Living with ADHD in the age of information and social media | Theo Siggelakis | TEDxQuinnipiacU

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Published 2014-07-03
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. A personal understanding of ADHD is an enlightening source of understanding what it is to live in a hyperlink-enriched world of information. Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and similar media create a highly multifaceted, multidirectional information environment well suited to the ADHD mind.

Theodore Siggelakis is a 2014 graduate of Quinnipiac University. Theo designed his own major in Public Policy Analysis, combining courses from English, Political Science, and Sociology. He has been active in Student Government at Quinnipiac University, has interned for multiple political campaigns and is now Campaign Manager for a state senate campaign in New Hampshire.


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All Comments (21)
  • I started watching this video but I forgot I had to go to the bathroom so I paused it. I got up to go to the bathroom and realized I was hungry so I put a hotpocket in the microwave, closed the door but didn't turn the microwave on because I remembered I had to use the bathroom. I went to the bathroom and got the hotpocket out of the microwave. I sat down and started looking through the comments of the video and took a bite out of a frozen hotpocket. I realized I didn't turn the microwave on and I still haven't watched this video.
  • @clydefrog8711
    I'm a 25 y/o male with adult adhd. I've never met anyone who really understands my "internet surfing" and he explained it so well with the baseball-boston-ted example. I honestly got to this video by 3 hours of surfing the web which started at criminal justice, to the war in bosnia, to circadian rhythm, to anxiety, and finally at this video. I wish I could be productive and not waste my time like this.
  • @netsurfer10000
    I love having and living with "ADHD". If only it wasn't making me fail school.
  • @hoytmueller9700
    As someone with ADHD he is completely right. Last month I described hyperfocus to my new doctor in the same words and he said "that doesn't sound like ADHD". Most people without ADHD have next to no idea about how it actually is.
  • @misosleepy
    Spot on. Go ADHD family! We have brilliant minds that are working on 10 half finished projects at a time
  • @maddieedits
    My thought progress is insane. I'll go from thinking about what my homework is to why we humans exist. goes from 0 to 100 real fast. I procastinate things without realizing it, but once I have a few hours to finish that big essay I sit there hyper focused (with a bit of help from ritalin) having ADHD is werid. But it's a lot of fun as well.
  • @gretaluxx
    What I absolutely hate about having ADHD is that people think that I'm not that smart because I'm not always on task or say things that seem a bit random to them. The people from my school even make jokes about how stupid and hyperactive I am while I'm sitting next to them. It hurts because I know that I'm not stupid just because I have ADHD. The funny thing about that is that they don't know that I have it but it won't make sense to tell them because they wouldn't get it anyways.
  • @rpresley123
    His correletions of thoughts is the exact thing I do everyday all day. I have music in my head constantly all day and the point where I am not thinking is very rare.
  • Hyper focus is a gift from above.

    Find your passion, find how to make money at it.

    Or like me love ....the act...of making money.

    Hyper focus go for it...
  • I'm a sixteen year old male and I have just recently been pulled out of public school because I was behind. Since being homeschooled I have become a Straight A student because my teacher encourages my ADHD. I love having a teacher who encourages me
  • the 4 clicks is exactly how my brain works. it is also why when having discussions with someone, i get totally off topic.
  • I can relate to the hyper focus. Sometimes I spend all day reading a physics textbook, and then I get carried away in a conversation explaining how physics works in daily life. People tell me I'm crazy, but I know what you mean by getting ahead of yourself and speaking so much what's on your mind.
  • @xomgTomx
    My thought process always works the same way! People always give me crazy looks when I jump from one thing to another and then I have to explain how I got there...
  • @Tori_TLCR
    The "thinking in hyperlinks" speaks to a deep part of me. That's exactly how I think and yes, I have ADD. On the bright side, it keeps casual /social conversations interesting! We can talk about 100 things in an hour lol.
  • @therambler3713
    This explains why I have such an incredibly broad interest like a Jack of All Trades. Because my mind is constantly wondering to so many different topics to stimulate itself
  • @spenceriow
    School is or for me was the worst place to be as an adhd sufferer my tutors also showed very little confidence and i was told many times i would end up a nobody. People just arnt educated enough on the matter
  • At times when I have a conversation with people, I try to listen as hard as I can, but somehow I find listening is like keeping up with directions; that throws me off, and I get some details of the conversation, but some things just are irrelevant to what the conversation initially started with. I suck at following directions; it puts me into a state of anxiety, as if I were taking a calculus test of some sort.
  • The quote at 8:16 is sooo true! Me personally? You tell me to solve a math problem and I'll probably just laugh. You give me a piece of paper and pen and I'll write something beautiful. Math homework? It doesn't mean anything to me. Writing? It means a LOT to me. That's me. That's my brain. That's what ADD/ADHD is.
  • @dandyspacedandy
    ADHD Zoomer: "You merely adopted the internet. I was born in it, molded by it."