ADHD Gadget (work in progress)

ADHD Gadget

I am an adult who was diagnosed with ADHD very late in my life. ADHD is commonly seen as a shortage of attention (it’s right there in the name) but, increasingly, researchers see it more as a problem with executive functions. People with ADHD are capable of great feats of intense attention and focus - the problem is that we invariably focus on the wrong things.

Treatment for ADHD typically involves some form of stimulant medication that helps regulate various neurotransmitters, mainly dopamine and norepinephrine, that help govern attention and how it is directed. With the help of such chemical prosthetics, my ability to prioritise tasks and time is greatly increased. However, it is still a battle for me. Imagine that you went through life never having learned to read, then at the age of 54, someone suggests that maybe you can’t read because you can’t see well and you just need glasses. So, you get some glasses and now you can perfectly make out the text on the page. It’s a revelation, however, you still can’t read. Like reading, executive functions need to be learnt, but a kid with ADHD may not be able to learn.

I find my attention engaged by little gadgets and games, as well as social media. ADHD people are good at social media, in a bad way! We are adept at cruising around the internet and finding interesting things to share with others, to the delight of our online friends. Likes on Facebook reward the ADHD brain with little bursts of approval, matched by a squirt of dopamine that makes it feel like a real achievement. The same happens when we play games. It creates an illusion of getting somewhere that makes mundane but necessary stuff feel even less attractive and exciting.

Seeing that some people have had success in gamifying aspects of their life in order to encourage more constructive behaviours, I would like to make a small portable device that helps

The Thing...

I am aiming for a MVP prototype with a few core features and a roadmap for its extended development.

Desired Features:

Basic (local)

A basic ‘Pomodoro’-style timer with which I can manually set one or more time periods for focused activity.

• A basic ‘Pomodoro’-style timer with which I can manually set one or more time periods for focused activity.

An interval timer for exercise routines. (similar to the above, but needs to be separate to reduce friction and distraction)

• An interval timer for exercise routines. (similar to the above, but needs to be separate to reduce friction and distraction)

Multi alarms with different sounds for different kinds of reminders

• Multi alarms with different sounds for different kinds of reminders

Networked features:

Integration with exercise and habit-tracking apps

• Integration with exercise and habit-tracking apps

Integration with IFTT or similar to let the user customise the tools to their needs

• Integration with IFTT or similar to let the user customise the tools to their needs

Although I’d like to have some simple things usable right away, user-customisation is probably the most important aspect of this thing. To this end, I will treat each sensor and actuator as a separate entity that can be linked to data tools and timers as required.

For example: If my time tracking software notes that I have a facebook page open and in focus on my PC while I am meant to be doing something else, it will elicit a response from the device. This might be an unobtrusive buzz and a change in its display that might get more intrusive after a set period of time. The goal is to interrupt the interruption and nudge me back into a more constructive behaviour.

If my exercise app records a walk or other exercise, the device might acknowledge this in some way. The device could show a summary or a score comparing how I’m doing today, compared with the rest of the week.

Different things will work for different people, and even one person’s needs will change over time, so it is important to make it easy to reconfigure via a simple web interface.

This initial prototype is aimed specifically at me as the target user, so I can focus on how well the basic ideas work in practice. To test on others, I will need to address how user data is collected, maintained and used, where it is stored and how it is kept private and secure. These considerations are beyond the scope of this stage of the project, but will still inform the early design.

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The Design:

Ambient Display based on time tracking

On my work computer:

ManicTime client logs all activity and tags for different jobs and activity types. For thi project, I am using 'Helpful' and 'Unhelpful' as broad tags for getting stuff done, vs faffing about on social media and news etc.

Python Script queries the AWS ManicTime Server and extracts relevant tags. Sends commands to Cores device via AWS IoT

Time spent on 'unhelpful' activity determines minimal ambient display on the Core2 device.

On AWS CS2 instance:

ManicTime Server keeps SQL database of all device activity