Re-Mind by Belen Tenorio by Belen

RE-MIND Re-evaluating Mental Disorders in an Accelerated Quick Fix Culture

Belen Tenorio

ÂŠ Copyright 2016 by Belen Tenorio All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photo-copying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. For inquiries, contact bele.tv@gmail.com www.belentenorio.com

CLASSES

COLLABORATORS

FACULTY

Thesis One, Design Delight, Service Design, Business Modeling, Thesis Two, Presentation, Designing for Screens, Futuring and Speculative Design.

Jennifer Flores, Alex Castillo, Valentina Vicent, Taylor Marvin, Er suo (Thor), Josh Corn and Andy Clancy.

Allan Chochinov , Andrew Schloss, Steven Dean, Abby Covert, Emily Baltz, Brent Arnold, Janna Gilbert and Sinclair Smith.

IN 18

Introduction

The Beginning

Goals

Research & Interviews

DEX

IN 56

Early Prototypes

Fidget will save your life

UX-UI Didgets

Didgets, 3D Renderings

DEX

IN 98

109

Data & a World of Possibilities, fidget.xyz

110

Locus

129

Measure your productivity through your fidgets.

130

135

Interlude Experience Design

136

153

A Relentless Trajectory

DEX

IN 154

157

Personas

158

163

Speculative Design

164

171

Conclusion

172

183

Process Images

DEX

184

Lexicon

189

To my mother, father and sister, thank you for trusting and believing in me always. To Tori, my great friend, within her heart and reassurance I would not have made it to the Products of Design Department. To Er Suo, aka Thor, who is my best friend and has sincerely challenged me to push my ideas. To Hilary, who lives with me and has helped me climb over every mental mountain that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve come up against. To Dani, who supported me from the first day I started class at the Products of Design Department.

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the head of my department, Allan Chochinov, for his continuous support and push. At the beginning of my thesis, I received a great amount of contradictory feedback from my classmates who didn’t understand what I was doing. Allan genuinely believed in me. Also to Adam Sirois, who connected me with experts and supported me in research. I want to thank Eric Vieira who I met at NYC media lab. He shared his time to discuss about every possibility and path I could take. He was a great advisor. Thank you to all the people who I interviewed. Especially Luke Kreinberg, who has been a spiritual and mental guide on my career path, always. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, my parents, and my sister for supporting this thesis and my life in general. My editor Andrew Diprinzio, who patiently helped me edit this book. As well as Thor, Tori Curtis, Hilary Crowe, Danielle Kisza, Josh Corn, Cody, Qui, Jennifer Flores, Valentina Vicent, Alex Castillo, and Andy Clancy. Thank you for your support, the mental sanity you provided during this crazy phase of my life, and the help here and there on some of the projects I’ve developed. Without you, this thesis would’ve not happened.

If â&#x20AC;&#x153;accelerationâ&#x20AC;? has become the new normal, then society is left with no choice but to diagnose those that do not meet this standard as if they have some kind of mental disorder. The use of performance enhancing drugs, especially for Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Hyperactive Disorder, have become the new normal.

What is the New Normal? I want to re-evaluate the definition of mental health in the current state of American culture, which I deem the “Quick Fix Culture.” We live in a culture of perfectionism where people are expected to be perfect, and be perfect quickly. Faster and easier are the magic words of Western society. From eating behaviors dominated by fast-food, to five minute guitar demonstrations that claim to make you a master in ten-sessions, the expectations have risen. Not only in people’s day-to day, mundane activities, but in work environments and classrooms. Kids are pressured to be perfect individuals. Over-achievers, prodigies, smart kids, these are the labels that parents hope their children will have. If not, kids are stigmatized as too slow or as trouble makers. What happened to valuing nature and outdoor activities? What happened to the real meaning of childhood? Being a child in the 21st century is to be an intelligent subject. It is regulations within society that decide to domesticate bad behavior with quick-fix stimulants, pills. Society has built many social constructs to determine what is right and normal for kids and adults, especially people with ADD and ADHD. This was not an epidemic in the 1980’s or 1970’s, until administrative changes were implemented in the educational law. In America, the misguided IDEA Act: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 “Educational Improvement Act,” has allowed special accommodations to children. This helped to categorize ADD and ADHD as attention diseases, which, in my opinion, should be called attention differences, not attention deficit.

On my secondary research, Lawrence Diller notes, “After 1991, when parents realized they could get special services for their children, along the way, they got Ritalin.” We as a culture value quick-fix scenarios such as pharmaceuticals, instead of finding the root cause and creatively searching for ways to understand attention variabilities that can be modified by managing certain cues and behaviors. Medication is not the best choice to mitigate stress or cure attention disorders, just like fast food is not the best choice to cure hunger.

In a fast-paced, quick-fix society, automatization and anxiety usually occupies people’s minds. They dominate every single aspect of life. Anxiety to accomplish tasks quick, anxiety to succeed, anxiety to be better than the rest, people in our society get overwhelmed thinking about all the tasks they have to accomplish before they actually get to do them. They are immersed in speculative realities and hypothesis rather than in present actions. This word, anxiety, is a normal human emotion in contemporary culture that many people experience. Through technology, people are connected to different realities. This breeds anxiety, it led me to explore the idea of mindfulness. (figure 1.1) By week two we had to design 3 prototypes without primary research so we are not influenced by it, but we can be influenced only by our own thoughts. My First prototype was The Why Jar, based on the root cause of analysis methodology1 this prototype, consists on five acrylic pieces(see figure 1.2), and a big white jar with a light inside, and so how it works is: the user asks a question about the problem they want to analyze and after they answered this question they drop the piece on the Jar, causing the light inside the jar to turn on, since it has a motion sensor device. You keep repeating this therapeutic process until you finish all the five pieces. (figure 1.2) The reason why I developed the why Jar is because In reality, we are not mindful of the actions we take because A) We are hypothesizing possible futures from a specific action, or B) We are not paying attention to the present when developing a specific action. Social psychologist Ellen Langer writes, “Events don’t cause stress, what causes

stress are the views you take of events.”2 Reading this quote, inspired me to explore Langer’s writing, specifically her book, The Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility3 My second prototype was the whisper tube. It was an empty tube where you can whisper your secrets into. The speculative part of it was that you can then record your whispers, emotions and send it to someone. (figure 1.3) Last but not least, my final prototype that week was the clicker. This was inspired because I sometimes get anxious. The reason behind this is because our program can be very serious and cynical. My energy is the opposite. I have a happy, silly energy. I’m like a grown up child. I fidget with my pen, often. My last prototype was the one that fit me most. The clicker had a long handle with a blue button at the top. The shape was like a bone structure , which I kind of liked it. The shape reminded me of the fashion designer Alexander Mc Queen, skull, and body bone like aesthetics. (figure 1.4) Little that I knew this prototype was going to be an entire fuel for my whole thesis.

2”

3 1

“5 Whys | Getting to Root Causes, Fast! - The Happy Manager.” 2012. 10 Apr. 2016 <http://www.

the-happy-manager.com/tips/5-whys/>

Transcript: Ellen Langer — Science of ... - On Being.” 2014. 29 Nov. 2015 <http://www.onbeing.org/program/

ellen-langer-science-of-mindlessness-and-mindfulness/transcript/6335>

“Transcript: Ellen Langer — Science of ... - On Being.” 2014. 29 Nov. 2015 <http://www.onbeing.

org/program/ellen-langer-science-of-mindlessness-and-mindfulness/transcript/6335>

figure 1.1, first thumbnails drawings

figure 1.2, the Why Jar

figure 1.3, the Whisper Tube

figure 1.4, the Clicker first prototype

The Beginning

figure 1.5, Clara

After this thesis exploration, Oscar de la Hera a fellow student in the Products of Design department came to me and said he wanted to do my thesis. It was personal for him. I said, sure, but I was not comfortable with the news. I’m human. I was angry. He also said he wanted to copy Clara. Clara uses Smart EGG Bands and changes light from blue to red depending on your brain waves. (figure 1.4) Imagine you are studying for an exam, when your mind begins to drift. As your focus dwindles and you lose yourself in thought, you suddenly notice a pulsating rosy pink light that snaps you back to reality.

That is how Clara, a new smart lamp that uses EEG technology. This project was created by Marcelo Mejía Cobo, Belen Tenorio, and Josh Sucher for a class at SVA. The light and speaker in the device respond to changes in brainwaves, reacting to the user’s level of concentration by increasing the ambient music and shifting the light levels. This is what made me most angry. I had done it already. (figure 1.5) If one door closes two more open, I got to demo Clara at NYC media lab, where I met my Thesis Advisor Eric Vieira, Director of Tech at CUNY.

The Beginning

Eric suggested this technology can be useful for people with ADD. This is when I remembered I had ADD and I was always mindful about this. This is where my journey really took off. By letting Oscar follow the “mindful” path and letting myself actually explore deeper into my own personal struggles, what I see them know as superpowers.

continue through adolescence and adulthood. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity overactivity.1Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are key behaviors of children with ADHD.

I researched topics like: movement, executive functions, working memory, longterm memory, short-term memory, creative thinking, different cognitive capacities in different scenarios, social scenarios and distractions. I thought about moments in my life like forgetting to wash my hair in the shower. Sometimes the struggles of people with ADD and ADHD are funny, and frustrating. When I interviewed prospective users, I realized I was close to them because I was one of them. I quickly realized after all the research EGG bands wont be the solution, from a user experience point of view. So I dropped the idea and stopped experimenting with it.

To be diagnosed with the disorder, a child must have symptoms for six or more months and to a degree that is greater than other children of the same age.52 It is an American trend, school age children in the United States consume at least four times more drugs than all the children in the world combined.

It is normal for all children to be inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive, but for children with ADHD, these behaviors are more severe and occur more often.4

The Big Revelation As I mentioned before, we live in a fast-paced culture where we do not pause to understand our own actions. Instead, we pick the easy road, which is to follow the flow of our daily operations. This becomes an unhealthy loop that makes us believe that the world is to be discovered, rather than a product of our own construction and thus a world that is to be invented. This revelation made me look more into one of my personal problems or “disorders,” as a normal society would call it, Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Hyperactivity Disorder.

“NIMH » Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.” 2007. 29 Nov. 2015 <http://www.nimh.nih.gov/

health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/>

According to the National Institute of Mental Health Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can

health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/>

Goals

figure 1.5, Clara

My goal for this thesis has been to find alternative activities to cope with ADD and ADHD. ADD is only a “first world problem.” All of the research I’ve done reveals that ADD and ADHD is mostly predominant in the United States.

Hamlym, founding member of Royal College of General practitioners said before he died, “ADHD is intended to justify starting children on a life of drug addiction.” I personally do not agree about ADHD being a dubious disorder, but it’s definitely an over-medicated disorder.

ADD and ADHD is intended to justify the purchase of stimulants to those who believe they have it or those who are easily affected by their environment and emotional stability. As Jay Parkinson says, “Remember there are two ways drug companies can make money: Invent new drugs, and invent new diseases already invented drugs can treat.” Or, as the founder of Ailment, Dr Edward C.

I don’t even believe it’s a disorder, but a lack of environment personalization as well as other outside factors in a day-to-day lifestyle that affect the individual, these people, including myself, are attention different not attention deficit. We need different kinds of stimuli to get our attention.

Goals This was a call to action. For my primary research I interviewed to 25 experts on the matter of mindfulness, from it deviated to ADD and ADHD. The interviewees were neuropsychiatrist, educators, people who have the symptoms of ADD and ADHD, individuals who have been diagnosed with the disorder, life coaches, and, therapists. According to most of my interviewees, many learned how to cope with their disorder by figuring out personal cues. At the same time, others created a certain dependency for stimulants. I want to re-evaluate the definition of mental health in an accelerated, quick-fix culture. If acceleration has become the new normal, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no choice but to diagnose those that do not meet the social standard with some kind of mental disorder. Performance-enhancing drugs, especially for ADD and ADHD have become the new normal.

Interviews Primary and Secondary research

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our modern culture, is not necessary about quitting observing and noticing, not moving so fast.â&#x20AC;?

Luke Kreingberg Career Coach at Google Leadership Development at University of California.

My first interview was with Luke Kreingberg, who is a current career coach at Google and he’s in charge of the leadership development at UC Berkeley in California. One of the things that I heard from him was that, “Our modern culture, is not necessary about quitting observing and noticing, not moving so fast.” He also mentioned that ADD is an epidemic. We’ll need to practice single focus to build a mindfulness muscle. Then, I talked

to the Director of Dramatic Arts at Harvard who mentioned that focus is rapidly becoming the scarcest commodity of the 21st century.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;focus is rapidly becoming the scarcest commodity of the 21st centuryâ&#x20AC;?

Anonymous Director of Dramatic Arts at Harvard

Then, I talked to the Director of Dramatic Arts at Harvard who mentioned that focus is rapidly becoming the scarcest commodity of the 21st century.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some say ADHD & ADD is a fictional disorder since the symptoms of it are pretty basic and common in most people especially kids. â&#x20AC;?

Juan Cognitive Psychologist Cuenca-Ecuador

After that, I decided to talk to my cousin Juan who is an experimental psychologist back home in Ecuador. He’s argument was that there’s a controversy around ADD and ADHD and the classification of it. Some say that it’s a fictional disorder since the symptoms of it are pretty basic and common in most people especially kids. In order to diagnosed ADD and ADHD,

psychiatrists use the DSM 61 manual test which influences 30% of the diagnosis. The DSM manual is a manual the gives you specific symptoms of any disorder, it describes specific a disorder or disease if patients have those symptoms then they can be medicated. In other words that the DSM-iv manual is a statistical manual of mental disorders published by The American psychiatric Association(APA) that includes all currently recognized mental health disorders. 6 1

“Home | APA DSM-5.” 2004. 18 Apr. 2016 <http://www.dsm5.org/>

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know of far too many colleagues who are willing to write a prescription for a stimulant with only a cursory examination of the patient, such as that two minute checklist for ADD. â&#x20AC;?

