Attention Deficit Weblog

Can a weblog actually help someone with A.D.D./A.D.H.D.?

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Writing My Way Out of Not Writing?

Perhaps my wackiest idea yet: To start a diary/weblog about dealing with adult ADD and Internet addiction, which sounds a bit like writing a "drink of the day" bartender's reference book for members of A.A.

"Kids don't do this at home," indeed.

If you've stumbled on this page somehow, you weren't really meant to. I'm using a weblog program which allows me to "post" material on my own computer without uploading it to the Internet, which was my original idea. Instead, I've decided to post this to a new "category" within my weblog space and simply not link anything to it.

As time goes on, I may give the address to individuals interested in the subject, including my own therapist and prospective "coaches."

If this is going to be therapeutic, it probably should start with a description of the symptoms:

Sometimes it seems I'm not doing ANYTHING I should be doing (applying for jobs, writing for publication, getting exercise, fixing my finances)... because I spend half (or more) of my waking hours reading and writing weblogs, downloading web pages as "research" (some of it for those articles I'm not writing, some to keep on top of issues I might teach about in those teaching jobs I don't get around to applying for) and piling them into prime ADD-rule-violating "to read" and "to sort" folders, etc. This cyber-clutter has its physical counterparts: I live in a too-small apartment full of bookcases, file cabinets and tables stacked with books, files and piles of paper -- each line of type as much a potential distraction as each e-mail and Web link.

(By "ADD-rule-violating" I'm thinking of an ADD-coping-rule that says people with ADD should not have general "to read" or "do this later" files because they instantly become part of the buzzing clutter that makes it impossible to finish everything.)

So I'm thinking that I might be able to recognize what's going on and keep a journal about trying to change things.

My weblog program lets me keep a diary like that on my own computer without putting it on the Internet. But maybe I could do that too... I wouldn't mention it to my usual weblogging cronies, only sharing the address with my therapist and a few trusted "coaches" who I'd invite to e-mail me or comment on the diary anytime they have time to read. (The weblog pages all have a "comment" button.)

Another idea is to make this weblog diary part of a daily structure, only give it a set amount of time each day. Maybe a half hour to start -- use it as a place to list the day's priorities and comment on how I did the previous day. (Who knows, if the thing works, maybe I could turn it into an article or book about Internet-addiction/ADD issues. Or maybe it will just serve as an educational bad example.)
2:02:31 PM

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