Social Media and ADHD – Turning Distractions Into Directions
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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD.) In today’s hyper-connected internet and Social age, many of us are showing increasing symptoms of “Virtual ADD:” easily distracted, expected to multi-task more than ever before, and experiencing greater difficulty to focus long-term and prioritize. Without having the important social cues we have to work with from being in person with each other, oftentimes our online networking and relationships create big mis-communications, social fax paus, and unintentional impressions of being inconsiderate to other people’s feelings. Compounding on the problem, both academics and behavioral psychologists that specialize in emotional intelligence, along with ADD psychologists and coaches, lack the serious expertise and personal experience needed to cover the effects of social media on people dealing from ADD: both “virtual” and genetic. ADD is not a deficiency in a person. Honed right, it can be an incredibly special gift. But today’s understanding of how social media affects ADD, and vice versa, has huge gaps in research. What we need today is a new type of learning: education and training from professionals with technical and communications know-how in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, OkCupid, and many more of the online communities we spend out time in building relationships, both personal and professional. They understand people in the organic sense and the virtual sense, and understand how we are evolving like technology, and how to bring us back down to earth and make us mindful of social context, and of each other, for personal happiness and professional success. These are the new “Social Stylists.” Learn from this presentation: • The connection between Social Media and ADD/ADHD, and vice versa. • How professionals in social media and other Internet communications can master “Virtual ADD” and still stay focused, organized, and effective with their responsibilities, both professional and personal. • Social Media, and other jobs and responsibilities perfect for ADD/ADHD people. • Tools and tips for how to manage ADD/ADHD for a happy and successful, per-fessional life. • How to use distractions to your creative advantage, and how to set realistic systems in place for shutting them off. (Including constantly checking email and one’s social media walls.) • How to learn the hard-to-find social cues in digital media, and make more thoughtful communications that lead to less misunderstandings, and better relationships. • Stories from successful per-fessionals who mastered their own ADHD.
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Social Media and ADHD – Turning Distractions Into Directions
- 1. Social Media + ADHD Turning distractions into directions
- 10. “What has happened in society is we now have two types of people with ADHD: There are those who’ve had it since birth; and there’s type 2 – it’s an adult onset. It comes from using the internet.” – Theodore Siggelakis Virtual ADD is spreading rapidly
- 11. AADD “Acquired Attention Deficit Disorder” – Dr. John Rateyat, Harvard University
- 12. Virtual ADD “Digitized Attention Deficit Disorder” – Grant Crowell (not a doctor)
- 13. Virtual ADD in the Social Age • “The world isn’t designed for people with ADHD. Lectures, readings, schedules, jobs, and traffic laws are all made with the way most people think in mind.” Pre-Social Age Social Age • Welcome to my world
- 14. The Advantages of Virtual ADD 1. *Super-focused 2. Fast-thinking 3. Fast-talking 4. Thinking outside the box 5. Entrepreneurial ADHD Social Business World 1. Technology-driven 2. Fast-paced 3. Multitasking 4. Need for speed 5. Always-on 6. Always-changing 7. Quickly pivot
- 15. The Challenges of Virtual ADD 1. Constant dopamine fix from online stimuli 2. Multitasking expecta2ons 3. Incessant interruptions from our digital devices Cause Effects 1. Easily bored 2. Losing focus 3. Late getting workdone 4. Can’t do mundane tasks effectively. 5. Feeling socially inadequate 6. Diss–connected
- 16. Virtual ADD is a Social Disability 1. Lose Focus 2. Hyper-focus= overfocus 3. Impulsivity 4. Lack of filter 5. Poor time management 6. Hypersensitivity 7. Speaking before thinking 8. Poor communication from digital limitations 9. Negative emotions outweighing positive emotions 10. Emotional disregulation
- 21. • Imagine each store as a single YouTube channel. • Many people enter a YouTube in “just browsing” mode. • “Suggested videos” distract people from their original goal. • The result: user straying into other stores, continuously. Way more time is spent than planned on. Think of YouTube as a Shopping Mall
- 23. Why a Casino? • Your Time is YouTube’s money • YouTube’s revenue stream comes from advertisers • Their goal is to have you stay long enough so the house always wins
- 24. ADHD Professionals Talk Social Media Eric Tivers Michelle Frank
- 25. • Licensed Clinical Psychologist • Associate Psychologist at Sari Solden, Private Practice • Specializes in working with teens, adults, and families navigate challenges related to ADHD and similar disorders.
