Why EVE Online and ADD Don't Mix

Driven to Distraction

The book Driven to Distraction is an excellent resource for both those with ADD and those who live with someone who has ADD. Below is one of my favorite excerpts from the book, describing ADD.

"...Usually in these people the core symptom is distractibility. It is a quiet phenomenon, their shifting of attention. It happens as silently, but as definately, as a cut in a film sequence. Imagine, one moment you are in one place, and in the next moment you are somewhere else. You don't really notice it. Rather you go along with it, as you go along with a cut in a movie. The narrative carries you, as you view your own internal story, your own internal screening of the day's events.

In some ways it is a charming symptom. The mind meanders like a brook, winding through the contours of the land, bending here, falling there, quietly making its way, in its own time, to some larger river of thought.

But in other ways it is anything but charming. It can be downright disabling not to be able to rely on your own mind to remember things, to prompt you to get places on time, to keep you involved in a conversation when you want to be, or focused on a page you really do want to read, or concentrating on a project you need to complete. The meadering brook, in its desultory way, seems to be forever carrying you away from where you want to be."

A Little ADD Moment

I've lived with ADD my entire life, but only realized what it was as an adult (and only in the last few years). As I document some of my personal ADD moments, I'll also try to include some interesting tidbits from the Internet. The first follows:



"I call it "But-First" Syndrome. YOU know. It's when you decide
to do the laundry. So you start down the stairs with the laundry but
then see the newspapers on the table. OK, you'll do the laundry.

BUT FIRST you decide to put the papers away. So on your way in
to put the papers away, you notice the mail on the table. OK, you'll put
the papers away.

BUT FIRST you'll pay that bill that needs to be paid. So you
look for the checkbook. Ooops...there's the baby's bottle from yesterday
on the floor. OK, you'll pay the bill.

BUT FIRST you need to put the bottle in the sink. You head for
the kitchen. Darn it, there's the remote for the TV. What's it doing
here? OK, you'll put the bottle in the sink.

BUT FIRST you need to put the remote away. Head for the TV room.
Aaagh! Stepped on the cat. Cat needs to be fed. OK, you'll put the
remote away.

BUT FIRST you need to feed the cat...

So, do I need to describe what happens at the end of the day?
(Hint: Laundry not done, papers on the floor, bottle on the table, bills
unpaid, checkbook still lost, cat ate the remote control...)

Perhaps someone enters about this time and asks: What did you do
today? And, when you try to figure out how come nothing got done all
day, you are baffled...you KNOW you were BUSY ALL DAY!!

That's "BUT-FIRST" Syndrome."