7 ms·

Similar story here: early age, 0 or 100, high tests and little completion. The difference is I've been programming for most of my life (I'm not exaggerating; I

Similar story here: early age, 0 or 100, high tests and little completion. The difference is I've been programming for most of my life (I'm not exaggerating; I started at 7y). It's likely because I started so young that I find that's my hyper focus outlet, though I still find that every time I try to learn Java it feels so painful I break something and run away (though I know C, C++, Obj-C, Swift, Python, PHP, Perl, shell, and even some Forth). Don't get me wrong, I know exactly two people that like Java and everyone else says it's painful, but they can do it anyway. I simply cannot. My mind shuts off and boycotts the information until the topic changes. It's infuriating. Having anything at all near me that supplies instant gratification (electronics, mainly) puts me in what I call "hunted mode". That is, I'm itching for something to switch my attention to and very easily distracted. When I remove such things and engage with the world (and turn off or DND my devices -- important) then I seem to enter "hunter mode" where I can put my focus where it needs to be and hold it. So, of course I become a professional software developer, right? Adderall lets me work. Turning shit off when I get home lets me live. Paper books let me read (ebooks for reference, though; I'm not a Luddite). Which is to say: I'm with ya, and you're right about environmental sensory stimulants. But you're kind of wrong about it being a matter of self control. It is, but the problem is that you (we) lack the control of self-control. That's the nasty thing the article doesn't go into. This is an Executive Function disorder, a "cousin" disorder to things on the Autism scale (ever read a list of those symptoms and check off an uncomfortable few?). That's why we wind up medicated. We do need that dopamine to hang around to push through the daily administrivia. Yet, the article was right that outside of city life this would be great. But I'm a city guy, so ... yeah.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
tsarzen 12y ago
I know it's not the same as pure Java, but I found that trying to build an Android App was a practical way of learning Java. I had an app I wanted to make, and having that as the goal kept me going through all the boring parts of learning a new language.
spenuke 12y ago
My uncle is a psychiatrist, and he has a theory that the definition is more of a matrix than a spectrum. He says that what is often called attention deficit would better be described as intention surplus - you have more intention than your attention can handle. A lot of A.D.D. cases are confused by the fact that they can spend several hours hyperfocused on something, so it's not a lack of attention that's the problem, it's that there is a limited supply of attention which cannot keep up with one's attention. Putting it this way opened my eyes to my own diagnosis (diagnosed A.D.D as a child).
- DonHopkins 12y ago
  If you can make your ADD work for you, then you should call it ADO: Attention Deficit Order. Same thing goes for my OCO.
- cpursley 12y ago
  "intention surplus" interesting, this makes a lot of sense.
DonHopkins 12y ago
How intriguing! Does C# do it for you, or does it have the same effect as Java? Maybe it's the culture, not the language itself? PS: FORTH ?KNOW IF HONK! ELSE FORTH LEARN THEN
schalab 12y ago
The article insinuates that the core problem is the higher base line of stimulus required for motivation. How does Adderall fix this? Do you feel mundane repetitive tasks are more rewarding now? What about tasks that would feel great even without the medication? Do they overload your circuits then? Am curious as to how the drug manifests itself in your day to day routine.
- emotionalcode 12y ago
  I was late diagnosed with ADHD. I used to be on Adderall for years. I'm now on a non-stimulant medication, as well as an anti-anxiety anti-depressant. Adderall helped me in college. It helped me get every homework done, even if the homework was pointless. I spent some time trying to switch medications, as I personally did not like feeling glued to whatever activity I was doing. I like having the choice to focus, or not focus. I switched environments, where I could experiment with this new way of approaching learning and working. I don't mind iterative, mundane tasks, because at the end of the day and before I begin them, I try to think about why it's interesting, novel, and different, for me to perform this iteration of task. I try to think that the fact that I have gotten my mind to this state without dramatic intervention is as well novel, unique, and worthy of self praise. In a world where I already felt distracted and slow, Adderall offers a quick fix. But I would have never built those parts of myself, of my mind, that can find novelty in what superficially appears to be 'boring'. I just try to change everything else in my control, to help myself see 'boring' in a different perspective. If I work in java at work on jsp pages, at home and during my 'web surfing time' at work, I teach myself about unikernals, clojure, the curry howard isomorphism - with serious intent, over long periods of time. And then I begin to see connections in the ordinary that are extraordinary. As for nootropics, I'm trying to look for research in anything that uses language such as 'relaxing / calming' and 'focus'. I think there is a serious slant in literature that truly believes, and primes it's audience to believe stimulant -> better concentration. Stimulant -> temporary concentration. I am firmly confident that stimulants either prevent or override the creation of neural connections that are less explicit.
  - Tehnix 12y ago
    Regarding nootropics, gwern has an excellent writeup on different ones, and how he tested them http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics. You might already have seen it, in case it might be helpful to others.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

