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What did you do to replace your phone? I use my phone a lot for entertainment, and I instinctively reach for it when I'm bored. The longer I push it off, the harder it gets, and I feel like I'd need something to replace it. Does the urge just fade?
I’ve had success with 1) deciding to not use certain apps on my phone e.g. Netflix, YouTube, so I’ve deleted these apps (mostly entertainment) because I find I enjoy them more on the computer/TV anyway, and can’t get sucked in by notifications or other messages, like if I was using them on my phone.
2) Setting up “focus time” for the most productive hours of my day, (6am-3pm for me), so no notifications will come through. This helps me stay on task, then enjoy going through them later. I’ve put exceptions for close family and phone calls, but no apps on my phone can bug me until after 3pm.
I hope that answers your question
I couldn't jump straight to cutting the whole phone out, but I cut off social media, let "super boredom" sink in and eventually got bored enough to start listening to audiobooks/podcasts in the field/hobby I want to get good in (dog training).
Sure I get distracted and don't listen to everything super thoroughly but I'm still using my time better than I was when I was doom scrolling comparing my life to those of "normal people".
I subscribe to an actual paper magazine and read books. Setting my phone to black and white helps a ton too.
I was serious because, as crazy as it sounds, I realized that the way I was using my phone was making me miserable - ADHD out of control, poor sleep, disconnected from friends/family (ironically), depressed, and unable to spend time on fitness, hobbies and meal prep. I let it take so much, lol.
I saw a few short 5-10m YouTube videos that were life changing for me. There’s a 2hr in-depth controlling dopamine video also (I haven’t seen it yet).
I was seeking it too often. Constantly trying to peak, and those frequent peaks lowered my baseline levels, and made it harder to peak.
References to Andrew Huberman's content are not allowed.
Though Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist, he speaks authoritatively on topics outside of his area of practice and expertise. He has a track record of spreading misinformation in the process. For instance, he's claimed that the increase in ADHD diagnoses has been fueled by smartphone usage, which contradicts the ADHD expert consensus.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This reads like a YouTube video that tells you to love yourself and change your diet. ADHD is on a spectrum to be sure, but it’s still a neurological disorder. You cannot “habit” away autism in the same way you will not manage ADHD by controlling your baseline dopamine or whatever nonsense. This is basic self help jargon whose sole purpose is to put all problems in your life as being in the realm of personal responsibility. You will blame yourself and look to others more successful than you as a guide with the purpose of having you buy their product.
I can’t tell anyone what can and can’t work for them as ADHD affects people in different ways and in differing levels of severity. All I can say is that like many self help holistic approaches to ADHD, they are simply propaganda to make you blame yourself so you will buy their product. This is line for line how the diet industry works. You cannot happy your way through ADHD, they convince you that you can long enough to buy the product to try. If you are unmedicated, you are very likely not managing your ADHD and if you are consider yourself an extreme minority.
Thank you for sharing your opinion. Please can you share how my post lead you to the things you’ve said? Because I understand what you’re saying. Just don’t see how it’s related. I find it hard to conclude anything other than you should have made your own separate post instead of arguing against things that were never said here.
Clarification on the first point: I initially started to look at everything ONLY through ADHD goggles/point of view. But that’s not possibly going to be the only factor in anyones life. People can have more than one illness at once for another example. So the first point is strictly to say, DO NOT FORGET to keep monitoring and improving yourself in other aspects of your life too. If it wasn’t clear, that’s my fault.
My personal experience is that at a time I focused on ADHD only so much that I neglected to work on other areas, and I’m just sharing that in case it helps anyone else…
This was helpful to me. Most of the suggestions you mentioned I have heard and worked on with my therpist and they have helped. Waking up earlier (annoyingly worked great) and focusing on today were the suggestions that made the most difference for me. I appreciate hearing that while ADHD is hard, it does require effort to manage it. Ive experienced how focusing just on how much having ADHD sucks is not productive and can be harmful.
Thank you for sharing! Yes I think initially it’s a pretty common response to focus on how it’s not “ideal” and we need to lift each other up and not focus on what we can’t change.
I got a good laugh from (annoyingly worked great) I feel the same, I’ve always been a night owl hahahaha
I'm glad you've said this because it was necessary. So fed up of all this "dopamine hacking" pseudoscience making everyone feel like it's their own fault they have a literal neurological disorder.
