I use Freedom on Ios and SelfControl on MacOS to limit myself to 30 minutes of slack per day. Using those apps it is literally inaccessible outside of a predetermined window (turning them off outside of the window requires a lot of work, or just wiping the device). I have it set up so that any important announcements go to my email, which I can see and reply to if they are in predetermined channels.
Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
301–310 of 392 posts
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#302Slack simply shows that the human mind is not made by default for looking a dozens of chat channels.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#303I don’t have ADHD but I get very distracted by Slack. Here’s what worked for me. 1. Slack app uninstalled on my phone. If I need it for something, I install it, use it, then delete again. 2. Slack app on my laptop fully closed by default. 3. Set times (about 5 a day) to check in and respond to notifications and scan channels. When I was a senior manager with lots of actually important messages these blocks were about…
This is all great advice (especially "uninstall it from your phone"). I'll add to this that if anyone involved with Slack is around here, Slack is in desperate need of more powerful/flexible muting controls -- ie, not just muting notifications from specific channels/DMs, but actually doing things like suppressing visual indicators in the sidebar, muting during certain time periods, etc... You want to go wild, it woul…
If you use virtual desktops disable notifications and park it in a desktop of its own. Go there to check if there are any news. That works for me. Of course no slack on the phone.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#304I don’t have ADHD but I get very distracted by Slack. Here’s what worked for me. 1. Slack app uninstalled on my phone. If I need it for something, I install it, use it, then delete again. 2. Slack app on my laptop fully closed by default. 3. Set times (about 5 a day) to check in and respond to notifications and scan channels. When I was a senior manager with lots of actually important messages these blocks were about…
These, or something very similar, are essential to concentration. It's just not possible otherwise. The problem is this means nothing if the work culture is an expectation of always being available. So it's not entirely a technical problem (like many work problems).
Even if it's not an always-available thing, how you can control Slack really depends on expectations - especially working remote. Do my colleagues and mentees really want to be blocked for two hours because they need a two-minute input from me?
I have set Slack up so that certain things alert me, and most channels are just muted, but as others pointed out more fine-grain controls would be even better. Really just "only notifications for DMs for these people" would be a great QoL.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#305Not related to slack, but managing your ADHD symptoms. Look into a low oxalate diet, it really helped me and my children. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21911305/ https://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/articles-1/2015/11/13/... https://korunutrition.com/autism-low-oxalate-diet/ https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/vegetarianism-and...
Interesting links, thanks! (in case it helps anyone else...) About half a year ago I discovered that a brutally low carb diet -- leading to being in ketosis -- drastically helped my ADHD as well as other mental health things I've struggled with for my entire life. I wish I knew earlier!
Low carb diet helps, so do others based on the person. Intermittent fasting + exercise + vitamins helps everyone no matter what diet.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#306Using 1000+ channels with notifications would make me ADHD instantly.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#307I don’t have ADHD but I get very distracted by Slack. Here’s what worked for me. 1. Slack app uninstalled on my phone. If I need it for something, I install it, use it, then delete again. 2. Slack app on my laptop fully closed by default. 3. Set times (about 5 a day) to check in and respond to notifications and scan channels. When I was a senior manager with lots of actually important messages these blocks were about…
I don't have ADHD either and remember last time that I worked for a company that used that tool as something that drained me of energy with all the distractions. It's great when you want to do something and need to communicate something to your team (to read whenever they are ready) or write near real time with someone about a problem.
Chat apps should, besides a dark mode have a mute mode and distraction free mode with a way to communicate for certain individuals or groups.
Slack sucks and is probable the single source of most wasted developer hours besides open offices. :)
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#308Not ADHD, but this is how I deal with Slack:
- Disable all sounds and vibrations of Slack on my phone (but keep the notifications)
- Disable notifications on my phone outside the work hours
- Mute all channels that I am strictly not interested in
- Disable all desktop notifications
- I don't have dual screen. Before I was a screen dedicated to slack, and it was actually an unnecessary distraction
With that, I only look at Slack whenever I'm not focused at something. If I find that a channel contains too much spam, I also mute it. If it's important, people will have to ping me.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#309I don’t have ADHD but I get very distracted by Slack. Here’s what worked for me. 1. Slack app uninstalled on my phone. If I need it for something, I install it, use it, then delete again. 2. Slack app on my laptop fully closed by default. 3. Set times (about 5 a day) to check in and respond to notifications and scan channels. When I was a senior manager with lots of actually important messages these blocks were about…
This is all great advice (especially "uninstall it from your phone"). I'll add to this that if anyone involved with Slack is around here, Slack is in desperate need of more powerful/flexible muting controls -- ie, not just muting notifications from specific channels/DMs, but actually doing things like suppressing visual indicators in the sidebar, muting during certain time periods, etc... You want to go wild, it woul…
I check every single channel with unread messages.
Sometimes my best focus comes when the Slack app icon stops updating (due to some bug) and doesn't show unread message indicator anymore :) I miss messages, sometimes for hours, but then again I am able to focus without some nagging icon with its colored circle showing on it.
Re: Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore – advice?
#310I guess there are at least two types of communication going on on all those slack channels:
1. communication that is relevant for your current task
2. communication that is not relevant for your current task, and which might or might not be relevant to you at all.
You could try to limit your exposure to the second kind of communication to certain fixed time slots, e.g. 20min when starting work and 20min before taking off. If it’s not possible to limit exposure within your account by setting up favourite channels and muting others (not a slack user here), you could ask IT for a second slack account that participates only in the first type of communication.
Setting up completely slack-free intervals could be another way to increase focus on the relevant tasks. Start small - it’s crazy what you can achieve in 30min of uninterrupted work and you’d be surprised: probably will no one notice that it now takes you 15min on average to answer instead of 5min.