I got rid of those distractions by buying a Kindle or using an iPad with no fun apps on it. I only allow myself to read on them and if I "context switch", I punish myself by not allowing myself to use those fun apps until I read X pages/minutes.
I built a reading habit over the last 3 years because of this. I went from reading 1-5 books a year in 2018, 12 books in 2019, and 52 books in 2020+ (pandemic definitely helped, but I fell in love with reading again).
Your brain is elastic. It can return back to the shape you previously had before the introduction of ADHD/addicting tech. It takes time, patience, and it's fair share of pain to cut the addiction. I'm on year 5 and thriving, but the first couple years were extremely challenging.
Constant internet access and video games put me in a mental mode where I end up with a really short attention span, and cannot bear spending more than 5 minutes on a task that does not provide an interactive feedback loop. After a few days without the instant gratification of the modern web and vidya, I can usually snap back into a mindset that allows me to study, ponder, and pursue goal-oriented activities.
I've found that the controlled binge model works best for me. I am usually very conscientious about my diet, exercise routine, sleeping hours, and drug and e-stim intake. About every 3 - 6 months, however, i'll go on a two week video game bender. It actually seems to help my mental acuity and focus after my controlled binge is over.
Reading long form content on the computer is not feasible for me either. I've converged to printing everything (if it's a paper), and going outside somewhere with my phone.
Out of sight out of mind applies universally (sometimes good, sometimes bad) - I have the most success when I engineer my environments to put the things I need to focus on in front of me.
If you care about keeping your notes electronically, maybe have a look at rocket book or something.
100% this aye. I had my bookshelf in my bedroom and I found sometimes I'd be late for work or to pick up the shopping etc as when I would sit down on the end of my bed to get changed I would pull a book off the bookshelf and start reading something that would help me answer a question that was on my mind. I took it and moved it down to the basement to sort that problem out. I've since moved a small selection of things I'm not hyperfocused on right now and hence can't really read, but know I should make my way through them and I keep the one that I'm trying to get through now on the bedside table. I've been making my way through it on and off, and it's going slowly but surely!
I've developed the same exact system for sticking with one book - it's so hard to pick one to read when they're all in front of you.
Switching to reading books on the kindle app on my phone was so successful for me I racked up credit card debt impulse buying title after title, so I actually blocked the kindle app and removed my card details from Amazon.
Audible worked for certain titles/genres and not for others. It's a lot less effort which can make quite a difference, but I find I absorb information differently. The upside is progressing through the text isn't reliant on your executive function, so it happens more consistently.
Physical books sometimes I just can't put down if it's super interesting to me right then and there. I've definitely struggled to make my way through physical books where I'm reading it because I know I should/ought to.
Another thing I like about physical books is there's nothing to click on. No tabs to open. However, I found I would go through the bibliography at the end of each book and as a result buy 3 more books. So, to counter that dynamic I sat and physically ripped the bibliography out of the hundreds of books in my bookshelf.
I dunno man... it's just hit and miss. Like everything in the ADHD life.
Edit: the really hard part is the initiating of the action rather than the upkeep of the action later on.
Edit edit: when I say I read the book before bed I don't mean I read it on my phone. I read it on my Mac Mini which is connected to my 55 inch 4K TV in my web browser on archive.org.
I tend to prefer physical books for long-form reading that isn't really focused on having you write code and ebooks for when it's more of a tutorial/project-based thing, and I think the multi-tasking aspect of taking notes or writing code while reading helps me from getting distracted, as I notice I tend to get bored quicker when I'm focused on one task for took long versus having a passive task to keep me busy. Lately I've decided to try doing something different, and instead of taking notes I am just highlighting stuff. I used to hate highlighting and marking up books, but once I got over it I found it's almost as effective as taking notes with the added bonus of being able to just sit outside or going somewhere quite with just the book and highlighter.
I’d argue this is 2 problems.
1. You reaching for social media is not from ADHD but from habitually doing it. Sure your adhd might be why you’re prone to them but still a habit. You do it when you’re not mentally stimulated. I have deleted the Reddit app (well Apollo) from my phone a dozen times. I’ll go to open the app and it’s obviously not there. That’s the habit.
Do whatever you can to break this habit. For me, its deleting the app when I feel I’m spending too much time on it. Go a week or two without it and then I “reset” that habit and time I spend on it.
2. The second problem is not being able to focus on a book. Good luck. I read A LOT but mostly tech articles. I read 1-4 books a year typically poolside on vacation. The times I’m at home reading a book, I typically will read for 6 hours straight. I’ll chew through it in a day or two. Then I can’t read another book, no matter how hard I try, for months. Unfortunately for us, you just have to follow the dopamine.
2. That is also true. But I need to overcome it to read technical books. Otherwise, it'll be pretty difficult for me to progress in the career.
:)
So I created an app just for this. You can try it at https://www.speakreader.com. Since you have adhd i suggest you go with at least 2x speed. I usually read at 3x speed just fine. At this speed your mind can't get distracted with other things. I read almost 1 book every week using this nowadays.