DR Richard Saul Behavioural Neurologist â&#x20AC;&#x153;Author of the book ADD does not existâ&#x20AC;?

Richard Saul who is a behavioral neurologist and author of ADHD does not exist. He mentions that he knows of far too many colleagues who are willing to write a prescription for a stimulant with only a cursory examination of the patient, such as that two minute checklist for ADD.

“hopefully, as we get a better handle on mental health disorders, we’ll shed the stigma and welcome treatment more”

Kim Caicedo Art Director Author of the book of little disorders

She mentioned that talking about mental illness and disorders can be difficult embarrassing even scary, there’s a stigma around disorders. I believe that changing our views of ADHD will not happen overnight. Just like with depression or any other mental health disorder, public perception still plays a big role. But hopefully, as we get a better handle on mental health disorders, we’ll shed the stigma and welcome treatment more. After interviewing her I think, If you

have a problem and take care of it, there’s no stigma. But if you have a problem and don’t take care of it, then there’s stigma.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;teachers do not really like that kids do not focus in classâ&#x20AC;?

Nancy Henry Physical Educatoion Teacher Watertown New York

Nancy believes that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of kids that have ADHD. She mentioned that she believes that if they want to stay away from medication, then these kids should be put into different classrooms. During her years as an educator, she observed that the kids were fine as soon as I got older. These kids who present ADHD tendencies are usually evaluated by the school psychologist. They start diagnosing medication from the third grade because most

of teachers do not really like that kids do not focus in class. They are usually very annoyed by the children. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s where I believe that this system tends to fail because of the lack of diversity in certain positions where there is a matriarchy within the educational classrooms. I refer to a system of society or government ruled by a woman or women. There is an imbalance of roles in a community, especially in the educational system.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;you ask yoursefl, wait a minute, are you going to test my child based in a list of multiple-choice questions? This does not make any sense â&#x20AC;?

Anonymous Parent of Children with ADHD

I started watching a documentary on the BBC where the journalists interviewed a parent of a children with ADHD. She mentioned that in her opinion, when you look at the standardized test tools, The Conners Scale, you ask yourself, wait a minute, are you going to test my child based in a list of multiple-choice questions? This doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make any sense. School teachers have workshops on ADD and ADHD. As a parent, when you hear

your child is inattentive, uncooperative, and that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unfocused and acting up, then you become very upset, especially when teachers suggest you that your kid needs drugs.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are two ways drug companies can make money, one is invent new drugs, and invent new diseases already invented drugs can treat.â&#x20AC;?

Jay Parkinson co-founder and medical officer of Sherpaa

Jay Parkinson, cofounder and medical officer of Sherpaa, which is a nationwide online physician practice for large employers powered by our full time group of physicians, care coordinators, and wellness experts. He mentions there are two ways drug companies can make money, one is invent new drugs, and invent new diseases already invented drugs can treat. Then, Jay mentions how we are very involved with social constructs. I personally think maybe

certain individuals are just attention different, not attention deficit. Our system and its social constructs. When I read Jay Parkinson stated that ADD and ADHD is a factitious disorder, “I wanted to prove him wrong. As my thesis progressed,I realized more and more that Attention Deficit does only mean Attention Different. It exists, and It’s like being left handed, whether it should be called a disorder or not then that’s a different story.

“ ADD and ADHD are not dubious diagnosis, but it’s certainly way over diagnosed” “Childs with ADD and ADHD are not easily distracted, they are easily bored.”

DR Adele Diamond PHD in neuroscience 15 most influential neuroscientists in the world.

I interviewed Adele Diamond over email. She is a PHD in neuroscience and one of the 15 most influential neuroscientists in the world. She confirmed that ADD and ADHD are not dubious diagnosis, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s certainly way overdiagnosed.

to medication, and different underlying neurologiques. Your child with ADD is not easily distracted, they are easily bored. She explained that adults with ADD can focus better when driving at high speeds than if they drive slowly.

I read her paper where she mentions that ADD and ADHD are two different types of disorders with different cognitive behavioral profiles, different patterns and comorbidities, different responses

Children with ADHD often perform normally on the continuous performance tasks when challenged by a fast presentation rate.

“Creativity is important because I think it is a uniquely human characteristic that provides meaning in one’s life — whether it’s spiritual, personal, familial — it really hits all those buttons” — Rex Jung

Stephen Tonti PHD in neuroscience 15 most influential neuroscientists in the world.

I also watched Ted Talks though surprisingly there are not too many talks about ADD and ADHD. Stephen Tonti have one. He is diagnosed with ADHD and is currently a writer and director. He talks about how ADHD is a difference in cognition. It’s not really a disorder. We are attention different, he mentions, not attention deficit. My high school teachers were progressive — I was lucky. My roommate Adam on the other hand had a different high school experience. He was punished with harsher penalties for falling out of his

chair. The difference between Adam and me is that when my teachers saw that this medication caused me to act out, they immediately advised the doctors to change my medication. However, when Adam tried a new medication, his teachers wrote this in his report: “Adam is less motivated, less animated and less involved in class activities. But at least he’s quiet now.”

“In college I was a C/D average my first two semesters. I decided to start taking my medications again. After my first semester I was making A’s and B’s. However, my junior year as an undergrad, I had a psychotic break down that pushed me to almost ending my life. I really wish I could stop taking Adderall and still do well in school, but the way that education is currently structured makes it difficult, if not impossible. Hopefully, when I can finally get into the workforce, I will be able to stop taking it as often.”

Caitlin Ohman Masters student in applied cognition and neuroscience, currently diagnosed with ADHD

I talked to Caitlin Ohman who’s a masters student in applied cognition and neuroscience, currently diagnosed with ADHD. She mentioned ADD and ADHD is a real thing. Whether it should be classified as a disease is a different story:

year as an undergrad, I had a psychotic break down that pushed me to almost ending my life. I really wish I could stop taking Adderall and still do well in school, but the way that education is currently structured makes it difficult, if not impossible.

“To me, it’s like being left-handed, having ADD and ADHD is just a thing that happens. In college I was a C/D average my first two semesters. I decided to start taking my medications again. After my first semester I was making A’s and B’s. However, my junior

Hopefully, when I can finally get into the workforce, I will be able to stop taking it as often, because I will not need to force myself to focus for studying.”

Interviews

Sammy, another expert psychiatrist, also mentions that Western society creates stress in families, which in turn causes children to express the symptoms of ADHD. He believes that ADHD is a social construct rather than a disorder. Parents who feel they have failed in their parenting responsibilities can use ADHD as a label to absolve themselves of guilt and blame. Also, by doing more research, I realized that there are million of psychiatrist who support the disease and the belief of its existence because of the stimulants they diagnose. In the pharmaceutical business, what happens is that psychiatrist gives a lot of medical talks. Then, psychiatrists are contacted by pharmaceutical companies to go to conventions and talk about their product. Medical talks are very important for sales, since stimulants are classified by the DEA (which stands for the drug enforcement administration which is a United States Federal law enforcement agency under the US Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States) as a potential drug of abuse. They are prohibited from being advertised by Federal law directly to consumers. According to the Journal of Medical Association, doctors are 19% more likely to prescribe drugs after hearing such presentations. Robert Whitaker who is a medical journalist and author of Anatomy of an Epidemy talks about how the APA has got to be payed by all that pharmaceutical money. Drug companies are endowed in continuing education and psychiatric “Grand Rounds” at hospitals. They funded a Political Action Committee (The AC) in 1982 to lobby Congress. That industry helped to pay the APA’s media training workshops. It was able to turn psychiatrists at top schools into speakers. Children are vulnerable to be prescribed on a

lifetime of drugs. Then, when these children reach the age of 18, they usually become a disabled adult. This is when I question again the entire system of social constructs between educators and medical professionals. The first semester was a postulate for thesis exploration. I interviewed and people who believe ADD was a fictitious disorder, and others who believe it’s a real one. People like Leon Eisenberg, a psychiatrist pioneer, who think ADD and ADHD is an over diagnosed disease, admitted that ADHD is essentially a “fictitious disease,” which means that millions of young children today are being needlessly prescribed severe mind-altering drugs that will set them up for a life of drug addiction and failure. I researched some data around stimulate sales.(figure 2.1) The only thing that has changed is an administrative change in the educational law guiding the US, which is accommodation to children. In the 90’s CHAAD, an organization that advocates of assisting ADD and ADHD, mounted a massive campaign on Capitol Hill. Its goal, have ADD and ADHD be considered in IDEA as a disorder. When after the 90’s parents realized they could receive special accommodations along the way, they asked for Ritalin to medicate their children. So what is the catch? US prescription stimulant sales have raised, since the 90s, to a 2 billion industry What is the problem? Accommodations to children skyrocketed after 1991 when parents realized their kids could get special accommodations. Then, they bought Ritalin. Chaad, which stands for the National Resource for ADHD mounted a massive campaign in Capitol Hill in the 90s. The government then officially recognized ADD

$ 10 billion

US prescription stimulant sales

8 6

4 2

0 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

and ADHD as a disease. Then, there were administrative changes in the educational law guiding the US, which was to accommodation to children. Listening to this interviews made me reevaluate what I had to do for my thesis. They were right. They werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t disordered, they were different. They just needed different stimulation to focus on boring tasks, which are mundane for them. So every single prototype I made was for people with ADD and ADHD to find focus and stop struggling in life around the same

2008

2009 20010

2011 2012 Data:IMS Health

social construct with unfamiliar knowledge from the from outsiders. If I can make them able to focus without pills, then maybe I can feel accomplished as a designer . Here is where my skills come into play. They can help society. I can design a better future for everyone who suffers from ADHD.

Prototypes & Research Secondary research and product exploration

Prototypes & Research

Our brain has adapted to internet speeds.

People’s shorter attention spans are distracted by websites from Facebook to Twitter to Reddit. A piece of information needs to be interesting enough to grab someone’s attention. Is ADD and ADHD a nuanced culture statement? Are new technologies part of the problem? Is humanity deviating from quality time to small quantity time? does it matter? Are we all ADD? According to the national statistics portal, teenagers and millennials, not surprisingly, are online the most, with a daily internet usage rate of 7.45 hours per day. Boomers, who are the eldest group on the internet, do not fall far behind. They have a minimum of 4.41 hours of internet usage per day. What does this mean? From my perspective, this means our brain has been shaped to operate like the internet. Our brains are a hyperlink machine. We cannot dedicate our attention for more than 30 minutes on a specific task. From checking our email over and over, to browsing through Pinterest or maybe glancing at the New York Times at the same time, we have become multi-taskers, incapable of devoting one’s attention to a specific task. Our laptop screens are packed with open tabs until the point where we cannot see the screen. Has this new speed lead us to believe we all have ADD? I thought to myself, what happens when people are not being social because of technology? When people are being very ADD and distracted because of the internet and their iPhones? I came up with Luna an iPhone coaster.(figure 3.1) The way it works is like a coaster for your drink , except it’s for your iPhone. Probably no one will use it, but at the same

time I believe there will be some risky people somewhere in the world that will dare to use this coaster. It’s meant to be a fun element in a person’s lifestyle — a conversation starter rather than a conversation disrupter. Deceptive, Unethical UI I often ask myself, is everyone ADD? Lately in my research more stories keep popping up about a large amount of the population admitting they are easily distracted. Low attention spans have been discussed, multi-tasking has been mentioned over and over again, and poor cognitive retention skills are rampant. What is this trying to tell us? Are people evolving into short taskers? What is producing this? we might realize that pads, tabs, and screens are what are really destroying with our quality of time, social interactions, and, more importantly, own health. The problem starts when numbers are the only criteria used to drive a company’s decision. You see companies measure their success on the amount of clicks and push notifications they use to be noticed, specially the amount of clicks they get per targeted audience. User interfaces are created to trick people. It’s a dark pattern that is intentionally designed so users can be purposely directed to what the company is telling them. The dark patterns wiki covers a number of dubious tactics — tactics that are used by marketers and designers to improve conversions at the cost of credibility, trust and brand reputation. People don’t realize that due to technology we’ve become slaves to our own daily lifecycle. We can’t differentiate what is quality of time versus quantity of time. Time well spent is utopian. We are on a vicious circle where we spend hours and hours looking at a screen when we are

figure 31, Luna Iphone Coaster Prototype

alone, when we are with our loved ones, when we are on meetings, and when we just wake up from bed We are definitely reaching a point where we don’t really do what we want to do, but we are easily manipulated and sucked into an activity we don’t want to do, but instead NEED to do. For example, replying to our emails after working hours are bad etiquette when checking our phone while sharing an intimate social interaction. Evil UI and UX is making us strangers to our own time. This leads me to think maybe there needs to be a focus on raising consumer awareness. Much like LEED Certifications or Organic Food labels, maybe there should be something

similar to make people mindful Based on this, I designed Otto an iPhone holder. It was a brass triangle held by the amplifier, which had four spots for iPhones.(figure3.2) Once you set up the iPhone on top of the tube holes, it becomes an amplifier. It’s a way of retaining all the iPhones from everybody else so the amplifier can work..

figure 3.2, Otto

figure 3.3, Luna

The model looks like a seesaw so whenever the phones are not there, the elongated tube falls to the front and whenever the iPhones are on top, the tube amplifier is available to be in use, due to it’s fall to the other side, making necessary the weight of more than one phone in order for it to work.

