Something terrible happened to me on the inaugural eve of Apple’s iCloud service going live. Something catastrophic. Apple’s MobileMe servers hiccuped and ate all of my calendars.

Remember that sound Superman made when Lois Lane died in the classic 1979 movie? Mine was louder.

Sometimes electronics can fail us. Sometimes the internet goes down. Sometimes the power blacks out. Sometimes your computer hard drive gives up the ghost. And sometimes those nifty calendars we put in the cloud that happily sync with our portable devices & home computers get eaten by server failure. What are we to do?

The ADHD Mind Can Flounder When Routine Is Interrupted

Normally, I have backups to save me from those moments, but in this case I bought furnishings for a new apartment instead of replacing the TimeMachine drive that was damaged in the move.

Calendars, todo lists, and reminder notes are vital tools to help the adult with ADHD manage time and keep themselves on task. In the digital age where so much is done with computers and smartphones, having reminder systems as part of that digital world is natural. But when those systems fail us, we can’t waste precious time fixing them when we have other things that require our attention.

Fortunately, implementing a backup plan is as easy as A, B, or C.

1. Go Old SchoolThe online calendars, cloud-synced ToDo lists, and electronic reminders & alarms that beep and boop us into attention all have traditional counterparts. In a pinch, I grab paper & pencil and start jotting down the things I need to do. I don’t rely on memory. I set up my elaborate digital reminder systems because I couldn’t rely on memory in the first place. This may seem self-evident now, but in the panic when the electronic systems you rely on begin to fail, many of us forget about the old systems and press on without any system.
2. Switch SystemsSometimes just one website or app will fail us. Resist the urge to troubleshoot when you’re under deadline. Have another app or website in the wings that you can use instead. It may not be as ideal as the one you prefer, but at least you can stay up and running.

   When I installed the new iOS5 onto my iPhone, everything went wonderfully. However, my iPad curled up and died on the upgrade. The temptation to dive in and restore it to its former thousand apps glory was strong, but I resisted. I already had an iPhone to rely on, as well as alternate systems on my Mac. Operation iPad could wait until the weekend.

3. Be Quick and DirtyThere is usually a very strong reason why you abandoned the old school ways. Maybe Sticky notes on your monitor kept falling off or getting buried under more stickies. Maybe paper calendars failed you because you had to actually remember to look at them. For whatever reason, you are a happy digital camper these days and don’t want to look back.

   If you can’t afford the time at the moment to rebuild your reminder system completely, consider rebuilding it partially. When my iPad required a restoration to default settings, I was fairly discouraged. I couldn’t foresee both my iPad backup and my TimeMachine system backup becoming corrupted at the same time. The temptation to jump in and reinstall everything was keener than the urge to breath. Instead, I installed just the key apps I needed to get my work done and got to work.

In the future, I will place having reliable hard drive backups higher up on my list. Perhaps next time a new TimeMachine setup will be more important than hair scrunchies for the girls and matching towels for the bathroom. I’m glad, though, that I had prepared myself by having backup plans in mind. Hard drive backups may fail us, but our minds are resilient devices. As long as we are prepared, we can adapt and recover.

Last week I wrote about how embarrassment can trigger ADHD clarity. I also wrote about how trauma can cause the same reaction. These shocks to our system can lift most of us into a higher state of awareness. This is one major reason why many folks who experience a close call with death often experience life-changing adjustments in attitude and purpose. Think of how lucky you are to have ADHD. You can experience this clarity of purpose almost weekly as you blunder about your life being embarrassed by your boneheaded actions.

But how long does the hyperfocus last for you? Are you able to utilize it to move your life and projects forward, or is it just another strong emotion you experience then instantly forget as you

Ohmigosh! iOS5 is available for download now? Clickity click, man!

Photo by C.P. Storm

There is a switch in our mind, sometimes cobweb covered and stiff with disuse, but it is clearly labeled MOTIVATION. Once we flick it into action, nothing can stop the ADHD adult with a purpose. We come on like an 18-wheeler charging down a mountainside without brakes. Sure, there is sometimes carnage in our wake, but when we direct that energy inwardly we are able to transform ourselves and behavior with amazing results, as I wrote about last week. When directed outwardly, ADHD adults can accomplish great things. The trick is to know how to steer that 18-wheeler along the highway to its destination, as opposed to gamboling about the countryside chasing butterflies and knocking over trellises.