Fyi, the app is 100% free but you will need to enter your own Google wavenet api key for text to speech engine - since it billable over the first million chars by google so I can't give them away with the app.
> has it affected your interview and interview preparation as well?
No I have my own software co for last 20 years and never had any jobs.
Anyway, I made this app only for myself since I found it incredibly hard to concentrate on reading long articles and books. Before this I couldn't even complete a single book in 1 year. But now I've completed more than 20+ books using this in last year. I have a small stand on which I mount my phone and just let this run like a movie. I think not having the phone in my hand also helps with the reading a lot.
And most important: - pen & paper to write down everything that‘s going through my mind quickly & go back to reading immediately
I usually set a timer so I know at one point it will be over. This helps me knowing I have limited time left to read and after that go after whatever is written down.
Also I really needed to find the right time. I cant read during the day, i just feel there is too much to do and too many thoughts to follow.
So i either read early before the sun rises and everything is calm around me, or before going to bed. I like to light a candle for the atmosphere.
At night i can only read if i feel i have been productive enough. As i am self-employed i really struggle with ending the day. But as soon as i get back into a „structured“ schedule and can actually „end“ a work day, the first thing i make sure is that i get the time to read.
EDIT: forgot to mention that i read physical books exclusively. I really like the idea of sabbath. I am not consistent at all with that (this year for example i haven‘t been without tech a single night), but last year i had a few fridays where i turned everything off at 6pm. I only read, wrote with pen & paper or met with friends. Only used candles (to be overly dramatic). I loved these nights.
I just feel there is something more distracting in tech like phones & tablets that has an effect on you. I do have a kindle, but only use it when travelling. At home.
I am almost 100% sure if you read a physical book, lock your phone & relieve your brain of distracting thoughts, you will see improvement immediately. The only obstacle i have left is reading parallel. I have 4-6 books that i switch between at any point in time.
Also if you‘re on meds: try taking them after reading (if you read first thing in the morning as well). I started with meds recently and it actually got harder for me to read as i still get a little euphoric phase the first 1-2 hours. After that i get anxious if i am not productive, so reading as an intellectual endeavor, won‘t happen.
Get into the habit of mentally segregating your workspace like that. I use the separate desk just to re-enforce the line for myself. It's obviously not strictly necessary. But when I do this, I find that distractions feel out of place and I notice them more quickly. (Why am I sitting here with my phone? I never have my phone in this room. I shouldn't have my phone in this room.)
I find that this approach works really well for books on e.g. on design, architecture and management. Can be slightly more awkward for books with a lot of diagrams and code, but usually just a matter of pausing the audio over certain sections.
Depending on the difficulty of the language used I can often play on 1.7-2x playback speed.
I'd read any chance I got, especially at school.
Oftentimes (particularly reading while sitting in one place or lying in bed) I'd forget I was reading a book and I'd lose all concept of time
I'd just be mechanically turing the pages and stuff and I'd get lost in the book
if you just wanna start reading and don't have an agenda for what you need to read, I recommend reading novels or books you enjoy and/or can get lost in
It should be almost like watching movies or tv, but not just random stuff, I mean stuff you actually enjoy watching
Also, I'm fortunate in that I can observe a Digital Sabbath every Saturday where I can turn off my phone and laptop all day and just sit in the hammock and read physical books. It's really hard with everyone in my house on their phones all the time, but I feel like spending one day a week without screens has really helped my ADHD the rest of the week.
For tech books, I have clear criteria for taking notes. (And I take them on paper, so I'm not switching between apps.)
Some of the criteria are arbitrary, just to help me pay attention. The big non-arbitrary criteria is, "Every time I see a word/term, and I'm not 100% sure I know its precise meaning in the current context, I write it down (leaving some space to flesh it out later.)" Then I add other observations about the book's meaning for that term as I read.
Of course, that's just one example. My point isn't about taking better notes (though it may increase the quality of your notes.) It's that you can make reading more stimulating by treating notetaking as a game with clear/specific rules.
If anyone has tips for non-technical books, I'm all ears. I haven't cracked that code yet.
- Download what you want to read and go somewhere without internet.
- Deactivate your twitter/reddit/youtube when you start reading, reactivate it when you're done.
- Get a separate device (maybe some old crappy laptop) where you are not logged into anything, leave your other laptop at home and go somewhere to read. Don't install anything on that laptop, it helps if its so slow and old that nothing works on it.
I think this could be an interesting use case for VR, a merciless immersive reader without any menu option to leave (you can only power down the system to get out)
I've tried to replicate it at home to no avail, however that sort of bike (with a desk add-on) makes for a decent place to do my usual computer work.
Sometimes I will leave the house with a book or two that I want to read -- leaving behind my laptop (and maybe even turning off my phone). A peaceful, boring, sunny day out in nature somewhere....with only my book.
It seems like hand-writing source code works since it is something concrete rather than just an abstract concept described in words.