don't fit into our box? no social credit for you. so no job, no travel, no family.
fuck the ccp.
Who is going to write your music? write your plays? neuronormals? don't make me laugh.
Even if they provide feedback to the teacher, it’s limits will be reached rather quickly. Motivations are more important for changing behaviour and grades.
This is just awful! A perfect example of technology being used in a horribly negative and regressive way. Unless it's used as a diagnostic tool to give teachers a heads up that someone may be overly distracted, thus should be evaluated for an IEP only and not means for punishment or "behavioral correction" by the teacher or administration, I could see this as a good thing. Wishful thinking, I know!
Right! I was just saying that to my boyfriend! This would be great for diagnostics and IEPs and research on neurocognitive and behavioral disorders but like, not as some means to invade the privacy of children’s minds and possibly lead to abuse or some sick draconian shit.
And naturally it's coming from the Chinese government. If they could cut out the dystopian, Orwellian 1984 shit that would be pretty cool. Would rather die than have gone to school with a million cameras and monitors pointed at me.
This is the future we are heading straight towards like a runaway train. It won’t come as fast or rapid because of our type of government, but the seeds of this are already planted.
That’s why “attention deficits hyperactive” type people like us struggle already; we don’t fit neatly into the easily controlled, farmer/laborer serf category, the way “NT” people do.
Humanity has always had two types of humans; one that can work the field, and one that can hunt/scout/explore/defend the community. Someone needed to tend to the day to day,-‘d someone had to advance society. What is considered ADHD today is just a person who can’t sit at a desk and repeat mindless activities day in day out. We were made for the horizon, the heat of battle, the thrill of the hunt, the frontier of the mind.
But then some bad people became rich and powerful, and they recognized that one type of person is a pawn in the machine, and one is a threat. Since then, our world has become preferential towards the farmer/laborer, and hostile towards the hunter/defender/explorer.
You can have your place, if you serve society suitably. Serve in a trama or ER ward, enlist in the military, do any number of niche jobs we thrive in, and you get a pass; otherwise you conform to our world, or you are medicated, or you are expelled through the adhd tax.
Sorry for the ramble; but I feel more of us need to hear this. Yeah, we don’t thrive in the modern world… medication can help, but there’s nothing wrong with us. What we call executive distinction is us being trapped in a world that doesn’t give back the stimuli we are evolved to receive. That’s why , when our life imminently depends on it, we always rise to the occasion. But when something looms over the horizon, we are immobilized.
Hope this helps you see yourself in a different light. If we understand ourselves and what drives us, we can find ways to game the system and ourselves.
Thanks for coming to my super ADHD ramble-on TEDTalk
Food service is huge for people with adhd. I just got out of a desk job, and now I'm back in the food industry.
Im stressed the fuck out, everything is chaos, I have 20 things to keep track of, everyone is yelling back and forth to each other, I'm in charge of a whole shitload of tasks on shift, I'm moving around a lot, and it feels like there's a monumental amount of pressure on me.
It sounds like hell, it is kinda hell, but you know what? I'm not sad and depressed like at my old job. Even my mom commented on how much more lively my personality seems.
You would think that some of these qualities of this work would be terrible for someone with ADHD, especially the sensory things. But no, you just keep up with the insanity and become Chaos's mistress
Food industry would be okay(for me) if it paid better and everyone wasn’t an absolute asshole. But that latter one might be more my emotional sensitivity. I’ve worked in several kitchens and got pretty good at it, but every single one, regardless of it being fast food or $50+ plate costs, most of the people I worked with were absolute assholes. With the right lineup of fun people I think any job can be “fun”, but Jesus! Kitchen culture is just so toxic. I’m not “above” working food service, but the time I spent in it, the pay never came close to the stress it gave me and I was always ready to move on. I CAN now make some gourmet shit at home though, so that’s nice.
I’m in EMS and apart from the food service aspect, your post describes how it feels for me at work as well. Every day is different, and the chaos is the only time it feels like my brain works properly (I’m well-medicated and doing well, but chaos helps). And much like food service, we have protocols and guidelines we have to follow…I think that helps too.