The label of being “learning disabled”, coupled with ADD and ADHD can cause a loss of self-identity, poor social skills, lack of communication in social life, drug abuse, and poor self-esteem. This greatly impacts day-today tasks and regular abilities such as keeping a job or maintaining loving relationships that are important to us.

What do we know about ADD? We know Attention Hyper Active Disorder appears in childhood.71 We know ADD has a strong genetic component Also ADD has a comorbidity, meaning ADD and ADHD are often presented with other conditions like depression, anxiety and learning disabilities.

The current treatment for ADD and ADHD has a multimodal approach 82. The Treatment includes coaching, counseling, cognitive/behavior therapy and medication.

“Fidget To Focus.” 2005. 3 Apr. 2016 <http://www.fidgettofocus.com/

Medication is very personal. 2

Fidget To Focus.” 2005. 3 Apr. 2016 <http://www.fidgettofocus.com/

Prototypes & Research

To find the right medications or medications at the right dosages may take several years of monitoring and repeated visits to doctors. Many people underestimate this process and do not realize there are alternative solutions to medicine. I still believe there are different ways to treat ADD and ADHD — exercising is one. Some studies suggest that regular physical activity may help relieve stress, regulate hyperactivity, and improve concentration in people with ADHD. Lifestyle changes are a huge improvement on people’s behavior, therefore I strongly recommend we be mindful of our environments, surroundings, and actions. Golden Findings What the research so far lead me to was to create a different set of tools for people with ADD and ADHD to focus. I want to encourage them to double task in order to focus, to check out to check in, to move their body and fidget at will, while they are developing complex task. The research I’m going to describe below was very crucial for the development of the Handle (figure 3.43.6) which later on in my journey it became Locus. We can see early wireframes (figure 3.5 I didn’t know this was going to develop into The clicker a smart fidget tool for crunching personal data, which I recall later on this book. The Handle One of the most important early prototypes of Re-mind’s thesis offerings came from an insight people tend to fidget in indoor places with their pencils, so I decided to create the first prototype which was a button with a handle so people can fidget while they try to focus. It was a wooden, very modern looking handle.

The reason why I made this is because I followed that taxonomy of people using their thumbs to click the top of a pen. (figure 3.7) Another reason is because there are not really going good looking handles out there. I know it sounds very shallow, but as a designer I believe I need to bring good looking things to people’s lives so they can have a better quality-of-life. Creative Cognition: Transient, Hypofrontality, and Purpose: Rex Jung is a neuropsychologist who has devoted his career to study intelligence and creativity. He’s an expert on the brain networks involved in intelligence. In listening to Jung, I came to the conclusion that the reason why people with ADD and ADHD are original, creative, and peculiar with their solutions is because they actually do not have inhibitory control.91 Their brain takes time to sketch a line that goes from point A to A.1, to A.3, and then can jump to A.100 before it gets to point B. They have the luxury to explore all these options without shortcuts. Novel and useful are the two words Rex associates with creativity. Jung mentions that creativity is something different than intelligence. Creativity is gratifying in that it uses different brain networks than the ones involved with intelligence. The way in whichthe brain networks are engaged is surprising. with intelligence, the back part of the brain and the front part of the brain are integrated in a way that allows intelligence to work well. In regards to intelligence, the more the better.

9 1

“Inhibitory Control in Psychiatric Disorders—A Review.” 2015. 9 Apr. 2016 <https://www.kon.org/

urc/v7/richardson3.html>

figure 3.4, The Handle

Greater cortical thickness, more neurons, higher connectivity between those neurons, and more biochemicals subserving those neurons is almost invariably better for intelligence. Jung states that with creativity110 , the story was more subtle and different. In particular regions of the brain, particularly the frontal lobes, less neuron connectivity was better. There’s a down regulation of the frontal lobes that appeared to foster creative cognition. 10 1

“Rex Jung — Creativity and the Everyday Brain | On Being.” 2015. 14 Jan. 2016 <https://www.

onbeing.org/program/rex-jung-creativity-and-the-everyday-brain/1879>

Transient hypofrontality 2 appears to be 11 analogizing, conducive for extrapolating out, and looking at metaphor. This allows a freer interplay of different networks in the brain so that the ideas literally can link together more readily. So with intelligence, the analogy I use is there is a superhighway in the brain that allows one to get from point A to point B. With creativity, it’s a slower, more meandering process where one wants to

11 2

“Your Brain Performs Better When It Slows Down, with Steven ...” 2014. 14 Jan. 2016 <http://

bigthink.com/think-tank/steven-kotler-flow-states>

figure 3.5, Tinker

figure 3.5, Tinker Website

figure 3.7, Tinker Website

take the side roads and even the dirt roads in order to put ideas together. So the down regulation of frontal lobes, in particular, is important to allow ideas to link together in unexpected ways. Jung’s explanation sounds very familiar to how a brain with ADD and ADHD works. As “ADD-ers,” we can use this to our advantage. Though often, it can be a disadvantage as we become mental wanderers. Knowledge Acquisition and Letting Ideas Flow: In his studies, Jung acknowledges that we need to create a way of cultivating down time. We need boredom in our life to create. It’s very important to not be engaged in a noncognitive activity to actually produce and create. This is what Jung mentions in letting ideas flow: “There’s the knowledge acquisition portion and then there’s the place where you have to let the ideas flow. If you’re always in knowledge acquisition mode, which is important, you have to put ideas in your head in order to put them together in novel and useful ways. But if you’re constantly in knowledge acquisition mode, there’s no quiet time to put it together.” This gets to another important creative trick, if you will. Almost invariably one hears, how do you induce transient hypofrontality? How can you do that? Some people’s brains, as reported in our studies, are more set up that way. You hear of many stories in history from Archimedes’ bath. Archimedes discovered density by immersing himself in a bath and looking at displacement. He figured out he could measure how much gold is in a crown and cried, “Eureka!” But what Archimedes’ warm bath, or the long walk of Beethoven, or Kekulé awakening from a dream and imagining a snake swallowing its own tail and thinking of a Benzene Ring, all have in common is this hypofrontal state. In

each case, this state was induced by a warm bath, a walk, meditation, exercise, and yoga.” The free space that Jung mentions above is what we can call “downtime.” As an “ADD-er,” I have some of it, too much, I would say. I encourage others to consciously explore it more in depth. It can be dangerous though as it may lead to procrastination and a lack of planning. It may be difficult to snap out of wonderland. Fidgeting Will Save Your Life: Speaking of wonderland, we do tend to stay there. With this in mind, there is one quick, smart tactic that can help us reconnect. We are attention different, not attention deficit. Research shows that fidgeting is actually beneficial for some people to enhance focus. If something is not interesting enough to maintain our attention, then the additional sensory input allows our brain to become fully engaged on our primary activity. This happens because we are attention different, not attention deficit. We need to double task to focus. Does anyone out there carry a little something with them? A token as simple as a spinning ring or perhaps something a bit more engaging? What do you carry? Is it helpful? Researchers may have discovered an effective, non-drug option for the disorder: Sensory intervention. Sensory intervention significantly improved problem behaviors such as impulsivity, hyperactivity and restlessness. There are three basic sensory systems: Tactile (the sense of touch), vestibular (controlling sensations of gravity and movement), and proprioceptive (regulating the awareness of the body in space). Bouncing one’s leg rhythmically improves cognition if it keeps one focused onthe task at hand instead of wishing one could be elsewhere. One’s focus

Prototypes & Research

1 on a task contributes to improved cognition.12

A new study suggests that for children with attention disorders, hyperactive movements lead to better performance on a task that requires concentration. The researchers gave a small group of boys, ages 8 to 12, a sequence of random letters and numbers. Their job, repeat back the numbers in order, plus the last letter in the bunch. All the while, the kids were sitting in a swiveling chair. For the subjects diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, moving and spinning in the chair were correlated with better performance. For typically developing kid, it was the opposite — the more they moved, the worse they did on the task. Dustin Sarver at the University of Mississippi Medical Center is the lead author of this study. ADHD is his field, and he has 2 a theory as to why fidgeting helps.13 “We think that part of the reason is that when they’re moving more they’re increasing their alertness.” That’s right — increasing alertness. The prevailing scientific theory of attention disorders holds that they are caused by chronic under arousal of the brain. This is why stimulants are prescribed as treatment. Sarver believes that slight physical movements “wake up” the nervous system in much the same way that Ritalin does. However, he explains, alertness occurs on a “rainbow curve.” You want to maintain a “Goldilocks” level of alertness — not too 12 1

“The constant movement in ADHD may help children think ...” 2015. 14 Jan. 2016 <https://www.ucdmc.

ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/10069>

13 2

“Researcher: Hyperactive movements help ADHD children ...” 2015. 14 Jan. 2016 <https://www.

umc.edu/News_and_Publications/Press_Release/2015-04-27-00_Researcher__Hyperactive_movements_help_ ADHD_kids_learn.aspx>

much, not too little. That’s why moving around did not help the typically developing kids. With this amazing discovery I wanted to create a set of analogue tools that were nondisruptive inside classroom environments, meetings, and/or lectures. If something is not interesting enough to maintain our attention, then the additional sensory input allows our brain to become fully engaged on our primary activity. I wanted to create a set of analogue tools that were non-disruptive inside classroom environments, meetings, and/ or lectures. There are some desk fidgeting tools already on the market, but they are very low quality and usually considered “desk toys.” Belen wanted to elevate this idea of multitasking through fidgets, therefore I created a set of quality pocket fidget tools, which I call DIDGETS. (figure 3.10) There are some desk low quality fidgeting tools already on the market I want to elevate this idea of multitasking through fidgets, therefore I rendered a set of quality pocket fidget tools. When I developed the branding I played around with the logo many times. I wanted to make the logo friendly, fun and also to convey double tasking. Therefore we can see the double happy face going up and down. I then explored the taxonomy of Fidgets, and discovered it can be a personal preference, and the movement can be manifested in so many different ways. ADDers are very susceptible to their environment and senses. Haptic interfaces are very important to them, so the minimum touch, sound , smell and sound can be amplified times 10 or 100 for most ADD-ers, depending on which spectrum you are. And so I shot a slow motion video to show how this little details can

figure 3.9, Taxonomy of fidgets

the products I created in 3 categories based on sensations that can be satisfying for fidget junkies. These categories are Click (figure 3.12), Twirl (figure 3.13) and squish (figure 3.14). I incorporated texture to some of my prototypes which Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll explain with more detail afterwards in this chapter. On the website I designed (figure 3.15), people would be able to personalize their own tools, select their materials, and, based on the same business model like Warby Parker the glass company, be very important. (figure 3.11,) The prospective user can order the set of

tools for one week and try them out before they decide to keep them. (figure 3.16) The process to make these small prototypes, was very tedious, because I had to micro engineer small things, you can see the pictures of this huge fail and error period at the end on the process picture section. There are three Didgets on the Kit: The squishy, for individuals who like to squish things with their hands. (fig 3.17)

We are attention different, not attention deficit. We need to double task to focus. I wanted to elevate this idea of multitasking through fidgets, therefore I created a set of quality pocket fidget tools, which I call DIDGETS

didgets

figure 3.10, Logo Explorations

The roller, for individuals who like to move their five fingers at the same time and hold things with their entire hand palm. (fig 3.18) The cubix, for individuals who like to do multiple movements at once, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s composed by a button to click, an elongated tube to pull, back and forward, and an indented round surface to rub in circles with your thumb. The choice on materials can be endless (fig 3.19)

tactile cues

figure 3.15, Didgets Website

figure 3.15, Didgets Website Interaction

figure 3.15, Didgets Cart

figure 17. Squishy

figure 18. Roller

figure 19. Cubix

figure 20. pants I bough by H & M

Also, I’m exploring the idea of clothing with a purpose. After pulling a couple of “all nighters” at POD, my cognition was damaged. One Friday afternoon I bought these new pants with an incredible rich texture. I had a meeting that evening and after a while of being active and engaged in the conversation, I realized I was fidgeting with the texture of it. I realized, why not? Let’s make pants (figure 3.19)and jackets to fidget. Clothing with a purpose, were fabrics can be designed on such a way we can interplay with the material of it. The possibilities are endless. I was talking to Adam Fujita fellow master students at

POD and we were debating the whole user experience of it and how depending where these textures in the cloth are, the behaivore or movement I crate out of the location of the patches can lead to be quikly misinterpreted as masturbation clothing. In my opinion I would celebrate this on the advertising of the clothing. Even thought this has nothing to do with fidgeting, I would totally celebrate masturbation too. Why not?

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Data & World of Possibilities All we think we know is wrong in at least some kind of context.

