My friend Vincent just pointed me to a story that could have been about me. Yes folks, I too suffer from N.A.D.D. And I am proud of it. In case you haven’t clicked away yet to some pr0n site, then you’re now probably wondering “what the f**** is N.A.D.D.?” Well, it stands for “Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder“. To explain it I will have to quote parts from the excellent story that this guy wrote in his blog “Rands In Repose“. So that dude deserves all the credits. I am so sure that if I forward the article to 10 of my friends/collegues they will A) recognize me in the profile and B) there is a 90% chance they recognize themselfes too 😉
So read on and… discover how bad your N.A.D.D. score is 😉
Stop reading right now and take a look at your desktop. How many things are you doing right now in addition to reading this column? Me, I’ve got a terminal session open to a chat room, I’m listening to music, I’ve got Safari open with three tabs open where I’m watching Blogshares, tinkering with a web site, and looking at weekend movie returns. Not done yet. I’ve got iChat open, ESPN.COM is downloading sports new trailers in the background, and I’ve got two notepads open where I’m capturing random thoughts for later integration into various to do lists. Oh yeah, I’m writing this column, as well.
Folks, this isn’t multi-tasking. This is advanced case of Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder. I am unable to function at my desktop unless I’ve got, at least, five things going on at the same time. If your count came close, you’re probably afflicted, as well. Most excellent.
I scored big time here:
Open windows:
– Mail + 1 compose mail
– Firefox: 7 tabs: ilounge, my blog, NADD article, MacFreak forum, Lincoln Forum, Netvibes for RSS feeds
– iLounge with Winamp
– remote desktop
– Skype chat
– Grabit – downloading lounge from alt.binaries.sound.mp3.lounge
– FTD3: checking warezzz
– Statbar (useless XP stats)
– Picasa 2 for mailing some photos
And how true:
The presence of NADD in your life is directly related to how you’ve dealt with the media deluge of the new millennium. You’ve likely gone one of three ways:
1) You’ve checked out… you don’t own a TV and it’s unlikely you’re even reading this column.
2) You enjoy your media/content in moderation. When I asked you to count how many windows were open on your desktop you either said, “One, my browser for which to read this article” or you made yourself a note to yourself to check this AFTER completing this column. In a previous age, you were the type of person who kept their pencils very sharpened.
3) You enjoy the content fire hose. Give me tabbed browsing, tabbed instant messaging, music all the time, and TIVO TIVO TIVO. Welcome to NADD.
The presence of NADD in your friends is equally detectable. Here’s a simple test. Ask to sit down at THEIR computer and start mucking with stuff on their desktop. Move an icon here… adjust a window size there. If your friend calmly watches as you tinker away, they’re probably NADD-free, for now. However, if your friend is anxiously rubbing their forehead and/or climbing out of their skin when you move that icon 12 PIXELS TO THE RIGHT, there’s NADD in the house. BACK AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER.
Dude… that is scary! It is right on the dot! As said: I am so sure that if I forward the article to 10 of my friends/collegues they will A) recognize me in the profile and B) there is a 90% chance they recognize themselfes too 😉
And just like him I have been afflicted with N.A.D.D. since my teens! And my father just got the same reaction from me, as he gave to his mom, when he asked the same question when walking into my hopelessly messy room where I was doing a million things at the same time:
“How can you focus on anything with all this stuff going on?” I responded, “Mom, I can’t focus without all this noise.”
So yeah. What can I say? Ok, 1 more quote and then you will have to read all of it at his blog:
I’m making NADDers sounds like obsessive power freaks and, well, we are. How else would you deal with a world where media is forced on you at every turn? You’d get very good at controlling it. Here’s more good news:
1) Folks not afflicted NADD think those who are can’t focus because, look at us, we’re all over the place. PLEASE STOP CLICKING ON THINGS — YOU ARE GIVING ME A HEADACHE. Wrong. NADDers have an amazingly ability to focus when they choose to. Granted, it’s not their natural state and, granted, it can take longer than some to get in the zone, but when we’re there, BOY HOWDY.
2) Weblogs are designed for those with NADD. The web digested into short little blurbs of information. NADD heaven. My guess would be that the population of regular webloggers is mostly NADD-afflicted. Otherwise, they’d be writing books… not paragraphs… at random times of the day… always.
3) NADD can advance your career… if you’re in the right career. Ever worked at a start-up? Ever shipped software? What are the last few weeks like? We call it the fire drill because everyone is running around like crazy people doing random, unexpected shit. NADD is the perfect disease for managing this situation. It develops the skills to sift through the colossal amount of useless noise and hear what’s relevant.
Ok, what are you waiting for? Go read the original article here: http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2003/07/10/nadd.html…