do have several concerns specific to ADHDers on Twitter, though, and I think it’s especially important to be aware of the very real challenges that Twitter presents to those who are easily distracted by technology. Read more
WTF?
Filed under: ADHD and Technology, ADT, Uncategorized
A friend who spends more time texting than I do told me that ‘wtf’ is a contraction of a crude, though often valuable question: “What the f___?” Who knew? Not me, that’s for sure. Until I was properly educated, ‘wtf’ for me stood for ‘Way Too Fast.’ When I thought of WTF, I had been thinking of the dizzying pace of modern life - the relentless, numbing assault of cell phones, BlackBerrys, email, junk mail, Twitter, you name it - and the widespread expectation that we can always find time for one more appointment, one more meeting, one more commitment. Surely with all this technology at our service, we can always find room for just one more thing on our calendars. Can’t we?
Of course we can’t. But we are constantly being told that we can. Almost every day some new gadget or software application holds forth the promise of enabling us to do more things, faster. We can maintain contact with more people, more often. We can be more connected. We can get more done. We can do things faster. Doing more things is good. Doing things faster is good. We will be happier.
But many people are saying that they are not happier at all. They are saying that they are overwhelmed. The truly wondrous technologies that make so many things possible are bombarding them with too many messages, too many demands for an immediate response. Swamped by input and no longer capable of sorting through it all, they seize up and shut down. A leading American psychiatrist, Dr. Edward Hallowell, calls this phenomenon Attention Deficit Trait (ADT). A leading expert in the study of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Hallowell believes that ADT is an affliction that mimics many of the symptoms of ADHD: distractability, inability to remain focused, restlessness, jumpiness. The key difference is this: while ADHD is largely an inherited, genetic neurological condition, ADT arises as a direct consequence of overwhelming pressure on people’s time — and technology plays an enormous role in generating and maintaining that pressure.
As a work-life coach who specializes in coaching adults with ADHD, I am convinced that ADT is a very real issue. In this blog I’ll be exploring issues surrounding adult ADHD and ADT, and I’ll share strategies, tools and ideas about how to become truly happier (and more productive, if that’s what you want), in this WTF world.