tsarzen 12y ago

I know it's not the same as pure Java, but I found that trying to build an Android App was a practical way of learning Java. I had an app I wanted to make, and having that as the goal kept me going through all the boring parts of learning a new language.

spenuke 12y ago

My uncle is a psychiatrist, and he has a theory that the definition is more of a matrix than a spectrum. He says that what is often called attention deficit would better be described as intention surplus - you have more intention than your attention can handle. A lot of A.D.D. cases are confused by the fact that they can spend several hours hyperfocused on something, so it's not a lack of attention that's the problem, it's that there is a limited supply of attention which cannot keep up with one's attention. Putting it this way opened my eyes to my own diagnosis (diagnosed A.D.D as a child).

DonHopkins 12y ago
If you can make your ADD work for you, then you should call it ADO: Attention Deficit Order. Same thing goes for my OCO.
cpursley 12y ago
"intention surplus" interesting, this makes a lot of sense.

DonHopkins 12y ago

How intriguing! Does C# do it for you, or does it have the same effect as Java? Maybe it's the culture, not the language itself? PS: FORTH ?KNOW IF HONK! ELSE FORTH LEARN THEN

schalab 12y ago

The article insinuates that the core problem is the higher base line of stimulus required for motivation. How does Adderall fix this? Do you feel mundane repetitive tasks are more rewarding now? What about tasks that would feel great even without the medication? Do they overload your circuits then? Am curious as to how the drug manifests itself in your day to day routine.

emotionalcode 12y ago
I was late diagnosed with ADHD. I used to be on Adderall for years. I'm now on a non-stimulant medication, as well as an anti-anxiety anti-depressant. Adderall helped me in college. It helped me get every homework done, even if the homework was pointless. I spent some time trying to switch medications, as I personally did not like feeling glued to whatever activity I was doing. I like having the choice to focus, or not focus. I switched environments, where I could experiment with this new way of approaching learning and working. I don't mind iterative, mundane tasks, because at the end of the day and before I begin them, I try to think about why it's interesting, novel, and different, for me to perform this iteration of task. I try to think that the fact that I have gotten my mind to this state without dramatic intervention is as well novel, unique, and worthy of self praise. In a world where I already felt distracted and slow, Adderall offers a quick fix. But I would have never built those parts of myself, of my mind, that can find novelty in what superficially appears to be 'boring'. I just try to change everything else in my control, to help myself see 'boring' in a different perspective. If I work in java at work on jsp pages, at home and during my 'web surfing time' at work, I teach myself about unikernals, clojure, the curry howard isomorphism - with serious intent, over long periods of time. And then I begin to see connections in the ordinary that are extraordinary. As for nootropics, I'm trying to look for research in anything that uses language such as 'relaxing / calming' and 'focus'. I think there is a serious slant in literature that truly believes, and primes it's audience to believe stimulant -> better concentration. Stimulant -> temporary concentration. I am firmly confident that stimulants either prevent or override the creation of neural connections that are less explicit.
- Tehnix 12y ago
  Regarding nootropics, gwern has an excellent writeup on different ones, and how he tested them http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics. You might already have seen it, in case it might be helpful to others.