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Data & a World of Possibilities

Mindfulness in a World of Possibilities Ellen Langer introduced me to the field of mindfulness, in particular mindfulness applied to the healthcare sphere. You see, we are too busy in our daily lives to actually question our health. We rarely pay attention to our activities and often miss the fact that there are alternatives that can modify and invigorate our lifestyles in a healthy way. Langer draws on her own body of colorful experiments, including the first detailed discussion of her landmark 1979 counterclockwise study in which elderly men lived for a week as though it was 1959. The results, they seemed to grow younger. Langer proves that the magic lies in being aware of the ways we mindlessly react to cultural cues. Counterclockwise shows how we can actively challenge these ingrained behaviors by making subtle changes in our everyday lives. Langer describes ways to reorient our attitudes and language in order to achieve better health. She shows us the ways in which our beliefs in physical limits constrain us. She demonstrates how our desire for certainty in medical diagnosis and treatment often prevents us from fully exploiting the power 1 of uncertainty.14 Hypothesis Confirming Behavior Most people, including scientists, 2 engage in hypothesis-confirming behaviors.15 Once we think we know something, we search for information consistent with that believe. If we searched for the opposite of what we believe to be true, we would likely also find 14

“Ellen Langer: Advance Praise.” 2009. 29 Nov. 2015 <http://www.ellenlanger.com/information/8/

“Social Psychology: A General Reader.” 29 Nov. 2015 <https://books.google.com/books?id=tkh0L

advance-quotes-for-counterclockwise>

mWcs9cC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=hypothesis-confirming+behaviors&source=bl&ots=Glwyd173Jn&sig=GPBuyw EegOMfJvFV6S2eINLETp4>

confirmation and in many cases this could be even to our advantage. Social psychologists typically do this by looking for interactions among variables, expecting the effect in question to be true in some situations and not in others. If we all did this more generally, we may discover an idea we did not know or we may develop more nuanced beliefs. In other words, if we were able to trust the impossible, then we would see new possibilities. This Hypothesis Confirming Behavior involves more social motivations like labels. Labels, especially in the field of disorders and health, can have a huge impact on people’s self-esteem, morals, and actions. In modern day, we do not have to trust different sources in order to believe certain suggestions or opinions about our health and status. We can use data-driven science and live data technology collection. It’s only through the close measurement of our actions that we can realize the possibilities of change. Taking the time to observe one’s body from the view of an outsider is the best gift a person can give to themselves. It’s not until we have raw data, visualize and process it, that we can be mindful of it that we can understand our behavior then we can act with positive deviance. Once we have the data, we can look for solutions to problems. Data One of my thesis statements is that in order to know what we are doing right or wrong and modify behavior, we need to be avid observers. We must look at our bodies and their movements as an outsider. How do we accomplish this? With data from our own body inputs. In this case our fidgets. Once we measure our fidgets, we can understand when we are anxious and when we are more productive according to the amount of fidget inputs at certain speed.

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figure 4, Tinker

I started thinking about screens and smart objects â&#x20AC;&#x201D; my favorite topic. I realized that it would be great if there were a tool that could measure your fidgets and after you measure your fidgets you could analyze your lifestyle patterns. I created Tinker (figure 4), which is composed on five screens. You would log in, then pick your fidgeting mode. There are options: shaking your leg, pinching, tweaking, shaking, and twirling. After you pick a movement, then you mention the task youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re about to work on and then the counter starts to count on the screen. The smart button will be connected to the app via Bluetooth. After you stop the

activity and stop fidgeting, the app will ask you how you felt during the specific task. Did you feel happy, stressed, anxious, focused etc? Then, that will give you a chart where you can see your responses.

Findings from fidget.xyz: 104

People who are not tech savy hated it. They mentioned it was very disruptive for indoor tasks. Fidget is a seamless motion, therefore opening an app consciously is not a good transition. People who liked it gamified it. People who used the App a lot used it as a meditational tool to avoid aggressive responses in anxious times.

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figure 4.2 fidget.xyz

A button in the middle of the screen with some faded waves and then the minute you click it, two seconds after you click it, the screen fades to pitch black, except for the button. Once you stop clicking on the screen, the screen turns on and goes back to the original color. Also after two seconds, it tells you the amount of taps you’ve done. I faded the screen to pitch black so the light of the phone is not disruptive to the environment and it assimilates the taxonomy of tapping a table. Also, I didn’t prompt the number of taps at the same time you are tapping because I didn’t want people paying attention on the number of taps they were producing, then everything would be pointless because now their minds

focus on stimulating on the button. I decided to go ahead and test Fidget. xyz. The response was overwhelming. I sent this app to ADD-ers and people who are very sensitive to their environments.

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This button drove me crazy. I started looking for technology from Bluetooth buttons to the Amazon button, to WiFi buttons, but all the micro controllers were so big. This was never going to work out! That’s what I did my first semester. I looked for a simple, stupid button and tried to find the technology to match it. I spent more than $200 dollars looking for this button. Funny thing is that at the same time, Amazon just released their button and somebody hacked it for other purposes. The amount of response between a click and the Amazon button was too long. I found another button online from a Swedish company. I bought three of those — they use Bluetooth. The company is called Flic and they produce smart buttons. I tried clicking, but then I realized that this was annoying. It was like sending instant notifications to my phone. The lights kept turning on and off from my iPhone screen when I kept clicking the button. Then, I started wondering what the next solution could be? How could I solve this problem? I thought there’s other ways where people fidget like shaking our legs. Tapping our fingers on the table is another one. Allan Chochinov, who is my advisor of my thesis and Chair of the Products of Design Program, advised me to build a digital button that tells you how many taps you make. I was really excited about this. I wanted to do it right a way, but there was a small little problem, I barely know how to code. Correction, at the time, I didn’t know how to code at all. The deadline after all these explorations for my thesis defense was the week after. I was in trouble. One Friday after that class I said fuck it, and I started to play around with the code with a little bit of help from Oscar and my girlfriend at the time Dani. I started putting the pieces together. Then, I did more re-

search online and I kind of understood what I was doing until I didn’t and then that’s when I remembered my ex-girlfriend knew how to code. We finished the first iteration of the button. But there was one problem, the user interface of the iPhone has some interactions that are native to certain gestures. For example, the slide right means that the page of the phone changes either right or left. Or when you double tap on the phone in means that the screen is going to zoom in and that was a problem. Because the button was built to function in a responsive web browser, it wasn’t an app. So whenever you would double tap or make more than one tap, the screen will become bigger than what it originally was and it wouldn’t allow the user to record any other taps. I went back to school and I found Josh. Josh is a first year student in the product design department who used to be a computer science major. He knew how to help me out. We spent four hours trying to figure out a JavaScript code to avoid the zone in action when someone double taps. Our solution worked. You can find this first prototype at fidget.xyz. (figure 4.1, 4.2) The second and third iterations are more subtle. They still can’t save the taps. I’m still working on that. The ideal scenario here is that people can save the taps and there will be a Dashboard,where you can login and check out your status based on your taps and times. Currently, what the third iteration has is a button with the color palette of Tinker, which is an extreme, violet made with a green, blue color, in other words, a gradient that goes from a very loud purple to a greenblue.

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figure 4.1 fidget.xyz

focus on stimulating on the button. I decided to go ahead and test Fidget. xyz. The response was overwhelming. I sent this app to ADD-ers and people who are very sensitive to their environments.

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ADD-ADHD User Testing through fidget.xyz

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fidget.xyz

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ADD-ADHD User Testing through fidget.xyz

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fidget.xyz

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Service Design Service, dominant logic, was coined by Steve Vargo and Bob Lusch. They argue that economic exchange is concerned with exchanging service for service. Therefore we should be concerned about product projects rather than products themselves. “Design is in the service of management helping deliver corporate strategy. Product design differentiates goods from one another through styling, materials and functionality. Design for manufacture makes production more efficient and cuts costs. Communication design stimulates consumer desire and building emotional connections with them. User-centred design aims to make goods easier to use and hopes they’ll be closer to what people need and want. Design for sustainability tries to reduce, reuse and recycle along the value chain. But if we shift from the value-in-exchange perspective to the idea of value-in-use, and from goods and services, to service, then a number of possibilities open up” -Lucky Kimbell For this class we had to create a service design structure. Based on my research and response from fidget.xyz, I decided to stick with fidgets. Here you can see my systems map on it. (figure 4.2) Personal Monitoring After reading Ellen Langer’s studies on how we don’t have a sense of our own selves and also reading studies on how people with ADD and ADHD are less self-aware, I’ve realized I need to find a way to solve this problem. The inspiration came to my mind when I read a socio psychological study Ellen Langer had done with her team of students to prove how self-awareness can improve our lifestyle. The study starts by picking three subjects. The first one was given the task to monitor

their blood pressure once a week to see how they was doing. The second one, three times a week Finally, the third one was given the task to measure their blood pressure at least three times a day after every meal. The results were not that different from the first and the second subject. They both have a poor lifestyle, and even though they saw their prehypertension ratings, they really weren’t motivated to change behaviors to improve this numbers in the long term. On the other hand, the third subject who was given the task to monitor herself on a daily basis had more of a tendency to change behavior to improve her numbers. She did more immediate actions to achieve a normal blood pressure number and to improve her health. With this in mind I started wondering if a monitoring tool could be developed to tell you about yourself and your ADD. That’s how my service Locus was born. Locus is a smart seamless device that is synced to an app. It measures your day-today fidgets based on the amount of movement. This information is crucial for people with ADD and ADHD. They use this personal information to see what behaviors they can change in order to be more productive and more sensitive to their environment. Most importantly this app can open a door of selfknowledge like no other because the best give you can give to yourself is to actually be able to see yourself as an outsider so you can change your behavior. Locus 1.0 would provide this. It started as a tool for you to encourage to double task so you can focus. Ideally by measuring when you are tapping more will help you to change your schedule based on when you are more productive during the day. You can plan the most boring tasks there and actually have the mental energy that is necessary to get them done.

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Deficit on Behaivoral Inhibition creative risk takers big picture thinkers

bad

it’s subjective

sensorial stimuli

less physical activity

working memory, easily distracted

stay indoors

execution

food diets

Poor Excecutive Functions

People under the spectrum of ADD and ADHD double task in order to focus

poor cognitive process

easily distracted

comorbidity disorder

reasoning planning

personal distractions

ability to accomplish 2 activities at once

Sensory Integration

tune out

flexibility,

anxiety productivity less attention spam

propioception

less attention spam

multy taskers

problem solving

secondary activity sensitive abstract minds

diagnosis are black & white

we should shift from treating distractions as a clinical disease to target people the best ways to help maximizing their ability to focus

good

visual learners kinetic learners

figure 4.2, ADHD ADD Systems Map

After this I created a button that doesn’t store the amount of best, FIDGETS! taps on a phone, but it tells you how many times you tap per minute. And so after trying this a couple times, using it after class and during class, I’ve realized that I’ve not only created a mechanism to self-regulate my productivity, but most important to become aware of my mood. This fidgeting tool has helped me to know when I’m anxious or more energetic. It’s helped me to develop a sense of self-analysis not only in regards to my productivity, but to my feelings about a specific action. This is information that is very subjective, but again interesting to know when you are very sensitive to your environment. It’s helped me

to raise this question of do people really want to know how they feel? Why? How? And how can they use this to better for their personal development? Fidgeting is actually beneficial for some people to aid focus. If something is not interesting enough to maintain our attention, then the additional sensory input will allow our brain to become fully engaged on our primary activity. Why does this happen? Because we are attention different, not attention deficit. We need to double task to focus. We live in a world where distractions are seen as evil. Distractions are seen as disorders.

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Deficit on Behaivoral Inhibition creative

big picture thinkers

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sub

food diets

less physical activity easily distracted

stay indoors

People unde spectrum of and ADHD d task in order

poor cognitive process

easily distracted

ability to accomplish 2 activities at once anxiety productivity less attention spam

less attention spam

secondar sensitive

diagnosis are black & white

figure 4.2, ADHD ADD Systems Map

we should shift from treating distractions as a clinical disease to target people the best ways to help maximizing their ability to focus

visual learners

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risk takers

bad

bjective

sensorial stimuli

execution working memory,

comorbidity disorder

Poor Excecutive Functions

er the f ADD double r to focus

reasoning planning

personal distractions

Sensory Integration flexibility, propioception

multy taskers

problem solving

ry activity abstract minds

kinetic learners

good

Clinical disorder

tune out

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Data & a World of Possibilities

The distracted is often sedated with pills. The economic cost to the American economy for ADD and ADHD is between $36,000,000,00 and $2 billion annually for therapy, medication, and apps (according to the US Center of the Disease Control and Prevention). It’s crazy how after this findings, there is not one app or service that encourages ADD-ers and ADHD-ers to do what they do best, FIDGET! Why fidget? Well to fidget is good for proprioception, which is the unconscious perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli within the body itself. Also, it counts as double tasking. (figure 4.3) I want to introduce Locus: (figure 4.4) We encourage you to double task in order to focus. Locus is a set of smart fidgeting tools that measures the amount of clicks and leg movements that the user creates so they can compare this data at specific times throughout the day.(figure 4.4) We start by launching this service in the market with a freemium business service model, an App that follows the same patterns as fidget.xyz,(figure 4.5) I’m currently building a real app that can store data. I taught myself how to code and with the kind help of Alex Castillo, i’m finishing this app. After this, users are going to realize that you need a more seamless device so you can go to the Locus website and find out there is a smart clicker for smart fidgets. The device contains a microcontroller, with an accelerometer, a push button, and batteries. The devices connect to the app, which when downloaded, allow the user to begin

their measurements. The app will measure the amount of clicks the user clicks at a specific time. You can even get an annual report like this about your personal fidgets. Storing data is important because feedback is a critical tool for improvement. With this, you can find out in what meeting you are more anxious based on the amount of clicks you make or what time on the day you are more productive. With this data, you can plan your day to be more productive and focused. What is awesome is that you can get to know yourself better and share your data with your doctor so they can lower medication dosages. It’s an exciting new relationship between the user, their environment, their body, and who they are. Here is a competitive analysis of the current projects on the market, I’ve classified them as desk accessories-fidget toys,smart wearables, activity trackers, and fidget trackers (figure 4.7) As we can see there is no product in the market that measures fidgets, yet. This is the script I wrote for the unpacking video of Locus and Didgets: e are very narrow with our materiality interfaces. Let’s get outside the box and perceive our reality through sensory products. We have the tools to design our environment, which can elongate our attention spans. With precise measurements, we can track smallest and most real, and most sensitive secrets. A fidget is a tiny action our body can produce. It’s like a secret. Now, with Locus, we can finally see and understand what our body is telling us. We can listen better to our body. We can share tender and invisible secrets

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Productivity double task in order to focus

Proprioception

Fidget.

figure 4.3,Why Fidget Diagram

that shape our personal and exterior world. A fidget is an action our body manifests through movement. Now, we can finally see and understand what our body wants to tell us. We can listen to it and change what needs to be changed. Is it magic? Or have we finally reached the point where we can now attach love and emotion to our daily body trackers? I wanted to include the video shots in this book, but of course due to crazy deadlines constrains in the Products of Design department I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to shoot the video before I hit print. Sorry folks!

ease your mood & awareness of environment through movement

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locus

fidget to focus

figure 4.4 Smart Fidgets

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locus website version 1

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wire-frames for locus website

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locus website, first module

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locus website, second module

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locus website,third module

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locus website

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figure 4.5 freemum model app

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Measure your productivity through your fidgets.