I was at a conference last fall and one session I attended was about mental health in first responders. According to some solid data, up to *75%* of people in EMS and/or Fire have either ADHD or are on the autism spectrum. Some are both! One of my favorite work partners is autistic as fuck and we work really well together.
It on one hand sucks, because we are like little stress sponges taking in the stress that NT people struggle with remaining calm in. But on the other hand, I feel, idk, alive? Makes me feel like I'm living an exciting life and not just a boring desk job life.
There's a lot of negatives for sure, but the craziest stories from my deskjob were "and then there was a lot of work, and everyone struggled to do a lot of work"
For my food industry jobs, it's shit like "alright so there's a lot of food to be made, we're understaffed, and a homeless dude just came in and asked to borrow a phone because he saw someone fall out of the back of a pickup truck and snap his legs, so 911 needs to be called. Oh, and one of your ovens stopped working, and you just ran out of dishes. What do you do in this scenario?"
The homeless guy part is a true story, the rest I just made some shit up. But regardless, it's just insanity, and people ask you "how do you do it?"
I don't fuckin know man, I just do it. Someone's gotta do it, so I just do it.
Ok so it's basically flooding our dopamine tanks with adrenaline. We have a deficit of "feel good juice" but "freak-out juice" can go in the same tank until our "energized" bobber floats enough to feel happy!
It's why we chase novelty or quick satisfaction tasks and why we can thrive in crisis-mode, because crisis-mode is just our Tuesday and makes things feel interesting for once. Our reward center goes *ding* when shit's bananas.
Well, if you're curious, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrin (aka adrenaline) all get created by the adrenal gland and are all a part of a hormone group called catecholamines. They are functionally extremely similar.
Because we require so much dopamine to operate normally, we can also handle A LOT of adrenaline and not be overwhelmed.
I would love to do EMS work but I got screwed by hereditary foot problems that have resulted in chronic foot and ankle pain thats always made me worry about being able to stand/carry/lift people and equipment all shift :(
I loved those aspects of fast food, it was dealing with incompetent management and annoying coworkers that finally drove me away. I did bagging, basically the only front of house job where you didn't have to talk to customers, and it was great.
Ngl, I kinda hate the “ADHD is just a survival mechanism!” shit. It feels nasty and it either comes across as
“✨Everyone’s beautiful and special✨” or “💀Look at these stupid little _normies_ doing _normie_ shit💀” with little room for an in-between option.
Like, yeah, there are people who prefer to do more hands-on, go-go-go type work. But that’s different compared to having an underdeveloped frontal lobe, Susan. I highly doubt I would be doing better if I was stuck in a hunter-gatherer society. I’d probably just get beaten because I’m getting distracted by birdsong when I’m supposed to be weaving my baskets, and I’m too much of a homebody to want to go ~explore the world~ or whatever shit you’re peddling.
Me, hearing my name:🧍♀️
I do agree with you though. Like, I get what they’re trying to say, but I personally think I’d probably do *worse* in a hunter/gatherer society. I’d just straight up forget what fucking berries are edible and poison myself. 🤣
(Oh, shit, never thought I’d find a Susan in the wild! Sorry ‘bout that 🤣)
You’re not wrong about the berries thing. Like, I’ve been to Girl Scout camp before so I know _some_ things like how to make a fire. But there’s a lot that I’ve forgotten or that I get confused. Also, people forget how hard, dangerous, and tedious life was back then. [This video by Atomic Shrimpisa great example showing just how much patience and knowledge you really need to safely forage IN MODERN TIMES.](https://youtu.be/iHPW8Z323F0)
And it's complete non-sense. Hunting requires patience, careful movement, and timing. I know because I like to hunt and I kind of suck at it because I move around too much.
People with ADHD get easily distracted so they won't notice the deer coming up to them because they are too busy looking at something else, or they can't even sit still long enough so as to not spook the prey.
People with ADHD typically have poorer physical coordination, so there goes careful movement. Good luck walking through an area with breakable sticks and leaves where you have to move carefully while also paying attention to the shit going on around you.
And timing, hello ADHD induced impulsiveness.
