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.
I’ve only been actively using Twitter for a couple of months. Based on that limited experience, here’s my assessment of the strengths and limitations of Twitter for ADHDers as I currently see them
Strengths
- The 140-character limit of Twitter’s “tweets” forces you to be succinct. Though it can take time to compose a tweet, it’s a relatively brief burst of focus. For ADHDers who struggle to express long and complex ideas, Twitter offers an alternative. The limit also creates an engaging verbal puzzle - express exactly the thought that you wish to within the 140-character limit.
- Twitter is a great way to network with others in the ADHD world - coaches, clinicians and regular people living with it; The ADHD community is widely represented on Twitter. It’s also easy to find people who share other interests with you, and to build an ongoing conversation with them.
- The prevailing tone of Twitter is intuitive, light, fun, and spontaneous - most tweeters don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Sounds a lot like many people with ADHD.
- For news and information lovers, Twitter is a great way to get quick hits of input. Every major news source is now on Twitter. Be aware of the risk of staying up all night following links. It’s worse than Wikipedia that way.
- The bantering nature of Twitter can be a welcome distraction from quotidian and banale work - as long as you keep your Twitter sessions fairly short.
- Twitter seems far less of a timewaster than Facebook, which is capable of sucking up hours of time. This may sound like damning with faint praise, but in my experience it’s true.
- Finally, Twitter offers an opportunity to blurt out things that seem useless in every possible way to anybody but yourself. This is something many, many people with ADHD are good at.
Limitations
- If you have even the slightest tendency to get hooked on screen time - web surfing, Facebook, instant messaging, and TV - it is crucial that you approach Twitter with your eyes wide open to the risk of addiction. Many people with ADHD are drawn to the small screen like moths to a candle - Ned Hallowell calls this “screensucking,” and it’s a very real problem. And because Twitter is chock full of so many interesting tidbits of information, there may be a tendency for some to fear missing “something important”. Get over it.
- There’s no doubt in my mind that Twitter enables procrastination, - It can suck you down one rabbit hole after another if you follow all those tempting links.
- There’s a lot of nonsense on Twitter, and you can waste a lot of precious time sifting through it. Only follow people who are of genuine interest to you.
Develop a Twitter strategy
Time management experts often recommend checking email two or three times per day, at set times. I think a similar approach is valuable for Twitter. Twitter is like a constant river of information and ideas - content yourself with dipping your toes no more than a few times a day. Or reward yourself with a Twitter break after accomplishing a certain amount of work. Don’t stay up all night on Twitter.
Please follow me on Twitter - but proceed with caution!
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