When I find myself motivated and in hyperfocus mode, there are a few things I keep in mind to make the best of it.

1. Use the hyperfocus to stay on taskToday iOS5 really is available for download for the iPhone, and I’m dying to play with it. However, because I’m behind on my blogging I’m hyperfocused on getting caught up. I’ve spent the past 48 hours being sick and bed/couch ridden. I’ve only had 3 hours of sleep and what would normally be a recipe for distractibility is instead a window of focus in my life. I missed two blog deadlines and had somebody at the office put out a fire for me while I was cluelessly catatonic. Now I’m determined to get caught up and repair damages. That’s where motivation comes into play. The embarrassment shocks, but the motivation keeps me focused. Whenever my tired mind wanders, and boy does it wander, my mind panics me back into focus minutes later.
2. Always know what is your most important goal.Hyperfocus can be misspent on pointless pursuits if you haven’t prepared beforehand. If my system of organization hadn’t put my blogging job high in my list of priorities, and if I didn’t work hard to prioritize this job at the top of my todo list, I very well could have spent the afternoon blissfully upgrading my iPhone and playing with the new OS. As it was, my online calendar experienced a fatal sync error and wiped out all my events. Knowing that I needed to get caught up and ahead of my job duties prevented me from spending the entire morning troubleshooting.
3. Limit time spent on anything besides your most important taskAs important as my calendars are to me, I didn’t allow myself to spend hours reconstructing them. I restored my most important todo list for this job, set a timer as a hard limit to remind me to stop just in case it took too long, then got busy working on that list. I can fix the calendars later. Because I was hyperfocused on this job, I didn’t even need the timer.

Now, many people have told me over the years that these kinds of tips are basic for anybody. I won’t argue with them. But ADHD exaggerates these tendencies and makes them problematic in the workplace or at home. Hyperfocus when left uncontrolled becomes tunnel vision to a near obsessive intensity. I certainly have experienced that in my life and lost friends and jobs over it. I know other ADHD adults and children experience that tunnel vision, too. These three tips help me stay on track and help me get back on track when I wander. With practice and preparation, they can help you use that hyperfocus as a tool, too.

What tips do you use to put ADHD hyperfocus to good use in your life? Share them below.

Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades at @SplinteredMind or my novel writing project over at @DouglasCootey. And if you’re a glutton for punishment you can friend me on Facebook as well.

Sometimes strong emotions like embarrassment can give an Adult with ADHD hyperfocus and clarity. Learning to take advantage of that clarity can turn ADHD from a downside into an upside. After all, think of all the opportunities you’ll have to beclown yourself in life!

Since becoming single again and moving into a smaller flat, I’ve been tossing things out left and right, becoming a one man environmental disaster as entire landfills have been exhausted in the wake of my efforts. One can collect a lot of junk over 23 years of marriage, especially if one has ADHD and an aversion to boredom. I had a box for every major gaming system released from 1989 to 2010, complete with dozens of games per system. I had more books than bookshelves to put them on. Nevermind the towering pile of VHS tapes collected each season as I recorded my favorite shows. Even if I was inclined to, I wouldn’t have time to watch all those video tapes. What a mess!

While exploring the black hole that was otherwise known as my filing cabinet, I couldn’t believe all the useless bits of paper I had filed away as important.

Ah! So glad I held onto those old bank statements from 1996! You never know when the IRS is going to conduct a deep audit back to birth. And that Betty Page photo catalogue from 1992…what on earth was I thinking? Sheesh! Into the landfill it went.

Then I came across a folder labeled “Things To Write To”. My eyebrows raised as I realized this was an old collection of letters and forms I had intended to reply to. Most of it was funny, like cereal box offers from 1989 still awaiting a full set of box tops. But then I came across a letter from my Grandmother awaiting my reply.

She died in 1992.