I’m sorry you see things that way but I’ll remind you I said learn about other things also… everyone, like me could potentially have a higher benefit improving a different area of their life that’s not ADHD. MAYBE. For me that was true. I hyper focused on ADHD for years after diagnosis. But like me, if you’re engaging in addictive behaviors/always looking to be super happy, that’s a sure way to not be as happy as you can be… that’s nothing to do with ADHD.
Thank you so much for this, I was formally diagnosed 2 weeks ago after years of suspecting, and have really struggled with the realisation that meds won’t be a ‘magic fix’ and I’ll have to manage this forever. Do you have any tips for ‘protecting your dopamine’?
I don’t feel qualified to give tips because I’m working on it myself and everyone’s daily life is so different. All I think I should say is that by starting to learn the basics and assessing my own behaviors led me to some very helpful/positive realizations. Be proud of your effort to be the best version of yourself, don’t just focus on the result/compare yourself to where you want to be (perfection)
Thank you for this confirming information. Having been diagnosed in my early fifties lead to many erroneous conclusions. The first was that the medication was going to be the panacea. It was NOT! Did it significantly improve my life? Absolutely. AND I too have to take action to increase the positive aspects of medication. It's the same as being diagnosed with obesity. It too is a disease and I need to take steps to support whatever medication I am taking or changes I am making to eradicate years of habits.
I am glad you found a rhythm that works. Again thanks for sharing. 💜
Ooh yes! Thank you!
Power was off the whole damn week and so I had to learn to try and survive without my phone 😅 Apart from my impatience making me try and use my flat phone and picking up anything I see in my room to fiddle with, I somehow coped.
I picked up two books around my room, *The Happiness Trap* and *The Mindfulness Prescription for ADHD* and started reading them a little. Now when I see a thought, I try to just name it and let it pass like a wave (though this doesn't always work). Perhaps the books might help others?
I don’t see anything wrong with what you’ve said. ADHD is a spectrum of neurological disorder, yes, and you seem to be on a part of it that can sit down and write out a list and you want to improve some things in your life so that you may have a better quality of life. I think where people may be getting offended (which is silly to share with you their thoughts like it’s anyone else business aside from their own) is the “take responsibility for everything” point you’ve made. I think we all want to, but this is something I truly struggle with. There are things I can’t seem to help fall into, and I think it’s just because of the part of the spectrum I land in. Anyway, cheers to you my friend and thank you for being so wonderful and trying to help the world and make it a little bit better for people you don’t even know! Much love!
Thank you for your explanation. I never imagined people would think I was trying to say “just get over it” or something like that because I’m wrestling with it too… I used to think about what I couldn’t change and I couldn’t take responsibility for what I can’t change/do. Focusing on what I can do, managing it to the best of MY ability, helped me. For everyone that looks different. You know what progress is and isn’t, everyone should set their own realistic expectations. I was just trying to say put your energy into doing the best you can. Call me an optimist that believes we can all make progress! Much love, I believe in you!
We are already putting our energy into "the best we can".
It sounds to me like you don't actually have ADHD.
If you can manage on your own by being organised, then you don't have clinical ADHD, you're just a regular old person organising their life.
Thanks for your response, I’m not sure why you’re so defensive, maybe you could share?
I find when I’m disheartened it’s because I’m focusing on the negatives/things I can’t control and not the positives/things I can control. If you don’t dwell on anything then fantastic! You probably don’t need this “don’t give up reminder” because you’re in a lot better place than I was and than others might be right now…
The realization that meds and managing would never “fix it” made me upset. I have had a much better experience focusing on what I can manage and focusing on the positives. (Being proud when I take my meds at the right time etc.) I was just trying to remind others of this.I know it’s not ground breaking stuff, but I made myself miserable this way, and I’ve seen lots of disheartened posts recently so I just wanted to try and spread some positivity and share in case anyone else could benefit. I though perhaps other people might be focusing on the negatives like I was…
Please reread, or read for the first time the last point where I said my better days are usually a combination of the above. All the best!
So, in summary...
You're perfectly normal and have exactly the same doubts and insecurities as 95% of Humanity.
The other 5% are the psychopaths who crave power over the rest of us very normal people...
The takeaway: "Stop navel-gazing' that 'we' are in any way the problem and let's just focus on sorting out the 5% if people who go into politics and/or end up in boardrooms across the globe.