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Taking the time to observe oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body from the view of an outsider is the best gift a person can give to themselves. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not until we have raw data, visualize and process it, that we can be mindful of it that we can understand our behavior then we can act with positive deviance.

figure 4.6 Annual Report Sample

fidgets emotional state productivity

Belen Tenorio

JAN

9-11 am

FEB

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ANNUAL REPORT

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figure 4.7 Competitive Analysis

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Experience Design Interlude and the Fidget Lab

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For my Design Delight class, in our second semester of Thesis with Emily Baltz, we had to create an experience based on whatever subject we might want to explore within our thesis territory. I wanted to test a couple of hypotheses such as: Can this fidget data be more interesting? Can it be something other than visual information? Can it be decoded through music? And if so can this trigger memories of past experiences? Can ADD-er’s and non ADD-er double task? For my Experience Design intervention, I collaborated with Jennifer Flores, my amazing designer friend from San Francisco. We developed INTERLUDE, a fidget lab. I made the ridiculous seem very professional. From the invitation (figure 5.1) to renting a space through Splacer. I made a giant maze. Here we can see the process (figure 5.2) I also had a script for my lab technicians and finally the props made it real. (figure5.3) Fidget Tools, which lived on a pad that was painted with magnetic paint and translated your fidgets into music (figure 5.4). I wanted to create another kind of data, generative-data, music through fidgets. I also used a “makey makey” (figure 5.5) to build it as well as sampulator.com (figure 5.6)to make it all work, and create music through Fidgets. At the end of the day this was very successful. With regard to stigma and disorders, what I believed before was that it couldn’t be changed, but by making fidgeting a fun experience on INTERLUDE. The response was very positive. What I believe now is that stigmas can be changed. INTERLUDE is a one minute sound exploration of our bodies and movements. We wanted to test if ADD-ERS and non ADD-ERS can focus when double tasking. We wanted to create generative music with people’s fidgets and data we collected and made into a music library in real time. In the

end, individuals could listen to their tracks, allowing sound to remind how they moved through the world. INTERLUDE, our FIDGET LAB. The task is simple: tell us about your your experiences with ADD, get the fidget pad, and complete the giant maze using the textured pad to help concentrate. After you’ve completed the task, you can literally listen to your body through your fidgets and, most importantly, see who you are as an individual. “With regard to generative data, I believe it can’t be useful, but according to the findings and interviews, generative data can be good touch points for people to trigger data.” The findings were great. People with ADD and ADHD also could double task. Also they found fidgeting to be very useful to center themselves, but the best part was that afterwards, when participants listened to the music their body produced, it worked as a trigger to remind them their experience they had when solving the maze. I’ve been thinking about including things other than visual data on my app, something like generative code for our dayto-day can be novel, useful, and interesting.

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figure 4.1 Interlude Invitation

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figure 5.3, Props

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figure 5.5, makey makey

figure 5.4, Fidget pad

figure 5.6, Sampulator

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A Relentless Trajectory More in depth research on ADD and ADHD

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for this purpose is certainly worth it. “We worry about helmets and seatbelts; but not morbidity associated with behavior.” If doctors are worried about the costs associated with early screening, it beats trying to treat ADHD many years later, when it may have all kinds of other comorbidities. Walkup points out that it actually doesn’t take a lot of sophisticated training to pick out warning signs: Screening by non-medical, but well-trained, personnel is certainly possible. Early methods of treatment, before drugs are necessary, are effective, says Walkup: Small changes in parenting styles, a little extra attention in the classroom, and maybe a parenting class at the local YMCA or church might make a significant difference in a child’s experience and behavior. “There are lots of family and behavioral methods that work; it doesn’t take a whole lot. We KNOW when these conditions present themselves. We should be anticipating and preventing. It’s so comparatively cheap when we begin this early.” Drug treatments are the still in many ways the standard care for ADHD. Barbaresi feels that medication is still the most effective treatment we have, “And it’s safe when provided to an appropriately diagnosed child with good follow up care. But meds are not a standalone treatment. Changes in the way child is taught, and the ways behavior is managed at home and school, are essential. Still, we always get asked, ‘is there a non-medication treatment to make my child’s ADHD symptoms disappear?’ And the answer is still, ‘no.’” This is exactly why I’m a firm believer that data collection can help us to be more in sync with who we are and, most importantly, have a healthy conversation around what is our spectrum of ADD and ADHD because everyone is different.

Research on Myths and Beliefs on ADD and ADHD Many people believe that ADD and ADHD is simple to medicate, and, in general, it only affects children. It’s a “child’s disorder,” some people may say. They do not realize they are basing everything off media perception. They do not realize ADD and ADHD “happens” to adults too, but the thing is as an adult you can control it more because you are mature and have learned by experience what fits you and what does not. Here there is a an overview of an article from Forbes about ADD and comorbidities, titled, Time To Pay Attention: What The Newest ADHD Research Is Telling Us: “Yesterday, a nicely executed study came out showing that ADHD persists into adulthood for about 30% of people who have it as kids. Not only does it persist, but regardless of whether it followed them into adulthood, people who suffered from it as children had a greater risk of other mental health issues, like anxiety, depression, antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse, and possibly even suicide. The risk of having a psychiatric disorder as an adult was, of course, much higher if ADHD persisted into that stage of life. These connections aren’t exactly news: Other studies have arrived at similar results, but they’ve varied so greatly in the methods they used and the connections they found that it’s been hard to know the actual rates and risks of comorbidities over the long-term. So, he fact that the new study, done by researchers at Mayo Clinic and Boston Children’s Hospital, used more reliable means (it was a large-scale, prospective study that followed kids into adulthood and quizzed them about their psychiatric health then and there) to arrive at the findings mentioned above is a boon to ADHD research. Child and adolescent psychiatrists and psychologists have been pretty well aware of the connection for years, but it’s good to have a welldesigned study support it strongly.

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So the question is then, what are we supposed to do with all this? How do these accumulating studies affect our understanding of the disorder? The short answer is that it’s probably pretty well time to revamp our approach to ADHD, which at the moment leaves a lot to be desired. Seeing ADHD as a chronic health problem whose earliest symptoms can be often be present around age three (and should be intervened with right then, in ways involving the whole family) is really what these studies are trying to get us toward.” the fact that the new study, done by researchers at Mayo Clinic and Boston Children’s Hospital, used more reliable means (it was a large-scale, prospective study that followed kids into adulthood and quizzed them about their psychiatric health then and there) to arrive at the findings mentioned above is a boon to ADHD research. Child and adolescent psychiatrists and psychologists have been pretty well aware of the connection for years, but it’s good to have a welldesigned study support it strongly. So the question is then, what are we supposed to do with all this? How do these accumulating studies affect our understanding of the disorder? The short answer is that it’s probably pretty well time to revamp our approach to ADHD, which at the moment leaves a lot to be desired. Seeing ADHD as a chronic health problem whose earliest symptoms can be often be present around age three (and should be intervened with right then, in ways involving the whole family) is really what these studies are trying to get us toward.”

Heroes with ADD and ADHD Whom I Admire Most I do believe having ADD and ADHD does not mean having a disorder, but it means being attention different. We need to find what fits us as people in order to get the best out of any situation and our surroundings. We do not need to change who we are, but we need to modify our environment or create cues to get better at the things we are not successful at. Being ADD and ADHD does not mean we

are slow or have cement in our head, what it means is that we are different. You see a lot of leaders and entrepreneurs are ADD and ADHD. In fact, one of the most famous person is Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, which comprises more than 400 companies. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. Most ADD and ADHD people are good entrepreneurs. They are very creative, risk takers, and adventurous, but it’s okay for them to actually realize where their biggest weaknesses are. It’s a matter of knowing oneself as a person. For example, Branson struggles with organizational skills. The best thing that ever happened to him was his personal assistant. Richard has mentioned this in multiple interviews. Recently I read a couple of articles from Forbes about ADHD. The one that I found interesting framed ADHD as a superpower and as fuel for entrepreneurs. “What do business mogul Sir Richard Branson, Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad, and JetBlue founder David Neeleman, have in common? Well, besides being monumentally successful, they all have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and, like other entrepreneurs and CEOs, some will even tell you that they are successful largely because of the “diagnosis”, not in spite of it. They may well be onto something. At a time when health care professionals are over prescribing stimulants like Ritalin, medicating the so-called “symptoms” of ADHD out of existence, it’s worth noting that some of the trait’s most common characteristics – creativity, multitasking, risk-taking, high energy and even resilience– are, in fact, strengths when leveraged in the right way and in the right career. It’s why so many high profile achievers are beginning to publicly embrace their diagnoses of ADHD.

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Of course in our over-diagnosed, overmedicated culture, we choose to only focus on the negative aspects of ADHD, which include procrastination, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, disorganization and easily distracted. One easy way to think about ADHD is having a low boredom threshold (no, this is not the cause). Those with the trait become frustrated with routine, whether that includes sitting in a classroom for eight hours a day, or spending time chained to a desk at the office performing routine tasks. But there is so much more to this trait that can be leveraged to an advantage. ADHDers are often at their best in crisis mode, multi-tasking and free associating to intuitively reach a solution. And if they find something they truly love to do, they are able to focus for hours on end. “If someone told me you could be normal or you could continue to have your ADD (the original name for what is now called ADHD), I would take ADD,” Neeleman told ADDitude Magazine, “I can distill complicated facts and come up with simple solutions. I can look out on an industry with all kinds of problems and say, ‘How can I do this better?’ My ADD brain naturally searches for better ways of doing things.” Neeleman even went on to say that if there was a pill he could take to make it go away, he’d refuse to take it, because he wouldn’t be where he is today without it, and there is some science to back him on this point. Some research has suggested that a tendency to be selfemployed and an entrepreneur is dominant in individuals with ADHD. One U.K. study of note found a genetic link between a dopamine receptor gene variation associated with ADHD and the tendency to be an entrepreneur. Sensation seeking, common in ADHD is more common among entrepreneurs than in the general population and anecdotal reports bolster this point, saying that people with ADHD are three times more likely to own their own business. It makes sense. Besides being easily bored with routine and the status quo, those with the ADHD trait tend to thrive in times of crisis. Those with ADHD in pre-historic times were constantly looking for new hunting grounds, water supplies and sites for a new place to settle. Village

life made them restless, so they felt the urge to keep moving. In fact the gene associated with ADHD is sometimes called the “explorer gene”.116

I think it’s amazing how they accepted their reality about having ADHD or ADD. The disorder was their superpower. Types of ADD and ADHD According to research, there are seven kinds of ADD and ADHD. It’s a very subjective problem because it comes with coexisting conditions so medication can affect people in different ways. For example SPECT brain scans is one of the treatments that helps to develop individual, targeted treatment plans for each patient. With this treatment we can see attention deficit is not a single or simple disorder. ADD, anxiety, bipolar disorders, autism and other conditions are not a single or simple disorders. They all have multiple types, attention deficit disorder affects many areas of the brain that prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum primary, but also the anterior cingulate, the temporal lobes, the basal ganglia, and the limbic system. The seven types of ADD I’m about to describe are based on three neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. Number One, Classic ADD: Classic ADD is the easiest type to spot of the seven types of ADD. Primary signs are inattentiveness, distractibility, hyperactivity, disorganization, and impulsivity. Scans of the brain showed normal brain activity at rest and decreased activity, especially in the prefrontal cortex, during concentration.