For a moment I felt 19 years of guilt. Great. Now THERE was an opportunity missed. Fortunately, I do remember contacting her quite a few times before she died, but whatever topic I thought I needed to specifically write to her about was lost eons ago.

It reminds me of the time I finally tried to return some Amiga software I had borrowed from a guy I met. I had meant to return it to him. Honest, I did. After the years passed by, and the mighty Amiga computer was a dodo, I finally found his phone number and gave him a call. His wife answered the phone. It was an awkward phone call, mostly because he had passed away a few years back.

When my Uncle Dominique died before I ever thanked him for the $100 he gave me for college, it was the last straw. Something in me changed and I never made mistakes like that again. Instead of this being yet another case where ADHD taught me how to feel regret, I decided to draw a line in the sand. I started leaving notes for myself, and more importantly, I started following through with them. I started believing that I had no choice but to manage my ADHD or face embarrassment until the day I died.

When people tell me that I don’t really have ADHD because I manage my condition without medication, I laugh. They don’t live with me. But I do differ from many of them in one key aspect: I believe that I can manage my ADHD if I try hard enough. I don’t always succeed, but I’m far better off than the young 20-something boy I used to be who let people die before writing to them.

You don’t have to wait for folks to start dying in order to find the drive to take charge of your own mind. You just need to use that ADHD gift, hyperfocus, to give you a push in the right direction. I have often found strong emotions such as humiliation are strong motivators for change. Once motivated, I direct my hyperfocus inwardly and often effect permanent change in my behavior. These days I don’t need traumatic events to trigger this inward hyperfocus. But it took practice.

Then again, you should have seen how motivated to change I became after my wife of 23 years dumped me. Talk about clarity of vision! I’m almost like a new man these days.

How about you? Have you found clarity after experiencing an embarrassing or traumatic event? Were you able to direct that clarity inwardly to effect change? Have you learned how to summon that type of clarity without having the trauma of embarrassment?

Lots of folks have memory issues, but none with as much daily flare as adults with ADHD. If we’re not getting on the wrong bus or heading east from Cape Cod to get to California, we’re confusing meeting times AND places several times in a row. It’s almost like we’re wired to get fired.

If I documented everything that went wrong with producing this video blog, they’d make me the ADHD poster boy—a dubious honor to be sure! I couldn’t have done things more wrong if I had crossed a busy street backwards while filming my feet. But I have braved the odds and defied ADHD’s attempt to thwart my efforts.

Please enjoy my latest escapade in which I discover I have lost my eyeglasses. Also, give me bonus points for using “thwart” in a sentence.

Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades at @SplinteredMind or my novel writing project over at @DouglasCootey. And if you’re a glutton for punishment you can friend me on Facebook as well.

I have been blogging for nearly seven years about ADHD. In that time, I have had many, many intelligent comments made on my articles. I’ve also had some doozies. I won’t reprint them here because I don’t want to embarrass anybody, but you’ve probably seen them and scratched your head. Some of them may have even been written by me.

There are three hallmarks of an ADHD commenter:

1) They post longer comments than the actual blog.
2) They ramble and never get to their point.
3) They shift topics in jarring ways.

If you see two out of the three hallmarks in a blog comment, you can be fairly certain that the commenter either has ADHD or has recently experienced brain surgery.

Over the years I have left some disproportionately long comments on the shortest of blogs—some of them amazingly disproportionate. I’m not sure why it happens. The blog usually sparks an idea in my head that I begin to expand upon in the limited comment box. I suspect that not seeing the whole comment contributes to the problem. I can type almost as fast as I can talk, so I can really work up a flurry of words. Then I post them and sit back stunned as the browser slows down the computer in an effort to render the nine mile long page.

Tips to Control Online AD/HD Impulsitivity

There is a simple solution I use to avoid this: I don’t click on SUBMIT until I’m sure the comment won’t embarrass me.

The adult with ADHD can often lose track of time, especially when becoming hyperfocused on something like expressing their opinion online. If a blog or article sets me off, I will let myself write away, but when I am done I check to make sure I haven’t written too much. Sometimes I’ll edit it down to a manageable size. Many times I’ll just delete the whole thing and move on. I have found that there are moments when the comment isn’t worth the time it would take to edit it. Not every ADHD turd can be polished into a shiny comment. Sometimes it’s just a rambling turd.

