Are You Easily Distracted Or Is Your Short Attention Span More Serious? A Psychiatrist Explains

Most of us can relate to our favorite distraction: our smartphones. You open it up to send a simple text but quickly fall into reactive mode, responding to texts, emails, and Instagram notifications before you forget what your intention was in the first place. As our attention becomes a commodity sought after by advertisers, social media, and contacts who want to be always-in-touch, the struggle to maintain longer-span attention is real. What does that mean for us: Are we all developing ADD, or do we just need to get focused?

It is true that the kid who has trouble paying attention in class or the adult who strains to really focus at the meeting could be manifesting one symptom of ADD. But it's also true that there are many reasons anyone can be distractible from increased anxiety, feeling depressed, and difficulty processing directions to being bored by the material they have trouble attending to. ADD, on the other hand, is a collection of symptoms with very specific characteristics.

Some will instead grapple with more symptoms related to hyperactivity called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These symptoms are being both fidgety or what I would call "ants in the pants" as well as being impulsive in ways like interrupting others, not waiting your turn, and talking and moving incessantly.

Having a period of being more distractible can really happen at any age, but ADD and ADHD must have started in childhood, before age 17. You may not have been diagnosed, but you can remember these being issues that started when you were in school. Also, while a person can be distractible in only one arena of their lives, such as with a spouse if they are feeling annoyed at them and therefore tuning them out, to be diagnosed as ADD these distractions must be affecting you in at least two different settings, such as school, work, and/or home.

The good news is that ADD is amenable to treatment. Some people benefit most from therapy and training that provides tools to organize and improve focus. Others may require medication to help. What few people know, however, is that while ADD does create struggles in some arenas, the ADD brain also tends to have very particular strengths. Those with ADD often possess exceptional originality and creativity associated with their disinhibited thought process. Their ability to hyper-focus on content of interest can result in outstanding and dedicated work. People often come across as high energy with a willingness to act upon their "out of the box" ideas, which makes them an appealing leader in many fields where creative thinking is highly valued.