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People with this type of ADD have decreased blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, cerebellum, and the basal ganglia, the last of which helps produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. The goal of treating classic ADD is to mute dopamine levels, which increases focus. This is done through stimulating medications like Ritalin, Adderall, Vyvanse, Concerta, or stimulating supplements like rhodiola, green tea, ginseng, and the amino acid L-tyrosine. Physical activity is also a way to treat classic ADD because it doesn’t increases dopamine. So too is having a healthy diet and taking fish oil, which is higher in EPA than DHA. Number Two, Inattentive ADD: This type, as well as Classic ADD, has been described in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders since 1980. This type is associated with low activity in the prefrontal cortex and low dopamine levels. Symptoms are short attention span, distractibility, disorganization, procrastination. People with this type are not hyperactive or impulsive. They can be introverted and daydream. Girls have this type as much as, or more than, boys. Inattentive ADD is usually responsive to treatment. It is often possible to change the course of a person’s life if he or she is properly treated. The goal, as with Classic ADD, is to boost dopamine levels. I use the supplements like the amino acid L-tyrosine, which is a building block of dopamine. Take it on an empty stomach for maximum effect. I often prescribe a stimulant like Adderall, Vyvanse or Concerta. I put patients on a high-protein, lower-carbohydrate diet, and I have them exercise regularly. Number Three, Over-Focused ADD: Patients with this type have all of the core ADD symptoms, plus great trouble shifting attention. They get stuck or locked into

negative thought patterns or behaviors. There is a deficiency of serotonin and dopamine in the brain. When the brain is scanned, you see that there’s too much activity in the area called the anterior cingulate gyrus, which is the brain’s gear shifter. This overactivity makes it difficult to go from thought to thought, task to task, and to be flexible. The goal of treatment of Over-Focused ADD is to boost serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. Treatment is tricky. People with Over-Focused ADD get more anxious and worried on a stimulant medication. Supplements are given fisrt first—Ltryptophan, 5-HTP, saffron, and inositol. If supplements do not help with symptoms, then Effexor, Pristique, or Cymbalta are prescribed. Avoid a higher-protein diet with this type. Neurofeedback training is another helpful tool. Number Four, Temporal Lobe ADD: Of the 7 types of ADD, this type has core ADD symptoms along with temporal lobe (TL) symptoms. The TL, located underneath your temple, is involved with memory, learning, mood stability, and visual processing of objects. People with this type have learning, memory, and behavioral problems, such as quick anger, aggression, and mild paranoia. When the brain is scanned, there are abnormalities in the temporal lobes and decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex. To treat this type doctors use the amino acid GABA (gamma-aminobutryic acid) to calm neuronal activity and inhibit nerve cells from overfiring or firing erratically. Taking magnesium—80 percent of the population are low in this mineral—helps with anxiety and irritability. Anticonvulsant medications are often prescribed to help with mood instability. For learning and memory problems, one could use gingko or vinpocetine.

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Number Five, Limbic ADD: This type looks like a combination of dysthymia or chronic low-level sadness and ADD. Symptoms are moodiness, low energy, frequent feelings of helplessness or excessive guilt, and chronic low self-esteem. It is not depression. This type is caused by too much activity in the limbic part of the brain (the mood control center) and decreased prefrontal cortex activity, whether concentrating on a task or at rest. The supplements that work best for this type of ADD are DL-phenylalanine (DLPA), L-tryosine, and SAMe (s-adenosyl-methionine). Wellbutrin is a favorite medication for this type of ADD. Researchers think it works by increasing dopamine. Imipramine is another option for this type. Exercise, fish oil, and the right diet will help a person with Limbic ADD better manage symptoms. Number Six, Ring of Fire ADD: Patients with this type do not have an underactive prefrontal cortex, as with Classic and Inattentive ADD. Their entire brain is overactive. There is too much activity across the cerebral cortex and many of the other parts of the brain. It is referred to as “ADD plus.” Symptoms include sensitivity to noise, light, touch; periods of mean, nasty behavior; unpredictable behavior; talking fast; anxiety and fearfulness. In brain scans, it looks like a ring of hyperactivity around the brain. Stimulants, by themselves, may make symptoms worse. Doctors start out with an elimination diet, if an allergy is involved, and boost the neurotransmitters GABA and serotonin through supplements and medication, if necessary. Doctors prescribe GABA, 5-HTP, and L-tyrosine supplements. Medication includes one of the anticonvulsants. The blood pressure medicines guanfacine and clonidine may be helpful, calming overall hyperactivity. Number Seven, Anxious ADD: People with this type have hallmark ADD symptoms, and they are anxious, tense, have physical

stress symptoms like headaches and stomachaches, predict the worst, and freeze in anxiety-provoking situations, especially where they may be judged. When the brain is scanned, there is high activity in the basal ganglia, large structures deep in the brain that help produce dopamine.This is the opposite of most types of ADD, where there is low activity in that region. The treatment goal is to promote relaxation and boost GABA and dopamine levels. ADD stimulants, taken alone, make patients more anxious. A range of “calming” supplements—L-theanine, relora, magnesium, and holy basil—can be used. Depending on the patient, the tricyclic antidepressants imipramine or desipramine to lower anxiety can be prescribed. Neurofeedback also works to decrease symptoms of anxiety, especially to calm the prefrontal cortex.1 “ADDers” act the way they do in ATTITUDE magazine: Your ADHD Life Most ADHDers have always known they are different. They were told by parents, teachers, employers, and friends that they did not fit the common mold. They were told to assimilate and become like everyone else. The main obstacle to understanding ADHD has been the incorrect assumption that ADD adults could and should be like the rest of us. For neurotypicals and ADDers alike, here’s a detailed portrait of why those with one of the 7 types of ADD do what they do. Why We Don’t Do Well in a Linear World The ADHD world is curvilinear. Past, present, and future are never separate and distinct. Everything is now. ADDers live in a permanent present and have a hard time learning from the past or looking into the future to see the consequences of their actions. “Acting without thinking” is the definition of

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impulsivity, and one of the reasons that ADDers have trouble learning from experience. Troubles Getting from A-Z ADDers aren’t good at ordination — planning and doing parts of a task in order. Tasks in the neurotypical world have a beginning, a middle, and an end. ADDers don’t know where and how to start, since they can’t find the beginning. They jump into the middle of a task and work in all directions at once. Organization becomes an unsustainable task because organizational systems work on linearity, importance, and time. This makes them very creative, I’ve written about this later on on this book. Why We’re Overwhelmed ADHDers experience life more intensely than neurotypicals. The ADHD nervous system wants to be engaged in something interesting and challenging. Attention is never “deficit.” It’s always excessive, constantly occupied with internal engagements. When ADDers aren’t in The Zone, in hyperfocus, they have many things rattling around in their minds, all at once and for no obvious reason, like five people talking to them simultaneously. Nothing gets sustained, undivided attention. Nothing gets done well. Why We Let the Whole World In Many ADDers can’t screen out sensory input. Sometimes this is related to only one sensory realm, such as hearing. In fact, the phenomenon is called hyperacusis (amplified hearing), even when the disruption comes from another of the five senses. For example, the slightest sound in the house prevents falling asleep. ADDers have their worlds constantly disrupted by experiences of which the neurotypical is unaware. Why We Love a Crisis Sometimes, an ADHDer can hit the do-or-die deadline and produce lots of work in a short time. The “masters of disasters” handle crises with ease, only to fall apart when things become routine again. Lurching from crisis to crisis, however, is a tough way to live life. Some ADDers use anger to get the adrenaline rush they need to get to be productive. The price they pay for their productivity is so high that they may be seen as having

personality disorders. Why We Don’t Always Get Things Done ADHDers are both mystified and frustrated by the intermittent ability to be super-human when interested, and challenged and unable to start and sustain projects that are boring to them. They are never certain that they can engage when needed, when they are expected to, when others depend on them to. When ADDers see themselves as undependable, they begin to doubt their talents and feel the shame of being unreliable. Why Our Motors Are Always Running By the time most ADHDers are adolescents, their physical hyperactivity is hidden. But it’s there and it still impairs the ability to engage in the moment, listen to other people, and relax enough to fall asleep. Even when an ADDer takes meds, he may not be able to make use of his becalmed state. He’s still driven forward. By adolescence, most ADDers have acquired the social skills necessary to cover up that they’re not present. Why Organization Eludes Us The ADHD mind is a vast and unorganized library. It contains masses of info. in snippets, but not whole books. The info. exists in many forms — as articles, videos, audio clips, Internet pages. But there’s no card catalog. Each ADDer has his or her own way of storing that huge amount of material. Important items (God help us, important to someone else) have no fixed place, and might as well be invisible or missing entirely. Why We May Forget For the ADDer, information and memories that are out of sight are out of mind. Her mind is a computer in RAM, with no reliable access to info. on the hard drive. The ADDer’s mind is full of the minutiae of life (“Where are my keys?”), so there’s little room left for new thoughts and memories. Something has to be discarded or forgotten to make room for new information. Often the information ADDers need is in their memory, but it’s not available on demand. Why We Don’t See Ourselves Clearly

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ADDers have little self-awareness. While they can often read other people well, it’s hard for the average ADDer to know, from moment to moment, how they themselves are doing. Neurotypicals misinterpret this as being callous, narcissistic, uncaring, or socially inept. The ADDer’s vulnerability to the negative feedback of others, and the lack of ability to observe oneself in the moment, make a witch’s brew.

fidgeting together and synchronizing their movement they can help the individual to reach a calm state of mind. This can be very effective with impulsivity and personal relations with people with ADD and ADHD, on the next pages I explain relationship interactions as an ADD-er.

Why We’re Time Challenged Because ADDers don’t have a reliable sense of time, everything happens right now or not at all. Along with the concept of ordination (what must be done first; what must come second) there must also be the concept of time. 85% of my ADHD patients don’t wear or own a watch. For ADDers, time is a meaningless abstraction. It seems important to other people, 1 but ADDers have never gotten the hang of it. 17

I do want to start talking about some personal things that are currently happening in my life because my emotional state has been relevant. And so here I am, 107 miles away from New York, in a weekend AirBnB that serves as a break up hotel. My exgirlfriend and I decided to come upstate to Minnewaska State Park to move on and deal with the breakup. The reason why I am mentioning this is because she’s been such an important and inspirational part of my exploration and process. Even though I don’t share much of what I’m doing I still take her rational feedback and see if it could be applicable to my projects.

“The study of synchrony dates back to the 1970s, when William S. Condon, PhD, and Louis W. Sander, MD, observed that babies synchronize their movements with adult speech. Since then, other investigators have demonstrated the phenomenon’s existence through expressions as simple as finger-tapping and as complex as thought and language. Some studies, for instance, show that people who tap their fingers in sync with an experimenter report liking the experimenter more than those asked to tap in a different rhythm. Other research finds that strangers paired up to solve puzzles made up of nonsense shapes develop a joint vocabulary for describing the 2 shapes that enables them to more quickly solve the puzzle.” 18

In essence, synchrony appears to help us naturally and unconsciously come together to achieve goals or simply to communicate effectively. I definitely believe there is space for this application to grow. This piece of research encouraged me to create Synchrony (picture product), with invisible UI’s being the next hot thing I took advantage of it and modified a Siri and Alexa UX experience, I wanted to provide synchrony of movement to users, so whenever you are agitated or anxious by users around the world 17 18 1

http://www.additudemag.com/slideshow/36/slide-13.html

http://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2012/03/synchrony.aspx

Not only that but this thesis’ name started as a way to deal with psychological trauma, emotional ruptures beginning the title of my thesis was called Fuck Feelings until I realized this was more about who I am as a person with ADD and ADHD and how people perceive my intentions without realizing all of us are different. I struggle with so many things in my social and personal development. The weekend, of March 12th, 2016 was a weekend where realized I love her so much, but as a person with ADD who lacks of communication skills, misunderstandings have occurred. Of course she wants to still keep in touch and be friends, but she doesn’t realize I’m extremely emotional. I definitely need to cut ties from the root and have a break and finish this thesis strong.

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There are so many things to be done around the area of ADD and ADHD. There are so many environments, relationships, and social engagements that are misunderstood. With that in mind I know I can’t solve all these problems. I can only give the gift of knowledge. My father has ADHD, and I’ve seen how his impulsivity, mind wandering, and emotional state of mind have affected many relationships in his life, including ours. He has the biggest heart. My mother is lucky, but she’s a warrior because she’s had to deal with my father’s ADD. And so I want to leave this paragraph sharing an article about people with ADHD, ADD and relationships. Adult ADHD and Relationships “Relationships where one or both members of the couple have ADD / ADHD can be troubled by misunderstandings, frustrations, and resentments. This is especially likely if the symptoms of ADD / ADHD have never been properly diagnosed or treated. The good news is that you can turn these problems around. You can build a healthier, happier partnership by learning about the role ADHD plays in your relationship and how both of you can choose more positive and productive ways to respond to challenges and communicate with each other. How ADD / ADHD can affect relationships While the distractibility, disorganization, and impulsivity of adult ADD/ADHD can cause problems in many areas of life, these symptoms can be particularly damaging when it comes to your closest relationships. If you’re the person with ADD/ADHD, you may feel like you’re constantly being criticized, nagged, and micromanaged. No matter what you do, nothing seems to please your spouse or partner. You don’t feel respected as an adult, so you find yourself avoiding your

partner or saying whatever you have to in order to get him or her off your back. You wish your significant other could relax even a little bit and stop trying to control every aspect of your life. You wonder what happened to the person you fell in love with. If you’re in a relationship with someone who has ADD/ADHD, you may feel lonely, ignored, and unappreciated. You’re tired of taking care of everything on your own and being the only responsible party in the relationship. You don’t feel like you can rely on your partner. He or she never seems to follow through on promises, and you’re forced to constantly issue reminders and demands or else just do things yourself. Sometimes it feels as if your significant other just doesn’t care. It’s easy to see how the feelings on both sides can contribute to a destructive cycle in the relationship. The non-ADHD partner complains, nags, and becomes increasingly resentful while the ADHD partner, feeling judged and misunderstood, gets defensive and pulls away. In the end, nobody is happy. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Transforming your relationship starts with understanding the role that ADD/ADHD plays. Once you are able to identify how the symptoms are ADD/ADHD are influencing your interactions as a couple, you can learn better ways of responding. For the partner with ADHD, this means learning how to manage the problematic symptom. For the non-ADHD partner, this means learning how to react to frustrations in ways that encourage and motivate your partner. Symptoms of ADD/ADHD that can cause relationship problems Trouble paying attention. If you have ADD/ADHD, you may zone out during conversations,

