February Recommendation: SelfControl

I don’t have any, but there’s an app for that.

I’m not sure if I always had undiagnosed ADHD as a kid — it seems probable, in retrospect — or if the internet and smartphones have just rewired my brain to make concentration impossible — also probable. I have had an official diagnosis for a while, but I don’t love the side effects of medications, so I haven’t taken anything for years. I’m not great at focusing on a good day, and when everything in the world is completely and utterly insane, it seems impossible. Writing hundreds of words at a time like this? No! I must doomscroll!

But doomscrolling is bad for my mental health. Doomscrolling makes me angry and sad and frustrated, and none of those states are good for my emotional sobriety. And no one is currently paying me to keep up with all the bad news, so there’s no reason I (or you!) need to do it. So over the past few weeks I have implemented a new strategy so that I can regain focus to the extent that my brain is ever capable of it.