- 27. Why ADHD individuals are more susceptible to digital distractions and Internet addiction than those without: An individual with ADHD has structural, functional, and chemical differences than a nuerotypical brain, which includes: • Less dopamine and norepinephrine, both key ingredients to reward and motivation. • Less aversion to consequences, and; • Lower ability to activate and regulate behavior as well as emotion.
- 28. Technology gives the brain a shot of dopamine “The ADHD brain is one that struggles with motivation, activation, organizing behaviors, managing time, and maintaining focus. "You can easily make the connection between ADHD and the obstacles that highly engaging and stimulating technologies may pose. Because of the highly stimulating nature of video games, social media, and the like, it quickly and easily engages the brain.”
- 29. The problems most often cited by Dr. Franks’ clients and their spouses or families have to do with a few key areas: 1. Amount of time spent on digital technologies. 2. Difficulty transitioning off of the technology to tackle a priority task. 3. Being distracted and using technology to procrastinate. 4. Impulsivity particularly regarding comments made and pictures sent or posted on social media and texting.
- 30. erictivers.com • Owner of Tivers Clinical Specialties • Licensed Therapist, Coach, Consultant. • Specializes in ADHD, Asperger's & Autism • Podcast Producer and Host, “ADHD ReWired.” • Manages 3 Facebook pages and 2 Facebook groups for ADHD members, a Zoom group, and a Google+ Hangouts group
- 32. Examples of Virtual ADHD on Social Media Social Misbehaviors • Over-disclosing • Making inappropriate or detrimental impulsive comments. • Sharing inappropriate photos over text. • Trolling & Cyber-bullying • Decreased engagement in face--to--face interactions or physical activities.
- 33. Examples of Virtual ADHD on Social Media Time Mis-Management • Not tackling priority tasks. • Getting distracted and not being able to start or finish important work. • Hyper-focusing, at the expense of planning your priorities into fixed blocks of time
- 40. Calm.com
- 53. Context--sensi2ve Excel Export to create the Reports you need Detailed 2me entries easily editable Caato.de
- 56. checkyapp.com
- 63. Eric Tivers, Host of ADHD rewired Psychotherapist & Coach About ADHD rewired ADHD reWired is the show de igned for tho e of uwho have really good intentions but a light wanderi ng attention. As a psychotherapist and coach in private practice Eric Tivers has the unique pe pective of being both a clinician who pecia lizes in ADHD and an adult who ha it. Eric talks openly about his own ADHD and hares with listeners the trategies he' learned to be ucce ful a well as the areas that continue to be challenging. Starting with episode 16, Eric begins talking with listener , coaches and other therapists.
- 64. TotallyADD.com
- 65. Tips for Mastering Digital Distractions and becoming an awesome Social Stylist 1. Turn off your notfications! 2. Plan your day and week in advance 3. Try wearing a watch, or have a fun clock around 4. Focus on one thing at a time. 5. Allow yourself small rewards 6. Have an accountability partner. 7. Be mindful of keeping personal media private and being intentional about your posts. 8. Mindfulness (pause, observe, reflect, acknowledge) 9. Take breaks 10. Get exercise, sleep well 11. Eat and drink healthy an in moderation 12. Practice building new habits, slowly. 13. Try shutting up and only listening for an entire conversation. (Or for social media, just observing.) Wait to ask questions when someone is done speaking. 14. Pay attention to how you’re feeling.
- 73. Social Media + ADHD Turning distractions into directions Thank you for your time – please share this with someone you care about!