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Adult ADHD and Relationships which can make your partner feel ignored and devalued. You may also miss important details or mindlessly agree to something you don’t remember later, which can be frustrating to others. Forgetfulness. Even when a person with ADD/ ADHD is paying attention, he or she may later forget what was promised or discussed. When it’s your spouse’s birthday or the formula you said you’d pick up, your partner may start to feel like you don’t care or you’re unreliable. Poor organizational skills. This can lead to difficulty finishing tasks as well as general household chaos. Partners may feel like they’re always cleaning up after the person with ADD/ADHD and shouldering a disproportionate amount of the family duties. Impulsivity. If you have ADD/ADHD, you may blurt things out without thinking, which can cause hurt feelings. This impulsivity can also lead to irresponsible and even reckless behavior (for example, making a big purchase that isn’t in the budget, leading to fights over finances). Emotional outbursts. Many people with ADD/ADHD have trouble moderating their emotions. You may lose your temper easily and have trouble discussing issues calmly. Your partner may feel like he or she has to walk on eggshells to avoid blowups. Adult ADHD and relationships: Put yourself in your partner’s shoes The first step in turning your relationship around is learning to see things from your partner’s perspective. If you’ve been together a long time or you’ve had the same fights again and again, you might think that you already understand where your partner is coming from. But don’t underestimate how easy it is to

misinterpret your partner or spouse’s actions and intentions. You and your partner are more different than you think—especially if only one of you has ADD/ADHD. And just because you’ve heard it all before doesn’t mean you’ve truly taken in what your partner is saying. When emotions are running high, as they usually do around ADD/ADHD relationship issues, it’s particularly difficult to maintain objectivity and perspective. The best way to put yourself in your partner’s shoes is to ask and then simply listen. Find a time to sit down and talk when you’re not already upset. Let your partner describe how he or she feels without interruption from you to explain or defend yourself. When your partner is finished, repeat back the main points you’ve heard him or her say, and ask if you understood correctly. You may want to write the points down so you can reflect on them later. When your partner is finished, it’s your turn. Ask him or her to do the same for you and really listen with fresh ears and an open mind. Tips for increasing empathy understanding in your relationship

and

Study up on ADD/ADHD. The more both of you learn about ADD/ADHD and its symptoms, the easier it will be to see how it is influencing your relationship. You may find that a light bulb comes on. So many of your issues as a couple finally make sense! This understanding can help the non-ADHD partner take symptoms less personally. For the partner with ADHD, it can be a relief to understand what’s behind some of your behaviors. Acknowledge the impact your behavior has on your partner. If you’re the one with ADD/ADHD, it’s important to

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recognize how your untreated symptoms affect your partner. If you’re the non-ADHD partner, consider how your nagging and criticism makes your spouse feel. Don’t dismiss your partner’s complaints or disregard them because you don’t like the way he or she brings it up or reacts to you. Separate who your partner is from his or her symptoms or behaviors. Instead of labeling your partner “irresponsible,” recognize his or her forgetfulness and lack of follow-through as symptoms of ADD/ADHD. Remember, symptoms aren’t character traits. That goes for the non-ADHD partner too. Recognize that nagging usually arises from feelings of frustration and stress, not because your partner is an unsympathetic harpy. How the partner with ADHD often feels: Different. The brain is often racing, and people with ADHD experience the world in a way that others don’t easily understand or relate to.Overwhelmed, secretly or overtly. Keeping daily life under control takes much more work than others realize. Subordinate to their spouses. Their partners spend a good deal of time correcting them or running the show. The corrections make them feel incompetent, and often contribute to a parent–child dynamic. Men can describe these interactions as making them feel emasculated. Shamed. They often hide a large amount of shame, sometimes compensating with bluster or retreat. Unloved and unwanted. Consistent reminders from spouses, bosses, and others that they should “change” reinforce that they are unloved as they are. Afraid to fail again. As their relationships

worsen, the potential of punishment for failure increases. But ADHD inconsistency means this partner will fail at some point. Anticipating this failure results in reluctance to try. Longing to be accepted. One of the strongest emotional desires of those with ADHD is to be loved as they are, in spite of imperfections. How the non-ADHD partner often feels: Unwanted or unloved. The lack of attention is interpreted as lack of interest rather than distraction. One of the most common dreams is to be “cherished,” and to receive the attention from one’s spouse that this implies. Angry and emotionally blocked. Anger and resentment permeate many interactions with the ADHD spouse. Sometimes this anger is expressed as disconnection. In an effort to control angry interactions, some non-ADHD spouses try to block their feelings by bottling them up inside. Incredibly stressed out. Non-ADHD spouses often carry the vast proportion of the family responsibilities and can never let their guard down. Life could fall apart at any time because of the ADHD spouse’s inconsistency. Ignored and offended. To a non-ADHD spouse, it doesn’t make sense that the ADHD spouse doesn’t act on the non-ADHD partner’s experience and advice more often when it’s “clear” what needs to be done. Exhausted and depleted. The non-ADHD spouse carries too many responsibilities, and no amount of effort seems to fix the relationship. Frustrated. A non-ADHD spouse might feel as if the same issues keep coming back over and over again (a sort of boomerang effect).

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Adult ADHD and Relationships Adapted from The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps, by Melissa C. Orlov. Adult ADHD and relationships: Take responsibility for your role Once you’ve put yourself in your partner’s shoes, it’s time to accept responsibility for your role in the relationship. Progress starts once you become aware of your own contributions to the problems you have as a couple. This goes for the non-ADHD partner as well. While the ADHD partner’s symptoms may trigger an issue, the symptoms alone aren’t to blame for the relationship problem. The way the non-ADHD partner responds to the bothersome symptom can either open the door for cooperation and compromise or provoke misunderstandings and hurt feelings. If you’re the one with ADD/ADHD, you’re also responsible for the way you react to your partner’s concerns. Your reaction can either make your significant other feel validated and heard or disregarded and ignored. Incredibly stressed out. Non-ADHD spouses often carry the vast proportion of the family responsibilities and can never let their guard down. Life could fall apart at any time because of the ADHD spouse’s inconsistency. Ignored and offended. To a nonADHD spouse, it doesn’t make sense that the ADHD spouse doesn’t act on the non-ADHD partner’s experience and advice more often when it’s “clear” what needs to be done. Exhausted and depleted. The non-ADHD spouse carries too many responsibilities, and no amount of effort seems to fix the relationship. Frustrated. A non-ADHD spouse might feel as if the same issues keep coming back

over and over again (a sort of boomerang effect). Adapted from The ADHD Effect on Marriage: Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps, by Melissa C. Orlov. Adult ADHD and relationships: Take responsibility for your role Once you’ve put yourself in your partner’s shoes, it’s time to accept responsibility for your role in the relationship. Progress starts once you become aware of your own contributions to the problems you have as a couple. This goes for the non-ADHD partner as well. Break free of the parent-child dynamic: Many couples feel stuck in an unsatisfying parent-child type of relationship, with the non-ADHD partner in the role of the parent and the partner with ADHD in the role of the child. It often starts when the partner with ADD/ADHD fails to follow through on tasks, such as forgetting to pay the cable bill, leaving clean laundry in a pile on the bed, or leaving the kids stranded after promising to pick them up. The non-ADHD partner takes on more and more of the household responsibilities. The more lopsided the partnership becomes, the more resentful he or she feels. It becomes harder to appreciate the ADHD spouse’s positive qualities and contributions. ADHD senses this. He or she starts to feel like there’s no point to even trying and dismisses the non-ADHD spouse as controlling and impossible to please. So what can you do to break this pattern? Tips for the non-ADHD partner:

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You can’t control your spouse, but you can control your own actions. Put an immediate stop to verbal attacks and nagging. Neither gets results. Encourage your partner when he or she makes progress and acknowledge achievements and efforts. Stop trying to “parent” your partner. It is destructive to your relationship and demotivating to your spouse.

have ADHD, is upset over more than his empty stomach. He feels frustrated with his wife’s lack of reliability and attention (I work hard to provide for her! Why don’t I ever get any TLC? If she cared for me, she’d make more of an effort.). The ADHD wife feels overwhelmed and unfairly judged (I have so much to take care of around the house. It’s hard for me to keep on top of everything and I lost track of time. How does that make me a bad wife?).

Acknowledge the fact that your ADD/ ADHD symptoms are interfering with your relationship. It’s not just a case of your partner being unreason Explore treatment options. As you learn to manage your symptoms and become more reliable, your partner will ease off.

Once you identify the real issue, it’s much easier to resolve the problem. In this example, the husband would be less upset if he realized that his wife’s chronic lateness and disorganization isn’t personal. It’s a symptom of untreated ADD/ADHD. For her part, once the wife understands that a timely dinner makes her husband feel loved and appreciated, she’ll be more motivated to make it happen.

Find ways to spoil your spouse. If your partner feels cared for by you—even in small ways—he or she will feel less like your parent. Adult ADHD and relationships: Stop fighting and start communicating

Communication tips Don’t bottle up your emotions. Fess up to your feelings, no matter how ugly. Get them out in the open where you can work through them as a couple.

ADHD Stop Fighting As you’ve already seen, communication often breaks down between partners when ADD/ADHD is in the mix. One partner feels overburdened. The other feels attacked. They end up fighting each other rather than tackling the issue.

You’re not a mind reader. Don’t make assumptions about your partner’s motivations. Avoid the “if my spouse really loved me…” trap. If your partner does something that upsets you, address it directly rather than silently stewing. Watch what you say and how you say it. Avoid critical words and questions that put your partner on the defensive (“Why can’t you ever do what you said you would?” or “How many times do I have to tell you?”).

Tips for the partner with ADHD:

To improve communication, do what you can to defuse emotional volatility. If need be, take time to cool off before discussing an issue. When you have the conversation, listen closely to your partner. Ask yourself what you’re really arguing about. What’s the deeper issue? Example: A couple fights over dinner being an hour late. The husband, who doesn’t

Find the humor in the situation. Learn to laugh over the inevitable miscommunications and misunderstandings. Laughter relieves tension and brings you closer together.

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Adult ADHD and Relationships Improving your communication skills when you have ADD/ADHD. The impulsivity of ADD/ ADHD can interfere with communication. The following tips can help you have more satisfying conversations with your partner and other people. Listen actively and don’t interrupt. While the other person is talking, make an effort to maintain eye contact. If you find your mind wandering, mentally repeat their words so you follow the conversation. Make an effort to avoid interrupting. Ask questions. Instead of launching into whatever is on your mind—or the many things on your mind—ask the other person question. It will let him or her know you’re paying attention. Request a repeat. If your attention wanders, tell the other person so as soon as you realize it and ask him or her to repeat what was just said. If you let the conversation go too long when your mind is elsewhere, it will only get tougher to re-connect. Adult ADHD and relationships: Work together as a team Just because one partner has ADD/ ADHD doesn’t mean you can’t have a balanced, mutually fulfilling relationship. The key is to learn to work together as a team. A healthy relationship involves give and take, with both individuals participating fully in the partnership and looking for ways to support each other. Take some time on both sides to identify what you’re good at and which tasks are most challenging for you. If your spouse is strong in an area in which you’re weak, perhaps he or she can take over that responsibility, and vice versa. It should feel like an equal exchange. If you’re both weak in

a certain area, brainstorm how to get outside help. For example, if neither of you are good with money, you could hire a bookkeeper or research money management apps that make budgeting easier. ADD/ADHD teamwork tips Divide tasks and stick to them. The non-ADHD partner may be more suited to handling the bills and doing the errands,while you manage the children and cooking Schedule weekly sit-downs. Meet once a week to address issues and assess progress you’ve made as a couple. Evaluate the division of labor. Make a list of chores and responsibilities and rebalance the workload if either one of you is shouldering the bulk of the load. Delegate, outsource, and automate. You and your partner don’t have to do everything yourselves. If you have children, assign them chores. You might also consider hiring a cleaning service, signing up for grocery delivery, or setting up automatic bill payments. Split up individual tasks, if necessary. If the partner with ADD/ADHD has trouble completing tasks, the non-ADHD partner may need to step in as the “closer.” Account for this in your arrangement to avoid resentments. Create a practical plan If you have ADD/ADHD, you probably aren’t very good at organizing or setting up systems. But that doesn’t mean you aren’t able to follow a plan once it’s in place. This is an area where the non-ADHD partner can provide invaluable assistance. He or she can help you set up a system and routine you can rely on to help you stay on top of your responsibilities.

