situational ADD
Jan. 10th, 2006 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonRan across this article whilst perusing the Addiction, Anxiety and Depression treatments blog. At first glance the author seems to be describing yet another mental health "fad" or time management strategy, but I think there may be something a bit more to this...
What the article describes as "attention-deficit trait" (ADT) sounds awfully familiar - I've called it "situational ADD", as it's less about difficulties filtering what's already in your head as it's about processing Too Much Stuff(TM) trying to get in there! I push myself into that state at costuming cons and the like, guzzling coffee to keep up and running myself ragged in an attempt to do and see as much as possible in a short amount of time.
However, I can only multitask furiously like that for short amounts of time (a long weekend seems to be my limit). Avoidance of overload is why I've rejected my work's offer of a Blackberry, and why I don't distribute my cell phone # widely/why I screen most land line calls (admittedly, the latter two also because of irrational phone-phobia, but there you go). I'm not always successful - much as I love 'em my multiple mailing lists and LJ tend to be huge time sinks if I'm not careful. I think that's what most of December was about - slacking off away from the screen (admittedly watching another, but at least it was Buffy :P)
Maybe I don't pity the ADTers - some people really thrive on constant pressure and if so, that's great for them. But I do think each individual has a point at which they just have to stop and it's good to figure out where that is and plan/organize accordingly.
What the article describes as "attention-deficit trait" (ADT) sounds awfully familiar - I've called it "situational ADD", as it's less about difficulties filtering what's already in your head as it's about processing Too Much Stuff(TM) trying to get in there! I push myself into that state at costuming cons and the like, guzzling coffee to keep up and running myself ragged in an attempt to do and see as much as possible in a short amount of time.
However, I can only multitask furiously like that for short amounts of time (a long weekend seems to be my limit). Avoidance of overload is why I've rejected my work's offer of a Blackberry, and why I don't distribute my cell phone # widely/why I screen most land line calls (admittedly, the latter two also because of irrational phone-phobia, but there you go). I'm not always successful - much as I love 'em my multiple mailing lists and LJ tend to be huge time sinks if I'm not careful. I think that's what most of December was about - slacking off away from the screen (admittedly watching another, but at least it was Buffy :P)
Maybe I don't pity the ADTers - some people really thrive on constant pressure and if so, that's great for them. But I do think each individual has a point at which they just have to stop and it's good to figure out where that is and plan/organize accordingly.