Other things I do are to write the comment in a text editor and then paste it into the browser. That way I can see the whole massive missive unfold. I’ve been self-censoring for so long I now have a feel for when I’m writing too much. If I feel passionately about the comment and feel it’s important enough to share but way too long, I try to look for one or two paragraphs that make my point, then delete the rest.

The working idea is that just because you wrote it doesn’t mean you have to share it. That SUBMIT button is a Godsend for people with ADHD. In life we don’t have a chance to edit our comments before we share them. Take advantage of the pause commenting online provides you. Then you can be sure that everything you write is concise and makes sense.

In time, you can train yourself to wait a beat before submitting your long comments and learn to keep things short and sweet, instead.

Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades at @SplinteredMind or my novel writing project over at @DouglasCootey. And if you’re a glutton for punishment you can friend me on Facebook as well.

Do you find you and your ADHD noggin leaping out of bed at all hours of the night to work on something you left unfinished or suddenly remembered? Or perhaps you race out of bed every time you come up with a new idea that ABSOLUTELY MUST BE BROUGHT TO LIFE THAT VERY SECOND. If so, today’s article is just for you.

Instead of sleeping, my mind used to race around the block thinking of all the things that I hadn’t finished that day. Or it would think of new things that I should start the next day. Or it would think of old things that I forgot to do that day because I was busy doing some new things I should have done after I finished the old things. With a new idea fresh in my mind, I would leap out of bed and rush off to work no matter what time it was. It went on and on. I never slept; I only stopped working when my body shut down.

I learned years ago that this was a crazy way to live and that I couldn’t continue on this way. Although insomnia still plagues me, I did find a simple solution to put a stop to the middle-of-the-night productivity surges: I learned the value of jotting ideas down.

Since recently moving, I’ve discovered old stashes of ideas on bits of paper that I kept in a folder. This was before the days of Palm Pilots and iPhones. I’m chucking most of the ideas as fey or useless, but I don’t feel that I wasted my time writing them down. You see, each scrap of paper was one less iron I threw into the fire at 4am.

The real problem with starting projects at four in the morning was that whether I wanted to admit it or not, I was tired and not at the top of my game. All I needed was one very cool idea and I could be off and creating a multi-tier website for it before the sun came up. Then I’d spend time working on the idea for weeks before I realized that I was supposed to be working on this other, even cooler, idea that I had completely forgotten about. Maybe this other idea even paid money, assuming the client hadn’t given up on me.

Why on earth did I do things this way?

Thanks to a lack of control over my impulse center, I was always off to the races with some new idea or other. I have referred to it as Multi-Irons Syndrome, and I had so many projects going I had little room for the fire to stoke them. I needed to put a stop to it. It was costing me in productivity and sleep.

Why did I leap out of bed anyway to work on new ideas or tasks I had forgotten about? Surely, working on the newsletter, or filling out the invoice, or writing that letter to the President could wait until morning. The trouble was I couldn’t be guaranteed that I would remember them again. That is the crux of the ADHD problem right there.

The ADHD adult eventually lives in fear of forgetting EVERYTHING. The idea must be blurted out now or it will be forgotten. Their opinion must be shared over yours because it may evaporate when it is their turn to speak. The toilet paper must be purchased at 2:26am because they may forget to get it again. And the new idea must be worked on at 4am or else it may disappear forever.

Tips to Control Racing Thoughts and Late Night Impulses

Most people with ADHD learn to overcome this by jotting their ideas down. That’s why I fell in love with ToDo lists and notepads, then their electronic versions years later. Lying in bed and trying to sleep is hard enough without worrying I won’t remember that really good summary to the essay I was writing.

If you don’t have an iPhone or a smart phone to record your ideas, a simple scrap of paper will do. It will take a bit of training, but soon you will start to have faith that the idea you jotted down is truly going to be there in the morning. Usually you will find these ideas aren’t nearly as brilliant as you imagined at 1:37am, but sometimes they are and you’ll be glad you got a good night’s rest AND remembered your idea.

Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades at @SplinteredMind or my novel writing project over at @DouglasCootey. And if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can friend me on Facebook as well.

Believe it or not, you truly can control your ADHD impulses and avoid being arrested for illegal entry. All it takes is a few good thumps from the School of Hard Knocks to drive the lesson home, but even an air-headed dreamer such as myself can learn to avoid catastrophe.

The other night I had friends over. As usual, these things tend to go late. You’d think I liked spending time with them or something. So when a friend offered to take me out for some late night shopping, I leapt at the chance. My sexy, hot minivan was running on fumes and so wasn’t my bank account.

As we left I noticed something on my neighbor’s doorknob. Closer inspection showed it to be a set of keys left in the door, with a loaded keychain one key away from collapsing in on its own weight and becoming a black hole. That in itself was interesting, but more importantly, it shouldn’t have been dangling there so invitingly at 1:30am in the morning. This was definitely a case where ADHD distractibility was an upside.

But what should I do?

The keys belonged to a young mother of four going through a divorce. She was kind enough to send over some chocolate chip zucchini bread for me and my girls when we first moved in a few weeks ago. It was very neighborly, and I had been wanting to return the favor.

My first impulse was to take the keys out of the door, open the door, quietly drop the keys inside, then close the door. I squashed that idea instantly. Breaking and entering wasn’t something I wanted to be known for in my new apartment building. Besides, it left her door unsecure.

My second impulse was to take the keys out of the door, secure them at my place, and then leave a note on the door. But I didn’t even know the girl’s name, and that could be seen as a bit creepy. And it still left her door unlocked and with an announcement that read “Hey, you! I’ve got your keys. ~Apt. #1A¾”. I squashed that idea even quicker.

Taking a moment to pause and think is beneficial to managing ADHD

I resorted to knocking on her door despite the late hour. It took three attempts, each increasingly louder, before she answered wide-eyed and panicked with the door only opened a crack. She obviously wasn’t dressed for company. I said “Hi, your keys are in your door,” in as apologetic a tone as I could muster. She was surprised for a second, then immensely relieved. She whispered “Thank you!”, fumbled for her keys without opening the door further, then disappeared.

She thanked me two more times in the days that followed. I had successfully been neighborly. Now, think of how different it could have been if I had followed my first ADHD impulse. Can you imagine her panic if she had heard her front door open and her keys jingle while she lay in her bed in the dark? Or worse, what if I had opened the door while she was moving about her kitchen in her unmentionables?

Avoiding ADHD Social Gaffes

The scary thing is that when I was in my twenties I had so little control over my ADHD impulses that I would have followed the first impulse in the blink of an eye. I was phenomenally lucky and avoided most serious trouble except, you know, getting fired and watching friendships go down in incandescent flames and stuff. That’s why I learned to stop and think things through before acting on them, especially when dealing with other people. There was a danger of second-guessing myself, but with practice I found a happy balance.

The ADHD mind works at a million thoughts a minute. If we don’t teach ourselves how to filter them, we are doomed to live interesting but socially radioactive lives. I’m glad I’ve taught myself control. It took me a few years, but it was worth the effort.

Now if only I can suppress the urge to beg for more of that zucchini bread.

Sometimes when life gets crazy and your ADHD mind seems determined to make the worst of your day, finding the humor in the situation is the only remedy you have left to keeping your spirits high.

Photo by kangster

I was feeling pretty good Sunday morning. I had a new pair of pants. They were used pants with a rip in the side, and they only cost $6, but the most important thing about them was that I fit in them.

Over the years, I had let myself go like most married people I know. Since the sudden shift in my marital status last month, I’ve lost weight—about 13 lbs. In fact, I have been trying to lose weight since last year. I’ve dropped 28 lbs. over all. So to fit into a smaller pant size was a big event for me. I had refused to purchase any new slacks until I had lost weight. With the stress of moving into a new place, I could use some excuses to feel good about myself.