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Start by analyzing the most frequent things you fight about, such as chores or chronic lateness. Then think about practical things you can do to solve them. For forgotten chores, it might be a big wall calendar with checkboxes next to each personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daily tasks. For chronic lateness, you might set up a calendar on your smartphone, complete with timers to remind you of upcoming events. Helping your partner with ADD/ADHD: Develop a routine. Your partner will benefit from the added structure. Schedule in the things you both need to accomplish and consider set times for meals, exercise, and sleep. Set up external reminders. This can be in the form of a dry erase board, sticky notes, or a to-do list on your phone. Control clutter. People with ADD/ ADHD have a hard time getting and staying organized, but clutter adds to the feeling that their lives are out of control. Help your partner set up a system for dealing with clutter and staying organized. Ask the ADHD partner to repeat requests. To avoid misunderstandings, have your partner repeat what you have agreed upon.â&#x20AC;?119

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deficit-disorder-and-relationships.htm

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Personas Who Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d eventually like to contact

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Personas

The importance of personas is the quick assumption we can get over a specific person that can be useful to talk about in our exploration, research, and testing. Through the use of personas we can dissect personality traits, frustrations, and desires of the people we are going to target. 1. The first segment I will talk to are behavioral researchers and cognitive scientists to validate my prototypes from my current stage and future iterations. Among them are: Jonathan Freeman, PHD professor of psychology at Dartmouth Freeman is the creator of moustracker.org. He has a PHD on Social Studies. He’s mostly known for his mouse-tracking research with screens. This has been useful for assessing temporal dynamics of cognitive processes, for revealing hidden cognitive states, and for fleshing out real-time interactions among cognitive processes. Along with Rick Dale and Thomas A. Farmer, he’s author of a research paper called Hand in Motion Reveals Mind in Motion, which argues that hand motions can reveal different motions of the mind. One of the cognitive categories this paper talks about is high level-cognition and learning, specifically how even high-level decision-making processes can be revealed in manual dynamics or hand movements.120 Rick Dale is another cognitive scientists with experience in programing. I would love to talk with him and show him my prototype. Alexandra Paxton Who talks about movement synchrony and likeness. Here is a brief statement of hers, where she talks about correlations of likeness and movement: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3110497/ 20 1

Disrupting the Flow: “Some people jumped right in and were really excited about the debate aspect, while others were more reticent,” she says. The latter group appeared to be struggling with the researcher’s direction to argue and their own desire to please their partners. “It’s as if they were trying to figure out how to argue with another person and at the same time achieve synchrony with them,” she says. They’re also starting to look at how people’s liking for their partner relates to patterns of bodily synchrony under conditions of argument and debate, since historically liking and rapport are linked to synchrony. “Finding these correlations will guide new studies that will test whether, for example, particular bodily synchrony strategies can cause increased communicative effectiveness or increased affiliation between people,” says Dale. 2. The second group will be ADD and ADHD coaches because they are the ambassadors on the topic. They have a well-formed community that they already talk to. How do I plan to reach them out? Through meet ups and talks they organize. Linda Stone is one blogger and ambassador around the territory of attention who I’d like to talk to. 3. The third group I will talk to are people on the

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possible spectrum of ADD and ADHD. I will test th1is on Gary Chou bootcamp called Orbital. Also I will ask Lenny, tech engineer at The New York Times. 4. The fourth group will be the media: Journalist, computer artists and designers on the subject matter, who can help spread the word about my prototypes and experiments. In order to reach my audience, I need to put my work out there. Also some of these designers have synchronized thoughts with my work about tech, ethical operation systems, and UI. Designers: Jonathan Harris: Jonathan Harris is a digital artist and designer. His projects combine elements of computer science, anthropology, visual art and storytelling. He seeks to, “Reimagine how humans relate to technology and to each other.” He has written a version of the hippocratic oath for tech and design. Nicholas Felton: Famous designer for his data infographics. MIke Matas: Interface Designer at Facebook. Andrew Akerman: Google ATAP. Joe Edelman: Ambassador of Human Interfaces and the Human economy. Tristan Harris: Co-founder of the movement time well spent.221 Journalists: Natasha Singer: Writer of Can’t Put Down Your Device? That’s by Design.

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Speculative Design Dystopia and Utopia

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Dystopia & Utopia

For my featuring design class with Sinclair Smith, we had to create a Dystopian and Utopian Future and this are my writing explorations:

This began back in the 90’s with the democratization of computers. In the 2000’s, we started our co-dependency with square objects, an iPhone, an iPad, and a Macbook.

Dystopian

All of these devices limited spaces that interconnected us into a world beyond our physical space. They became extensions of our personal environment. They were masters of information well beyond our physical location and into the world. We’ve started mixing parallel realities. Our minds are connected to an edited and curated digital dimension. We no longer have to run to the store to get our food. Food easily makes it to our home packaged in a small pill. We no longer have to go outside breathe and feel the air or to check out the weather. It’s given to us just by one movement. We no longer have to run downstairs and outside our building to get the newspaper. We can get the news while we lay on bed. We no longer have to get out of our apartment to work. We can work remotely at home.

Humans Have Become Cheaper than Computers Meet Alicia, she just woke up for her work call. She quickly pressed her fingers against each other to answer the call — Welcome to 2075 where everyone has an invisible microcontrollers attached to their fingers and body. One minute after she joined the call, she decided to virtually walk around down the streets of Paris in her PJ’s. It’s winter out, but don’t worry about her, her body doesn’t feel any cold. It doesn’t shiver to the blow of the wind. Her day-to-day consists of waking up and physically lay on her bed. Due to this, she’s physically lost a sense of space, activity and senses. She, like other citizens of the world, is connected to a parallel reality that is produced between her mind, microcontrollers, and the internet of things — an out of the body experience created thanks to the channels of technology. As computers and micro-controllers became cheaper, our movements and thoughts became limited to a box. As we moved from an industrial society to a service society, the main machines that workers nowadays operate are computers. Whereas we initially believed that these machines would make our work more comfortable, as it relieved us from physical labor, these technologies have reduced our physical activity and increased our mental overload and stress. We don’t even need to move to another place to talk to people. We can do it from where we are located, resulting in less activity.

We are lazy human beings. We’ve become sedentary creatures, connected to an external reality. Our anxiety has risen due to this lack of movement. Our bodies seek movement. The isolation between our minds and body has increased and our understanding of our mind and body have fallen apart. We’ve been molded to spend our lives around a square. Our physical space is limited and our movements have become more mechanical and co-dependent of it. Thanks to technology we’ve isolated ourselves from physical human interactions, physical daily activities, and our senses and capabilities to feel our environment have become muted. If we unplug from this new reality, then we could easily die. Due to the lack of movement we’ve become very fragile. Our life span has shortened to 50 years. We no longer have the luxury to explore

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the real physical world we used to live in 75 years ago. We are in a virtual coma. Our life is in a permanent vegetative state. Utopian Scenario Humans Have Become Cheaper than Computers In the beginning there computers had turned human life into a vegetative state until a couple revolutionaries broke through this norm. They explored the real. They checked out from false parallel realities and learned about the physical real world. One of the leaders was Anna. She was forty years old when this happened and about to retire. She was ready to be encapsulated and leave the world in 10 years time. She didn’t conform and one day she decided to unplug all the microcontrollers that were a part of her body. What are the odds? She was going to die soon anyways, she might as well have control of it and do it herself. She switched off all her deep tissue electronics and boom, a white, rich noise invaded her ears. What is that, she wondered? She opened her eyes and a crisp light aroused her. The feeling of lightness made her touch her eyes. It was the sun coming in from her window. She had never experienced this before. It was like VR, but this time she could feel the heat from the light penetrating her body. She moved her head around and checked out her room for the first time in her life. It was a small cubicle with one window on the side and a bed where she was plugged. Little by little she moved her body. It was a process Anna had never done. She decided to walk out the door and saw a huge white hallway with thousands and thousands of cubicles each with people plugged into VR. She didn’t know what these senses

and feelings invading her body were. She felt more connected than ever to the outside world. She couldn’t be dead. She felt more alive than ever. She decided to plug back in, reach to her friend, and bring them back to reality. She did so, but to convince them, first she had to bring with her a sensory product so her friend would believe and feel it with her senses, the Cymatic Screen. After this we had to create a speculative object. What I created is The Cymatic Screen (figure 8.1 ) From this we needed to create a newspaper (picture) with our speculative future news. As we can see, I predict that human beings are not on planet earth anymore. People broke laws and returned to earth where they surprisingly found 100 acres of soil. This was impressive because at this point global warming had destroyed the earth. Humans were connected to another reality. On the other page, we can see an advertisement of my non specualtive objects Didgets. (figure 8.2)

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Speculative News Paper

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Cymatic plate

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Conclusion

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Products of Design MFA graduate Belen Tenorio’s thesis, Remind, explores productivity and reevaluates mental disorders in an accelerated, quick-fix culture. It is geared towards people diagnosed with ADD and ADHD. Her thesis journey began after she interviewed people with ADD and ADHD and identified how many “ADD-ers” and “ADHDers” go downhill due to the use of stimulants. A stimulant user, Catleen, said to Belen she had a breakdown in college because of the use of stimulants to the point where she almost ended her own life.

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Secondary research she discovered on one of her subject matter experts Jay Parkinson stated that ADD and ADHD is a fictious disorder, Belen stated, “I wanted to prove him wrong.” But as her thesis progressed, she realized more and more that Attention Deficit does only mean Attention Different. It exists, but it’s like being left handed, whether it should be called a disorder or not, that’s a different story. There is much scientific research that shows that people with ADD and ADHD need to double task in order to focus. After this, Belen designed

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interventions and products to encourage ADD-ers and ADHD-ers to fidget in order to focus so they can reach productivity in boring tasks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;With regards to ADD and ADHD, what I believed before was that it was a disorder. I believe now after my explorations ADD and ADHD is a Super Power.â&#x20AC;? - Belen

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PRO CNC-Maze

News Paper

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Maze, after CNC

Fidget Pad

CESS

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Clicker Iteration

Didgets 3d prints, testing

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building locus

Experimenting with buttons

locus & micro-controller

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Tacit Knowledge Video

3d print fail

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Interlude invitation props

Popping Cans

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Clicker Iteration

Interlude

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Sanding the Clicker

Testing , Squishy

Utopia round one

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3rd round of paint

3d print fail

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5th round of paint

Interlude invite

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DIDSquishy

Parallel Times Exhibition

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Exhibition at Wanted Design

GETS

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Lexicon

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ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder

Description - medical : a condition in which someone (such as a child) has problems with learning and behavior because of being unable to think about or pay attention to things for very long Full Definition of attention deficit disorder: a syndrome of disordered learning and disruptive behavior that is not caused by any serious underlying physical or mental disorder and that has several subtypes characterized primarily by symptoms of inattentiveness or primarily by symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsive behavior (as speaking out of turn) or by the significant expression of all three â&#x20AC;&#x201D;abbreviation ADD Synonym: short attention span

ADHD - Attention Deficit hyperactivity Disorder

Description: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition in which a person has trouble paying attention and focusing on tasks, tends to act without thinking, and has trouble sitting still. It may begin in early childhood and can continue into adulthood . Synonym: hyperactivity, short attention span.

American Psychiatric Association (APA)

Description: The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world.[1] Its some 36,000[1] members are mainly American but some are international. The association publishes various journals and pamphlets, as well as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM codifies psychiatric conditions and is used worldwide as a guide for diagnosing disorders. Synonym: N/A

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Stimulants

Description: An agent (as a drug) that produces a temporary increase of the functional activity or efficiency of an organism or any of its parts. Synonym: drug, catalyst, energizer, bracer stimulus

DSM-IV Codes (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition))

Hypochondria

Description: Abbreviation for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition), prepared by the Task Force on Nomenclature and Statistics of the American Psychiatric Association. It is the Association’s official manual of mental disorders and provides detailed descriptions of categories of disorders as well as diagnostic criteria. Disorders are placed on one of five axes: axis I includes all the clinical syndromes and V codes except for personality disorders and mental retardation; axis II includes the personality disorders and mental retardation; axis III lists any coexisting physical disorders or conditions; axis IV assesses the severity of psychosocial and environmental stressors; and axis V consists of a global assessment of functioning, using a 100 point scale assessing the highest level of functioning during the past year and the current level of functioning.

Description: Extreme depression of mind or spirits often centered on imaginary physical ailments;specifically : hypochondriasis Synonym: valetudinarian

Social Construct

Description: a social mechanism, phenomenon, or category created and developed by society; a perception of an individual, group, or idea that is ‘constructed’ through cultural or social practice Synonym: N/A

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Mundane

Description : Lacking interest or excitement; dull Synonym: banal, normal, day-to-day

Iatrogenesis / aya-tro-chenesis

Description: Negative side effects Synonym: induced

Quick Fix

Description: something that seems to be a fast and easy solution to a problem but is in fact not very good or will not last long. Synonym: Speedy, fast

Conners Rating Scales

Description: A Conners test asks a series of questions about your child, which helps your doctor gain a full understanding of their behaviors and habits. Synonym: N/A

Kinesthetic Learning

Description: This preference uses your experiences and the things that are real even when they are shown in pictures and on screens. Synonym: Kinesthetic

Attention Different

Description: Different mode, or kind of stimulus that requires to be aware of an specific situation Synonym: N/A

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Cognition

Description: 1. The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment. 2. That which comes to be known, as through perception, reasoning, or intuition; knowledge. Synonym: lexicon, process, mind, psyche, brain, attitude, cognitive content, unconscious process, operation,

Executive Function

Description: is a set of mental skills that help you get things done. These skills are controlled by an area of the brain called the frontal lobe. Executive Functions help you Manage time Pay attention Switch focus Plan and organize

Remember details

Avoid saying or doing the wrong thing Do things based on your experience

Fidget

Description: make small movements, especially of the hands and feet, through nervousness or impatience. Synonym: fret, fiddle, fuss, twitch, hitch, juggle, wiggle

Double-Task

Description: To perform a secondary task that complements the primary task at a same period of time. Synonym: N/A

Mono-Task

Description: to perform one task at a time. Synonym: Single-Tasking

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Re-Mind THIS THESIS BOOK WAS CREATED FOR THE PRODUCTS OF DESIGN DEPARTMENT AT SVA IN NEW YORK. FOR INQUIRIES CONTACT BELE.TV@GMAIL.COM JAN / MAY / 16