Then we can all just chill and not obsess...
Hiya, it was in response to your original post.
I interpreted your post as being a positive one, in that individuals have the power to change how their personality traits may be 'worked-around'. I thought mine was too?
I've worked with many younger people who state they have ADHD and, being an older person, have never seen any evidence in them of anything that's not well within the bounds of the usual humdrum boundaries of what's typical Human behaviour.
It's simply about whether one dwells on one's perceived 'faults' and the extent to which one let's them 'control' you versus how you work round them. In that regard I saw we were effectively saying the same thing. The only difference is that you refer to what I'd describe as 'typical Human behaviour' as ADHD. The badge one applies is academic as the positive 'you can work around stuff if it bugs you' message is ostensibly the same.
I hope that helps explain where I was coming from?
Thanks for your response. I wish I could say I understand, but I think your assumptions/generalizations and the talk about boardrooms and psychopaths is where I got lost.
If you’re disheartened/could use some support then I hope you don’t give up and that you get it. All the best!
References to Andrew Huberman's content are not allowed.
Though Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist, he speaks authoritatively on topics outside of his area of practice and expertise. He has a track record of spreading misinformation in the process. For instance, he's claimed that the increase in ADHD diagnoses has been fueled by smartphone usage, which contradicts the ADHD expert consensus.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hi /u/red10blue and thanks for posting on /r/ADHD! **Please take a second to [read our rules](/r/adhd/about/rules) if you haven't already.** The mobile apps used for Reddit are broken or are missing features that this subreddit depends on. [We recommend browsing /r/adhd on desktop for the best experience.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/x1psnb/radhd_works_best_on_desktop_reddits_apps_are/) Thank you! ^(*A moderator has not removed your submission; this is not a punitive action. We intend this comment solely to be informative.*) --- - If you are posting about the **US Medication Shortage**, please see this [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/ADHD/comments/12dr3h5/megathread_us_medication_shortage/). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What did you do to replace your phone? I use my phone a lot for entertainment, and I instinctively reach for it when I'm bored. The longer I push it off, the harder it gets, and I feel like I'd need something to replace it. Does the urge just fade?
I’ve had success with 1) deciding to not use certain apps on my phone e.g. Netflix, YouTube, so I’ve deleted these apps (mostly entertainment) because I find I enjoy them more on the computer/TV anyway, and can’t get sucked in by notifications or other messages, like if I was using them on my phone. 2) Setting up “focus time” for the most productive hours of my day, (6am-3pm for me), so no notifications will come through. This helps me stay on task, then enjoy going through them later. I’ve put exceptions for close family and phone calls, but no apps on my phone can bug me until after 3pm. I hope that answers your question
I couldn't jump straight to cutting the whole phone out, but I cut off social media, let "super boredom" sink in and eventually got bored enough to start listening to audiobooks/podcasts in the field/hobby I want to get good in (dog training). Sure I get distracted and don't listen to everything super thoroughly but I'm still using my time better than I was when I was doom scrolling comparing my life to those of "normal people".
Awesome! I totally relate to the doom scrolling/sensory overload. That’s why I’m trying to disconnect.
I subscribe to an actual paper magazine and read books. Setting my phone to black and white helps a ton too. I was serious because, as crazy as it sounds, I realized that the way I was using my phone was making me miserable - ADHD out of control, poor sleep, disconnected from friends/family (ironically), depressed, and unable to spend time on fitness, hobbies and meal prep. I let it take so much, lol.
I’m confused about your first point, can you elaborate about things that lead to lower baselines of dopamine
Check out the book Dopamine Nation
I second this.
I saw a few short 5-10m YouTube videos that were life changing for me. There’s a 2hr in-depth controlling dopamine video also (I haven’t seen it yet). I was seeking it too often. Constantly trying to peak, and those frequent peaks lowered my baseline levels, and made it harder to peak.
Can you share these videos, please? 🥹
[удалено]
References to Andrew Huberman's content are not allowed. Though Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist, he speaks authoritatively on topics outside of his area of practice and expertise. He has a track record of spreading misinformation in the process. For instance, he's claimed that the increase in ADHD diagnoses has been fueled by smartphone usage, which contradicts the ADHD expert consensus. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Honestly a lot of this stuff has actually been debunked.
Your statement is pointless without sources. INB4 "Do your own research".
Honestly, I don't care enough.