My pants looked good. Heck, my shirt and tie looked good, too. Maybe my hair should match, I thought, so I rummaged about the counter top looking for some mousse. With a home filled with girls, my hands didn’t have to rummage about too far. Without a care in the world, I filled my palm with foamy goodness and applied liberally. Then I had the following conversation:

“ARGH! I smell like a chick!”

“What did you use?” called my daughter from the other room.

“This mousse!” I said in a not so manly tone.

“Daddy, that’s from Victoria’s Secret!”

Ah, one would think the label SO SEXY would have been a clue, but I hadn’t taken time to notice. I was too preoccupied with how good I looked in my new pants.

We were late, but I couldn’t go out into the world smelling of lilacs and rose petals. I rewashed my hair, redressed, gathered my girls and ran out the door without my keys. Fortunately, I had forgotten to lock the door.

Keys in hand, we rushed to the minivan and discovered I had left the seats at the old place after the previous day’s big move. I piled the girls into the minivan anyway and rushed (very carefully) back to their mother’s. In slacks, white shirt, and a tie I reinstalled the car seats.

At this point, we had missed much of church, and I no longer looked my best. It was a fiasco of a morning. Where on Earth was my brain? I’d have taken a picture of what I looked like if only I had remembered to bring my iPhone.

The funny bit is I wasn’t stressed out. After years of ADHD moments, where my mind seems out of sync with the universe around me, I’ve developed a sense of humor about the whole thing. There are times when ToDo lists, reminders, sticky notes, and scheduled alarms cannot save you from yourself. Sometimes, you just need to take a deep breath and pause.

And that’s what I did.

I gathered my wits (a difficult task, I assure you, since they were scattered between two homes), calmed myself, brushed off my pants, and enjoyed what church service was left. Then I had an amazing day.

I baked birthday brownies, threw a party, cooked steak and potatoes for dinner, and delivered the girls to their mother for their first two week split. The entire time I just kept taking deep breaths and staying calm. If I had remembered to do that in the morning, I might have enjoyed more of church. But, at least, I still looked good in those pants.

Can you train yourself to overcome ADHD? You can if you remember to do it. Of course, with ADHD that’s a tall order.

The task last week seemed simple enough. It was my first week back on the job and I wanted to impress. Write two new blogs and find people to be interviewed for the HealthyPlace TV & Radio shows. I could do that—easy.

It’s true that the first blog was a day late because we hadn’t worked out all the details of my rehire, but I wrote it in time even if it wasn’t posted in time. But what happened to the second blog?

ADHD Forgetfulness Impacts Us Socially

It seems that I was so caught up in learning my new job that I completely forgot about writing the second blog. In fact, I remembered it while on the phone with my boss while discussing the new job. The conversation went something like this:

Me: So that’s what I’ve done this week for the interviews. I’m getting excited about it. (Sudden pause) Oh, hey! I was supposed to post another blog today, wasn’t I?

Boss: (Disappointed and heavy silence. The sounds of an axe being sharpened could be heard in the background.)

Me: Wow! Gosh! That’s totally lame, isn’t it? Uh, I’ll never do that again?

Boss: (More sharpening sounds)

Me: Waitasecond, you hadn’t noticed yet. I shouldn’t have said anything and just posted it, right?

Boss: (Loud, keen, grinding noise)

After convincing my Boss that I still needed my hands to type, I survived the weekend and tackled this new week with gusto. I wouldn’t forget again. But how was I going to do that? The first thing I needed to do was figure out what went wrong in the first place.

Keeping Track of Tasks with ADHD Requires Effort

I was motivated. I was excited. I should have been able to remember. Why didn’t I? The answer was simple: I had forgotten to use my number one coping strategy to manage ADHD. I had forgotten to remind myself with a ToDo list.

Writing a ToDo list doesn’t need to be complicated, though there are very complicated systems out there to accommodate every geeky need. All you need is a scrap of paper and a pen. But most importantly, you need to train yourself to actually look at the scrap of paper again.

I like to use sticky notes for important, remember-this-or-die tasks. Take this morning for an example. I discovered that my 16-year-old had accidentally overspent while enthusiastically buying her little sister new clothes. When I did the math at the end of the day, I discovered that we would be negative in the morning. But what to do about it at 12:30am?