Editor's Notes
- http://calibermag.org/articles/what-adhd-feels-like-and-why-its-not-how-you-think-it-is/
- Maybe this can help better explain. We know how much the Internet transformed business and our culture. I am here to say that we are going through just as big a revolution. The 5th age of Modern Business is underway. To understand where we are, we must first look back at where we came . We must understand that at each age, businesses had to adapt to technological and market forces We must understand that to survive in our current age, we must fundamentally evolve the organization to a highly adaptive one. Rarely in business history has a new age opened up so many possibilities across every industry and discipline. In less than 5 years, the balance of power has shifted from seller to buyer, from big media to the influential individual, from industry trade associations to thriving digital communities . Now is the single greatest time in history to be in business. This Fifth Age of business has created a new set of rules for organizations to compete in the economy as equals. But being large no longer ensures having a competitive advantage. In fact, it may mean the opposite. What else is business has been disrupted, shattered or destroyed?
- http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a628/feariedaisy1/Personal/draft_lens6837262module153797635photo_1317425357adhd_online_zpsc2f0bae1.jpg
- “We have this society where people can’t get away from their cell phones. They get bored. They don’t get the dopamine.”
- Being constant distracted affects our focus on people we care about, and negatively impacts how we communicate with each other, and ultimately our relationships with each other.
- http://calibermag.org/articles/what-adhd-feels-like-and-why-its-not-how-you-think-it-is/
- Published on Jul 3, 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0hY5TYVv_s This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. A personal understanding of ADHD is an enlightening source of understanding what it is to live in a hyperlink-enriched world of information. Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and similar media create a highly multifaceted, multidirectional information environment well suited to the ADHD mind. Theodore Siggelakis is a 2014 graduate of Quinnipiac University. Theo designed his own major in Public Policy Analysis, combining courses from English, Political Science, and Sociology. He has been active in Student Government at Quinnipiac University, has interned for multiple political campaigns and is now Campaign Manager for a state senate campaign in New Hampshire. ------------------------------ Helping understand the thought progression of someone with ADHD. “My brain works like hyperlinks.” Dealing with social inadequacies.
- If you have ADHD like me, my neurotransmitter system for dopamine is slowed down. It doesn’t work the same way as everyone else is. When you go on the internet, you get a constant shot of dopamine. What happens is, when you’re used to getting a constant shot of dopamine, yours too slows down. When you’re stuck doing a mundane task that doesn’t give you instant dopamine like the internet, your system slows down and you get bored very quickly.” “We have this society where people can’t get away from their cell phones. They get bored. They don’t get the dopamine.” “What has happened in society is we now have two types of people with ADHD:” There are those who’ve had it since birth; and there’s type 2 – it’s an adult onset. It comes from using the internet. It comes at us the same way as diabetes. There’s one that you’re born with; and there’s one that comes with the environment. The difference between ADHD and diabetes, is that there’s an advantage to being Type 1. There are two distinctive advantages that set me up better to handle the Internet than people who aren’t born with ADHD, but just “acquire” it. One trait is hyper-focus Another is, I’m not overburdened by the Internet. I’m not overwhelmed. I have a discriminatory focus. I know exactly what I want and I don’t focus on anything else… That’s why when I do something I love, it’s not a problem. I’m a 150% into it. But when I have to do something that doesn’t hold my interest, it may take me all day. Our other advantage is peripheral focus. When we’re in the zone, we can also see side details. What happens, we’re able to create a new essential. This is what makes us great entrepreneurs, especially in the technology field.
- Dr. John Rateyat Harvard University called this “Acquired Attention Deficit Disorder.”
- Dr. John Rateyat Harvard University called this “Acquired Attention Deficit Disorder.”
- “No one thinks before they speak on the internet.”
- Then the mall turns intoa casino YouTube’s business model is like a casino YouTube’s business model is primarily based on advertising. That means, getting people to continue to watch videos, and videos, and videos. I.e., to never leave.
- Michelle Frank, PsyD – https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=201968754
- http://www.erictivers.com https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=61529600&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=CWcb&locale=en_US&srchid=102851941411612026878&srchindex=1&srchtotal=1&trk=vsrp_people_res_name&trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A102851941411612026878%2CVSRPtargetId%3A61529600%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary
- Michelle Frank: Here is a great slide show to use to demonstrate the reward pathway in the brain which contributes to both ADHD and addictions of any kind http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/addiction/rewardbehavior/
- http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/teaching-packets/understanding-drug-abuse-addiction/section-i/4-reward-pathway
- Caato.de
- http://pomodorotechnique.com
- Get the group to participate
- https://www.facebook.com/help/327994277286267/