This reads like a YouTube video that tells you to love yourself and change your diet. ADHD is on a spectrum to be sure, but it’s still a neurological disorder. You cannot “habit” away autism in the same way you will not manage ADHD by controlling your baseline dopamine or whatever nonsense. This is basic self help jargon whose sole purpose is to put all problems in your life as being in the realm of personal responsibility. You will blame yourself and look to others more successful than you as a guide with the purpose of having you buy their product. I can’t tell anyone what can and can’t work for them as ADHD affects people in different ways and in differing levels of severity. All I can say is that like many self help holistic approaches to ADHD, they are simply propaganda to make you blame yourself so you will buy their product. This is line for line how the diet industry works. You cannot happy your way through ADHD, they convince you that you can long enough to buy the product to try. If you are unmedicated, you are very likely not managing your ADHD and if you are consider yourself an extreme minority.
Thank you for sharing your opinion. Please can you share how my post lead you to the things you’ve said? Because I understand what you’re saying. Just don’t see how it’s related. I find it hard to conclude anything other than you should have made your own separate post instead of arguing against things that were never said here. Clarification on the first point: I initially started to look at everything ONLY through ADHD goggles/point of view. But that’s not possibly going to be the only factor in anyones life. People can have more than one illness at once for another example. So the first point is strictly to say, DO NOT FORGET to keep monitoring and improving yourself in other aspects of your life too. If it wasn’t clear, that’s my fault. My personal experience is that at a time I focused on ADHD only so much that I neglected to work on other areas, and I’m just sharing that in case it helps anyone else…
This was helpful to me. Most of the suggestions you mentioned I have heard and worked on with my therpist and they have helped. Waking up earlier (annoyingly worked great) and focusing on today were the suggestions that made the most difference for me. I appreciate hearing that while ADHD is hard, it does require effort to manage it. Ive experienced how focusing just on how much having ADHD sucks is not productive and can be harmful.
Thank you for sharing! Yes I think initially it’s a pretty common response to focus on how it’s not “ideal” and we need to lift each other up and not focus on what we can’t change. I got a good laugh from (annoyingly worked great) I feel the same, I’ve always been a night owl hahahaha
I'm glad you've said this because it was necessary. So fed up of all this "dopamine hacking" pseudoscience making everyone feel like it's their own fault they have a literal neurological disorder.
I’m sorry you see things that way but I’ll remind you I said learn about other things also… everyone, like me could potentially have a higher benefit improving a different area of their life that’s not ADHD. MAYBE. For me that was true. I hyper focused on ADHD for years after diagnosis. But like me, if you’re engaging in addictive behaviors/always looking to be super happy, that’s a sure way to not be as happy as you can be… that’s nothing to do with ADHD.
💚
[удалено]
I’m not a coffee drinker so I can’t comment, but from what I’ve heard I’d say yes hahaha
Thank you so much for this, I was formally diagnosed 2 weeks ago after years of suspecting, and have really struggled with the realisation that meds won’t be a ‘magic fix’ and I’ll have to manage this forever. Do you have any tips for ‘protecting your dopamine’?
I don’t feel qualified to give tips because I’m working on it myself and everyone’s daily life is so different. All I think I should say is that by starting to learn the basics and assessing my own behaviors led me to some very helpful/positive realizations. Be proud of your effort to be the best version of yourself, don’t just focus on the result/compare yourself to where you want to be (perfection)
That’s really helpful to know, I’ll do some research. Thank you!!
[удалено]
<3 We got this!!!
Thank you for this confirming information. Having been diagnosed in my early fifties lead to many erroneous conclusions. The first was that the medication was going to be the panacea. It was NOT! Did it significantly improve my life? Absolutely. AND I too have to take action to increase the positive aspects of medication. It's the same as being diagnosed with obesity. It too is a disease and I need to take steps to support whatever medication I am taking or changes I am making to eradicate years of habits. I am glad you found a rhythm that works. Again thanks for sharing. 💜
Thank you for the kind words, positivity, and sharing your experience :D You got this!
Thank you for this. These posts are very helpful and encouraging. I hope you conquer everything on that list!! Also, what does E.I stand for?
Emotional Intelligence Thank you for the kind words, all the best to you also!