I wrote a note and tacked it up on the door right where I’d see it in the morning. Then when I stepped through the door, I took the note with me and stuck it on my dashboard. I’ve trained myself to keep checking on those notes, to make sure they don’t disappear. All morning as I drove my girls to their schools, I kept an eye on that note. Then, when everybody had been dropped off, the first thing I did was attend to that note. I couldn’t trust myself to remember, but I could train myself to keep looking.

In fact, not only do I use a ToDo list, but I also schedule events in my calendar. In the case of writing ADDaboy! I make sure the reminders pop up a day early with lots of alarms to pound through my hirsute skull. At least, I was supposed to do that. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time.

And it’s still a good idea. Life comes at us fast and doesn’t often give us a chance to dodge. Sometimes we get so busy dealing with the now, we forget to do what we promised to do last week. Anybody with a busy life has that problem, but adults with ADHD experience it more often. If you know that you have a tendency to forget to do things after time has passed, you can compensate for it. I like to do that with ToDo lists and sticky notes. Maybe a different system will work best for you.

Next week I’ll talk a little about my alarm reminder system. Until then, good luck remembering to get things done this weekend, but don’t forget to enjoy yourself.

Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades at @SplinteredMind or my novel writing over at @DouglasCootey. And if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can even friend me on Facebook as well.

I knew there was a reason I despised SpongeBob SquarePants and his shiny bottom. There was just something about that character that set my teeth on edge. It wasn’t the fact he was a talking sponge. It had nothing to do with his nasally voice. It didn’t even have anything to do with the inane plots or lame jokes. No, something about that squishy annoyance with the large proboscis filled me with an almost primeval loathing. And now I know why.

A new study published in Pediatrics has shown that watching a mere nine minutes of SpongeBob’s antics causes short-term attention in 4-year-olds, as well as other learning problems. Now, if they had asked me, I could have told them before they damaged all those poor, innocent kids that SpongeBob rots your brain. But then they wouldn’t have been able to get all that funding and have something to chat about at parties.

Determining the Impact of TV on Young Children

Sixty children were randomly assigned to watch “SpongeBob”, “Caillou”, or draw pictures. Then they were given mental function tests, with the SpongeBob kids performing much worse than the others. The children assigned to Caillou were statistically no different than those who were tested while asleep. The children were also tested for self-control and impulsiveness by setting out snacks in front of them and seeing how long they could wait before diving in. The SpongeBob kids waited almost half as less as the other kids. I don’t know about you, but if I had just watched dancing seafood for nine minutes, I’d be hungry, too.

According to Dr. Dimitri Christakis, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, the results should be cautiously interpreted because they only tested a few tykes, but gosh darn if the data didn’t look bad for TV. He even felt the study suggested that media exposure is a public health issue. Why, that means the government can get involved and finally do something about all those brightly colored cleaning supplies who sing silly sea shanties to our children!

The fact that none of the children were actually tested before watching TV was apparently irrelevant. None of the children had previously diagnosed attention problems, but they had similar behavior scores on their parent evaluations because parents know this stuff better than doctors. Also, we should disregard that most of the kids were white and from middle-class or wealthy families.

None of that stopped Christakis from stating, “What kids watch matters, it’s not just how much they watch.” Psychologist Angeline Lillard, the lead author, was more restrained in her opinion, suggesting that perhaps these shows should not be watched on the way to school.

Does Watching SpongeBob SquarePants Give Your Kid ADHD?

Watching one TV show can’t make you ADHD anymore than eating one donut can make you fat. I take issue with Christakis’ conclusions that nine minutes of one TV program can have lasting adverse affects on developing minds, though I am open to the idea of the actual study’s findings that certain programs can have short-term adverse affects. I mean, have you watched SpongeBob SquarePants? Egads! But if we’re going to single out frenetic children’s programming, then we should also put up against the Censorship Wall every Hollywood movie ever shot with shaky cam. And all the Bourne movies. And maybe anything featuring the cast of Jersey Shore. After all, think of the children.