TIL using calendars and to-do lists means you have ADHD
No, that isn't what the article said.
It said that calendars and to-do lists help cope with ADHD, not that everyone who uses them has ADHD.
Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
131–140 of 755 posts
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#132Best productivity hack is to unplug the ethernet cable.
I can't find the ethernet cable on my phone :(
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#133ADHD is medicalizing a set of mental habits that many smart people form early in life partly out of boredom, and partly because they can get away with it. The criteria for diagnosing it in adults are impossibly vague and ad-hoc, and I have yet to meet anyone who went through the evaluation process who wasn't diagnosed with it. By all means have at it if you enjoy legal access to terrific stimulants (they really do he…
I get tired of hearing everyone claim they have ADHD. Or are sensitive to gluten. Or get sick from msg. Not realising the people who do actually suffer from these things are so few. But now it’s mainstream and cool. https://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_do_schools_kill_c...
Thing is, everyone can self-diagnose as Something Is Up, but thanks to the health care system being broken, nobody actually gets checked out, nobody is told "there is nothing wrong with you", or "you keep chugging energy drinks so your bowels are fucked, you don't have gluten allergy", or "you get 300 notifications per day and respond to all of them, you don't have ADHD".
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#134I swear that every time I read an article by somebody who claims they've been diagnosed with ADHD, it is the same formula: "when I was a child...", "I didn't know what it was", ..., "I was finally diagnosed with ADHD", then finally "I have super powers no one else has so I will use them to my advantage". I would love to see an ADHD version of the horoscope/personality tests administered by Stagner and Forer. I predic…
I have been personally diagnosed with ADHD and have benefited from medication but it doesn't come without its costs. My wife was diagnosed when she was very young and we've had a lot of time to run self experiments and discuss ideas. I don't think people want to hear this but I believe so many people think they have ADHD because of a lack of discipline. Even people with ADHD will understand what I'm talking about. So…
Not really. ADHD is well documented in brain scans that show a lack of activation and structural differences. You can actually see the difference between the brain of a person with ADHD and a control. It's not just 'having weak discipline' and 'not trying hard enough.' It would be like looking at someone with no arms and saying 'I believe that this person can pick up a ball but they just lack the discipline.' Nope, the structural basis to make that happen is absent. That's ADHD.
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#135I swear that every time I read an article by somebody who claims they've been diagnosed with ADHD, it is the same formula: "when I was a child...", "I didn't know what it was", ..., "I was finally diagnosed with ADHD", then finally "I have super powers no one else has so I will use them to my advantage". I would love to see an ADHD version of the horoscope/personality tests administered by Stagner and Forer. I predic…
I don't find this hyperfocus to be unique and became quite resentful when diagnosed later in life by a therapist + psychiatrist. In my case, I was confused as to why I was always underperforming and needed to work extra hours to catch up with my peers, for example. It is not lazyness, when alone I’m a dialed down version of Martin Lorentzon (reference here from the Spotify docuseries)
As a child, I had nicknames related to "crazy." Today, the one thing I take pride in related to ADHD is my ability to think outside the box.
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#136"Coping Mechanisms: Over the years, adults develop various coping strategies that can mask ADHD symptoms. For instance, someone might excessively rely on calendars, to-do lists, or alarms to compensate for forgetfulness." You're goddamn right I do
do you find that todo lists help you? I certainly agree with calendars/alarms but todo lists for me are a place to put things instead of doing them and then they become a separate problem all of their own
Yeah, prioritizing tasks is also part of the problem for me. I use the TickTick app to save my tasks and it has a feature called the Eisenhower Matrix, which allows me to prioritize my tasks in a visual way like a kanban board. Sometimes that's not enough. Keeping to a schedule to form a habit is also a challenge, so I prepend a number to the most important tasks and set up reminders for them. Once I have the big tasks laid out in the app, I revert to old school pen and paper to break the tasks down into smaller parts because it's faster and reduces friction.
Maybe that sounds like overkill, but I've found that having a system for writing down tasks, prioritizing them, and creating a daily schedule/habit are all equally important for people with ADHD.
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#137This hits home. I think we need to really take a hard look at today's world of tech and how we communicate and collaborate. I find that, if time allows, I get a massive productivity boost after 4:30pm and everyone is either winding down or leaving. All the sudden, the walls flatten, the horizon deepens and I enter a deep state of flow. Around 10 AM, after an elongated "stand up", I should be ready to go... And yet it…
This comment absolutely reads as someone with ADHD telling a story :D
I think self-deprecating humour is one and sometimes the only weapon against today. Glad it made you smile!
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ADHD is medicalizing a set of mental habits that many smart people form early in life partly out of boredom, and partly because they can get away with it. Spoken like a bona fide "bro" with no professional qualifications on the matter, not familiar with the research (except perhaps cherry-picked outlier stuff to reincorce their preconceived notion), and no personal experience of the devastating effects it has on th…
Considering doctors hand out Ritalin like skittles then you have to be pretty stupid to truly believe 75% of the population magically developed adhd over the last 70 years.
>Considering doctors hand out Ritalin like skittles
That's the "kids these days" myth. The reality is that to get diagnosed with ADHD and get to get medication is for many a long process, for most neglected until too late despite obvious signs.
>you have to be pretty stupid to truly believe 75% of the population magically developed adhd over the last 70 years.
Or you know, aside from the fact of more awareness (so people who would just be left to sink or swim on their own in the last 70 years, or merely considered "weirdos" and "failures" are now diagnosed), the world has also severely changed over the last 70 years, and aspects of it (many more rigid time-sensitive responsibilities, many more desk jobs, muct more emphasis on information processing and retention, infinitely more distractions, much more sensory overloading environments, and so on) make it more evident when one has it, and make the impact more severe.
And there can also be environmental and genetic factors involved (autism for example, a common commorbidity, did grow among other factors because more educated people with background/tendency for autism inter-marrying with more of their kind - with university, information, and tech jobs, and so on, as selection mechanisms). Such factors are under active study.
It's also nowhere near "75% of the population". At best around 4-8%, if that.
But I do agree with the "pretty stupid" part.
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's dopamine that ADHD lack and that you get from caffeine and sugar, not serotonin. People who are depressed do lack serotonin though yes. And you can have both. You can't get that from caffeine though.
No, it’s absolutely only about low serotonin. Dopamine spikes do directly result from sugar spikes, but that is the effect and not the cause.
I'm honestly interested in hearing the research on this
Do either of you have sources?
Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer
#140One of the more interesting things about ADHD is that some of the things ADHD sufferers call "coping strategies" (using calendars, writing documentation) are actually just really good ideas for anyone.
The twin demons of diminishing returns and hyperbolic discounting mean that people who don't need to have these systems in place for the current demands of their lives, usually don't have them in place. ADHD sufferers probably get more out of implementing and following these systems on the margin, so they're paradoxically more likely to reach for them than the average person. (I predict Getting Things Done is popular with both high powered executives of all kinds and middle of the road ADHD laden office workers.) But current demands being low rarely predicts future demands staying low, and having a habit of working with these things already deeply engrained is a really, really good idea even if your Todo list only has "Get out of bed", "Finish Breaking Bad S4" and "Get back in bed" on it.