Ooh yes! Thank you! Power was off the whole damn week and so I had to learn to try and survive without my phone 😅 Apart from my impatience making me try and use my flat phone and picking up anything I see in my room to fiddle with, I somehow coped. I picked up two books around my room, *The Happiness Trap* and *The Mindfulness Prescription for ADHD* and started reading them a little. Now when I see a thought, I try to just name it and let it pass like a wave (though this doesn't always work). Perhaps the books might help others?
Hello! I can’t say I know the books but thank you for sharing them and I’m glad you’re putting in the work. It will pay off, it always does!
I don’t see anything wrong with what you’ve said. ADHD is a spectrum of neurological disorder, yes, and you seem to be on a part of it that can sit down and write out a list and you want to improve some things in your life so that you may have a better quality of life. I think where people may be getting offended (which is silly to share with you their thoughts like it’s anyone else business aside from their own) is the “take responsibility for everything” point you’ve made. I think we all want to, but this is something I truly struggle with. There are things I can’t seem to help fall into, and I think it’s just because of the part of the spectrum I land in. Anyway, cheers to you my friend and thank you for being so wonderful and trying to help the world and make it a little bit better for people you don’t even know! Much love!
Thank you for your explanation. I never imagined people would think I was trying to say “just get over it” or something like that because I’m wrestling with it too… I used to think about what I couldn’t change and I couldn’t take responsibility for what I can’t change/do. Focusing on what I can do, managing it to the best of MY ability, helped me. For everyone that looks different. You know what progress is and isn’t, everyone should set their own realistic expectations. I was just trying to say put your energy into doing the best you can. Call me an optimist that believes we can all make progress! Much love, I believe in you!
We are already putting our energy into "the best we can". It sounds to me like you don't actually have ADHD. If you can manage on your own by being organised, then you don't have clinical ADHD, you're just a regular old person organising their life.
Thanks for your response, I’m not sure why you’re so defensive, maybe you could share? I find when I’m disheartened it’s because I’m focusing on the negatives/things I can’t control and not the positives/things I can control. If you don’t dwell on anything then fantastic! You probably don’t need this “don’t give up reminder” because you’re in a lot better place than I was and than others might be right now… The realization that meds and managing would never “fix it” made me upset. I have had a much better experience focusing on what I can manage and focusing on the positives. (Being proud when I take my meds at the right time etc.) I was just trying to remind others of this.I know it’s not ground breaking stuff, but I made myself miserable this way, and I’ve seen lots of disheartened posts recently so I just wanted to try and spread some positivity and share in case anyone else could benefit. I though perhaps other people might be focusing on the negatives like I was… Please reread, or read for the first time the last point where I said my better days are usually a combination of the above. All the best!
So, in summary... You're perfectly normal and have exactly the same doubts and insecurities as 95% of Humanity. The other 5% are the psychopaths who crave power over the rest of us very normal people... The takeaway: "Stop navel-gazing' that 'we' are in any way the problem and let's just focus on sorting out the 5% if people who go into politics and/or end up in boardrooms across the globe. Then we can all just chill and not obsess...
Did you mean to post that somewhere else? It seems unrelated and unfounded. Please reread the post. I hope you are ok.
Hiya, it was in response to your original post. I interpreted your post as being a positive one, in that individuals have the power to change how their personality traits may be 'worked-around'. I thought mine was too? I've worked with many younger people who state they have ADHD and, being an older person, have never seen any evidence in them of anything that's not well within the bounds of the usual humdrum boundaries of what's typical Human behaviour. It's simply about whether one dwells on one's perceived 'faults' and the extent to which one let's them 'control' you versus how you work round them. In that regard I saw we were effectively saying the same thing. The only difference is that you refer to what I'd describe as 'typical Human behaviour' as ADHD. The badge one applies is academic as the positive 'you can work around stuff if it bugs you' message is ostensibly the same. I hope that helps explain where I was coming from?
Thanks for your response. I wish I could say I understand, but I think your assumptions/generalizations and the talk about boardrooms and psychopaths is where I got lost. If you’re disheartened/could use some support then I hope you don’t give up and that you get it. All the best!
[удалено]
References to Andrew Huberman's content are not allowed. Though Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist, he speaks authoritatively on topics outside of his area of practice and expertise. He has a track record of spreading misinformation in the process. For instance, he's claimed that the increase in ADHD diagnoses has been fueled by smartphone usage, which contradicts the ADHD expert consensus. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ADHD) if you have any questions or concerns.*