Does Twitter Aggravate Your ADD Tendencies?
May 6th, 2008 by msdanielle
As for myself, Yes. Some people can juggle 20 million things and not be distracted while tending to any one particular thing. That’s not me. Let me tell you why.
When I was a kid, I was a pretty good student. For the most part, I got A’s, but it wasn’t easy for me. I tried very hard to study the lessons I was given and finish my homework so I wouldn’t get stink-eye from my mom. I’d read chapters three…four…five times over just to remember the basic information I needed to pass whatever test I was taking the next week. I tried and tried and tried to battle the distractions of the tv, radio, phone calls, and whatever else generated the slightest bit of noise so as to not sacrifice my studies.
Meanwhile my brother would breeze through text books with the tv on, in the middle of the living room, answering the phone and eating all at the same time…and still pass with flying colors. What am I doing wrong? I need to study harder…
Little did I know that I probably had ADHD. During class I’d be the kid with her head in the flip-top desk, rummaging around for something to scribble on, listening to the teacher, and talking to my desk-mate all at once. Really. And when someone walked in the door, it didn’t matter who, I had to look and see who it was. It’s like someone was waving a shiny coin in front of me and I had to look. (If you have ADD tendencies, you know exactly what I’m talking about.) Thinking back on these instances, I was the only one in class that would look up, even if it was during a test. If something or someone was moving, I was immediately distracted. This continued through high school.
Twitter is the mystery person walking through the door. More specifically, the little Twitterrific window that pops open every so often…. Who is it? Why are you here? What do you have to say? Are you here for me? Why won’t you let me finish my test?!
I resisted joining Twitter for a long time and I had a feeling this would happen. It’s so distracting, but I just can’t lock the door. What if they have something really important to say, and they have to say it to me? I want to know. I need to know. I have to know.
Have you unlocked the door for Twitter?
[This has been a dramatization by your friendly neighborhood marketer, MsDanielle. Follow MsDanielle on Twitter at your own risk.]
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It’s ironic, really. When I had a 9-to-5 (it was actually a 10-6, but that doesn’t matter), the company banned the use of MSN Messenger because they said that it distracted workers. When I started freelance writing, it was so liberating to have MSN open all day… only to discover that it was terribly distracting. Since then, I don’t turn on MSN unless I’m on “leisure time” and not “work time.” Twitter, however, is on most of the time… and it’s just as distracting. Like, I came here to comment on this post because you sent out a tweet about it…. and now I’m not spending this time doing something a little more productive.
Thanks for being a friendly distraction?
yea i usually have adium open which has my aim and msn, but IM is definitely not as spastic as twitter. it’s like getting a blast of IMs all at the same instant. and i have twitter to thank for bringing you here and commenting since i twittered the link right after. i’m torn! =/
sorry btw…?
Nice post D. While I do have a twitter account, I know that if I follow more than 100 people, I will go crazy trying to keep up with their comments. I am a self-proclaimed information addict after all.
But after my honeymoon period of about one month with twitter, I find it not all that useful. Its great for group conversations during a conference, but for day to day activity, I don’t see much value.
i find that i can’t follow conversations at all anymore on twitter. once you start following a larger number of people, forget it… i think it is good for posting news, announcements and articles though.
A lot of things I find on the net are major distractions. I end up forgetting the next site I wanted to go to due to seeing an interesting ad image, or link and just having to click. Sites like Twitter and Stumble have made this worse. They are major sources of wasting time on the net for me. Ideal in some instances but very distracting in the next.
Twitter is like the end game so I haven’t signed up.
I never had adhd before but now I do therefore adhd is a habit that you develop.
I wish my day was nothing more than hunting for meat over two hours and then lazing around etc.
Yes, it is distracting. I too find it amazing how some people can work or study with any distractions around. I never thought of myself as ADD.
I think Twitter can be another tool for networking online, but I do find myself distracted quite a bit.
Yes, it distracts me too, although I’ve been enjoying it some too. Just figuring the whole thing out. All these years I’ve managed to avoid having IM accounts because I knew they’d distract me too much, and now I’ve fallen for Twitter! Just have to laugh at myself sometimes.
I’m an passive twitter user. Follow and followed by very few peoples
.
I just started twittering within 30 days and it’s fantastic. Another great networking tool, I think. Not to distracting, maybe for those who have the instant RSS feeds I don’t even use rss lol, I just goto the sites. or a live twit desktop app that shows everything, now that’d be bad.
Can i follow you?
I also have a twitter account.
Still not felt the need to join and think that it would be a non starter for me!
Yeah they post anything and every minute…meaningless..fluff nonsense about how a presidential candidate sipped their coffee out of the side of one cup. Ridiculous and unaceptable for ADD society #1, which would be… US. HAHAHA. Wait.. I see an animated gif of a bird….GOTTTA RUN!
THANK YOU. So much useless information on Twitter that NOBODY ELSE CARES ABOUT.
Not even my close friends would give a fuck whether I think the weather is shitty or not. Nor that I just had a big tasty burger, or sushi. Or that I’m about to go to the gym. Or that I just got back from shopping… You get the idea.
I don’t use twitter myself.
You already know how I feel about Twitter.
its funny that you just have to LOOK to find out whats going on at ALL TIMES where u were a kid. ME TOO! i used to think i am so uncool coz i stare at people so much.
i feel much better now. knowing this behavior is endorsed by miss Danielle!
Toooo muuch twitter!!! Gaaaaaaah! lol
Still not got intot he whole twitter thing and dont think i ever will.
grrr….update this blog!
Stumbled your post .. cheers!
Twitter intimidates me…
I’ve gone to the site a few times, but each time I leave because, “do I really want to start another thing?”
I’ll probably give in one day.
I think if i were to sign up at twitter i’d just end up following people and that would be much fun for other people to follow me.
Just reading twitter,…
Twitter sucks, and your blog needs updating!
Agreed on Twitter being another factor that can influnece us ADD types. There is just so much input from so many different sources that multitasking is absolutely necessary. The effectiveness of one’s functioning is debatable though!
I’ve forcibly stopped myself from twittering:)
It was way too addictive for me….