I’m a Linkedin user, what a great tool! Think of Linkedin as the Facebook for business. A place where you can connect on various levels professionally to better your career and contacts.
OK, let’s toss in a case of ADD and see what happens! Kind of like when Willy Wonka let Augustus Gloop run free in his candy factory (fat kid in a candy store syndrome)!! Picture me or anyone else with ADD on Linkedin with so much available visually, and right there at my fingertips on the keyboard. Things like updates, people you may know, who’s viewed your profile, your Linkedin network, jobs, email, comments, groups, sub groups, reading lists and if you click on any of these areas, it opens up another labyrinth of options! It’s like the domino affect, one falls and another and another. There doesn’t seem to be an end. You can be two or three clicks into this tool and all of a sudden 15 minutes has gone by and you haven’t even accomplished what your initial task was.
With ADD, many people get side tracked very easily, lose focus and are off on another tangent. I need to really focus on my task at hand when I’m using Linkedin and other social networking tools. I use tricks like asking myself if I have completed my task before I click elsewhere, or setting a timer as a reminder of time wasted. Be careful with your use of Linkedin and other social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and others. For an ADD’er, it can really suck you into a black hole and eat up a lot of time and energy with no results gained.
If you want to connect with me on Linked in, click here on my Personal Profile , try not to get sucked into the black hole!!
A mental note is not enough. Reading this post made me laugh because its so true…its scary. When venturing into the realm of social medias the safest bet for someone with ADD is not to rely on mental notes. Thinking one will be able to keep in mind why you click on a link after a bunch of interesting things appear on your screen is pure delusion. I mean sure we are capable of remembering what we wanted to do when we first clicked on a particular link but usually it does not happen soon enough. The solution: don’t use social networks they are evil! Hahaha or just write down in a piece of paper what your intentions are before you click. The process of writing somehow helps me stay focus even if just for a few clicks.