Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–328 of 328 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#321

Post by mattbdc »

Xanadu666 wrote: post #130

I'm 72 and retired. A blessing and a curse. I spend a lot of time ferreting out obscure facts on obscure topics and pursuing and commenting on social issues on web sites and to elected officials. I can't stand online videos or podcasts as the transmit information too slowly. I prefer to read and think about issues or concepts being presented. I have thousands of books in my house. I have thousands of bookmarks that I…

good point about the paradox between drugs + dopamine hits from browsing. completely agree there.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#322

Post by mattbdc »

prithsr wrote: post #178

Medication helps. Lifestyle hasn't changed too much - I still have endless to-do lists, bookmarks, things I need to get to, but medication has helped me in the sense that it doesn't all feel overwhelming at every single moment, anymore. Days feel easier to manage.

lifestyle -- fitness/nutrition/meditating/prioritization, has helped 100x more than medication ever did. was on meds from age 12-20, everything under the sun, and they were net-negative for me. but that's just me. everyone is diff, with so many underlying factors to why our brains operate the way they do. just glad we have this community to discuss it. never had this when I was growing up.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#323

Post by jkmcf »

Xanadu666 wrote: post #130

I'm 72 and retired. A blessing and a curse. I spend a lot of time ferreting out obscure facts on obscure topics and pursuing and commenting on social issues on web sites and to elected officials. I can't stand online videos or podcasts as the transmit information too slowly. I prefer to read and think about issues or concepts being presented. I have thousands of books in my house. I have thousands of bookmarks that I…

  My advice to younger people with ADHD is to force yourself away from the compulsion. Very hard I know. You need to recognize and internalize
This is the first part of the Stoic, and habit breaking, approach.

The second part is to ignore your rationalization in favor of indulging yourself “just this once,” which might be just as hard as the first part.

One thing I try is to move away from the distraction and attempt to reset my brain to focus on the what’s important.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#324

Post by mattbdc »

skissane wrote: post #61
esskay wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh, wish it was easier to get hold of ADHD meds (or even a diagnosis) here in the UK. I've got it, well aware I have and have avoided even attempting to go to the GP to get medicated as from what I can see the wait times go into the years. Is it 'worth it'? I.E is your life noticably beter for being medicated for it?

Does the UK have private doctors? If the public system has endless wait times, can you pay $$$ to a doctor to see them quicker privately instead? (Assuming one has $$$ to spend - I acknowledge not everyone does, and the people who would gain the most tangible benefit from a psychiatric diagnosis are often the people least likely to have the $$$ to pay for one.)

completely agree about therapy being labeled a panacea...probably a narrative created by psychiatrists/therapists themselves.

and it's kind of a paradox, because I've learned far more from the Internet/educating myself online, to become more self-aware and change my lifestyle drastically, more to the Puritanical side as many mentioned above (but not all the way).

so it's that paradox I struggle with: disconnecting from the internet is healthy for ADD, but the knowledge/hacks/tweaks gained from it has helped far more than medication/therapy ever did.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#325

Post by drunken_thor »

I am getting to this post now because I only consume this website through https://hackernewsletter.com which allows me to feel up to date on things but also not have the constant need to open the site. I then work my way through the newsletter over the week, reading the things that seem important. The thing about a lot of tech news is that it all feels important but it really isn't. The newsletter helps me manage that. I consume all my tech news through newsletter like an old timey newpaper.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#326

Post by Mah24816 »

ChildOfChaos wrote: post #120

The book four thousand weeks by oliver burkeman or even just reading through his news letters is helpful to understand a different approach to time management and a philosophy of accepting finitute, I understand your issue, I am the same, but I think the freedom comes from understanding that you cannot win, you cannot find a solution to your question, there is just too much and always will be too much for you to do o…

I'm kind of surprised to see Oliver Burkeman mentioned so far down in the comments, but from personal experience this is the right thinking process.

What has worked well for me is Mark Forster's AutoFocus method, which is very similar (one long list where you pick what you feel like doing and re-enter if the task is not finished). This article explains it best: https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/autofocus-...

One benefit that I appreciated the most is that it allows you to trust yourself and your feelings. It puts you in touch with your inner self. it's kind of subtle in the sense that you only realize it after using the system for a few weeks.

Most existing time and work management systems work off of the assumption that you cannot trust yourself and that you're a lazy person or a procrastinator.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#327

Post by otterpro »

robmerki wrote: post #122

Distractions usually happen when you’re not satisfied with the other things in front of you. Of course nothing is black and white, but that’s what I’ve found. I wrote a book on ADHD that quite a few HN users enjoyed: https://adhdpro.xyz/

Wow, that book looked interesting. I just ordered it from Amazon kindle. Hopefully I will read it (and not procrastinate or be distracted from reading it)

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#328

Post by call-me-al »

vikaveri wrote: post #114
mattmanser wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is definitely how I ended up dealing with it too. I just replaced my computer as the motherboard failed and hadn't setup sync on chrome. I have 1000s of links I no longer have access to and haven't missed them once in 3 months. File and forget is incredibly effective when you have ADHD. There are just too many things that are "interesting" that you'll never have time to do anything about. Just write it dow…

stores this thread on three different devices for later reading because it's interesting but there are more important things to do before getting there

painfully relatable
Post reply on HN