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I agree with some exceptions. Apps that take the friction out of certain tedious processes could actually help. Think about an app to order the medication easil

I agree with some exceptions. Apps that take the friction out of certain tedious processes could actually help. Think about an app to order the medication easily or an app to set up an appointment with a psychotherapist easily. Think about how those neo bank applications make banking accessible and easier to people (in certain countries or circumstances). For me, even though I generally dislike apps to do certain processes, I really think digitalization and the fact that I can almost all "adulting responsibility tasks" online is very helpful considering the ADHD. So I think these services always take the wrong approach. Instead of promising to make the ADHD disappear or take a disciplined all-or-nothing blocking approach, they need to consider the fact that people with ADHD are aware that it's a thing they have to life with and generally try to optimize their lives to best cope with it. So any such company should probably take on whatever tasks one has to do in life to survive in general and try to make all of that more accessible and disability-friendly to be of most help. And we still live in a world with a lot of stigma, the ideas that adult ADHD isn't a thing or that medication is outright bad or literally cheating in life, or that ADHD doesn't exist or is overdiagnosed. There's A LOT to tackle in this lane.

ughitsaaron 3y ago
Don't get me wrong, I really believe there are helpful tools out there. For instance, Notion has been one of the most genuinely useful applications I've ever used (like, it has genuinely improved my quality of life by helping me organize things for work, my personal life, household chores, side projects, etc). On the other hand, I also see how for others like me with ADHD, something like Notion could be overwhelming and therefore totally useless. I suppose that's my point. ADHD has such a diverse battery of symptoms (many of which are also expressed in other pathologies) that targeting just one of them with an app and then pitching it as "an app to help with ADHD" is very unconvincing (if not downright lazy, if not cynical). An app made to do a generally useful thing pitched to anyone who has the need for that thing, however…
btilly 3y ago
I agreed with most of what you said. Right until the end. Medication is a mixed bag. Great for those that it is great for, but not great for others. ADHD is way over diagnosed. Many disorders can cause lack of executive function, and if you have one of those, a specific treatment is better than masking one of the symptoms. Yes. There is a lot to tackle in this lane. But part of it is that we need to clearly understand what the lane actually looks like. It isn't simple.
- sureglymop 3y ago
  But that's exactly what I meant. There is often a "it is outright bad" mentality, even it is effective and helps certain people. I don't disagree with you.

ughitsaaron 3y ago

Don't get me wrong, I really believe there are helpful tools out there. For instance, Notion has been one of the most genuinely useful applications I've ever used (like, it has genuinely improved my quality of life by helping me organize things for work, my personal life, household chores, side projects, etc). On the other hand, I also see how for others like me with ADHD, something like Notion could be overwhelming and therefore totally useless. I suppose that's my point. ADHD has such a diverse battery of symptoms (many of which are also expressed in other pathologies) that targeting just one of them with an app and then pitching it as "an app to help with ADHD" is very unconvincing (if not downright lazy, if not cynical). An app made to do a generally useful thing pitched to anyone who has the need for that thing, however…

btilly 3y ago

I agreed with most of what you said. Right until the end. Medication is a mixed bag. Great for those that it is great for, but not great for others. ADHD is way over diagnosed. Many disorders can cause lack of executive function, and if you have one of those, a specific treatment is better than masking one of the symptoms. Yes. There is a lot to tackle in this lane. But part of it is that we need to clearly understand what the lane actually looks like. It isn't simple.

sureglymop 3y ago
But that's exactly what I meant. There is often a "it is outright bad" mentality, even it is effective and helps certain people. I don't disagree with you.