Smartphones Helping to Increase Attention

ADHD, while commonly known to be a disorder found in children, can persist throughout adulthood, with about 2-4% of adults living with this diagnosis. Adult symptoms of ADHD may include the following:

• Difficulty paying attention
• Difficulty controlling impulses
• Impairments in working memory (temporary storage of information)
• Difficulty planning and organizing
• Trouble with multitasking
• Hard time completing tasks
• Difficulty with time perception

Improving organizational skills is an effective way to manage ADHD with the use of calendars, shopping lists, to-do lists, and alarms. Results of a 2014 study give insight into a new technology-savvy way for people with ADHD to manage their time and tasks. Participants who used various organization apps on their smartphones and who received support via texts and phones call from coaches, reported higher levels of attention, decreased hyperactivity, and decreased depression than participants who did not use organization apps or receive support.

It may help to try including organizational smartphone apps into your life! Here are some examples used by participants in the study:

• Google Calendar (Time management)
• N-back (improving working memory)
• Evernote (Notes to aid memory)
• G-tasks (to-do-list)
• Stayfocusd (block distractions)
• SimplyNoise (reduce distractions)

Contact Dr. Gordon for help with your ADHD. We have treatment and solutions available online, by phone, and in our offices.

written by:
Brianna Malinowski
Jay Gordon, Ph.D

Moëll, B., Kollberg, L., Nasri, B., Lindefors, N., & Kaldo, V. (2014). Living SMART — A randomized controlled trial of a guided online course teaching adults with ADHD or sub-clinical ADHD to use smartphones to structure their everyday life. Internet Interventions, 2(1), 24-31.