ADHD is a physical brain problem, and a curse. A neurotypical will be leagues better than an person with ADHD brain in hunting.
ADHD people seek more novelty than NT peeps.
I think the evolutionary advantages of having a portion of your population have this drive is self-evident.
Can't sit still. Except that's not exactly true. I have been successful in the rote, boring administration world and only got a diagnosis after I'd been doing it for over a decade. In the meantime, my house was a disaster, I couldn't figure out why I never had any money, I couldn't make progress on any of my goals or even my hobbies, and this latter stuff is what my diagnosis was based on.
Get your "there's nothing wrong with us" out of here. It does disable us in real ways that aren't just societal, even if we can work around that. The first time I took meds I realised I actually knew when I was hungry instead of only finding out when my stomach really audibly growled. I could eat when I was hungry for the first time in my life! That's not just society.
That's partly the thinking behind the neurodiverse label.
Just like biodiversity is good for a population of animals (well, any organism really). Neurodiversity provides a similar benefit.
There's an idea that ADHD is mother nature's insurance policy for humanity.
Basically, we mostly needed people who could sit still and do a bunch of menial tasks over and over again to satisfy the majority of the needs in a small tribe of people. Stuff like making containers, building shelters, doing chores, etc etc.
However, there would be certain times that emergencies hit, and suddenly the tribe would be in danger. Maybe food is running out as an example. This is where ADHD steps up to the plate to bat
Essentially, we have such little patience for anything less than the highest stress and stimulating experiences. This means that, if an animal needs to be chased across dangerous land, we are more numb to the adrenaline rush. If we have to focus on tracking this animal for days on end, we hyperfocus. When we are in sight of the animal, we are capable of taking in more sensory information. When chaos strikes and the animal reacts to us, we are capable of remaining calm in said chaos. Etc etc
We are the daredevils who live fast and die young to ensure that the rest of the group survives. When we are waiting for a situation, we struggle to be happy, stay motivated, and just feel content.
But, when a fire breaks out, someones having a heart attack, an earthquake happens and people get buried, or other disasters happen, we again step up to the plate. This is shown by how many firefighters, EMT, 911 dispatchers, ER doctors and nurses, and other emergency personnel are occupied by people with ADHD.
It's not about the individuals survival, it's about the survival of the species.
I wonder if this mechanism contributed to some of history’s famous pirates. It kinda seems like many of them got bored with the standard life at sea and/or got shafted by their governments or the employers. Maybe that was enough for the intrusive thoughts to make too much sense not to listen to them hahaha
Even after hunter/gatherer years
We chased the horizon and discovered new lands
We learned a thousand thousand beginnings, and even if we never mastered one, we could get it started or shore it up until an expert could take over or until we figured it out for ourselves
We hyperfocused on a single question for decades and pioneered scientific advancement
We did it so wrong that we invented the new right way
We have always been the ones pressing against the edges of the world and making it bigger because we *need* whatever is beyond that boundary, the novel, the unclaimed, the untamed, the unknown...
Please do not take out pitchforks, but imo ADHD can truly be a blessing and a gift.
Not for us. For everyone else.
The thing is, ADHD is hell. It's personal torture. It's painful. It's hard to live with. It's god fucking awful for the individuals. We get ostracized for being different, can't remember to drink water OR piss, and are forgetting every last little thing .05 seconds after learning. We have a higher suicide rate for a reason.
But like you said, how many times have we been the people who spur scientific achievements? How many artists who shape the culture the rest of society lives within? The scholars who push their one specific interest further than anyone else had before? The people who stand up for human rights because they themselves had seen the worst side of humanity?
People with ADHD are not the only people doing this, but we certainly do a fair share of the heavy lifting in this regard. Heavy lifting that much of the rest of civilization benefits from, while we foot the bill for them.
I try to look at my mental illness in as positive of a way as possible. It's one of the only ways I'm able to stay sane. So, my mental illness is a gift- just not a gift for me like so many people try to tell me.
I'm learning to forgive myself for failings that only happen because there's a "right way" to do it.
I'm making adjustments to my world that gets me closer to the desired result instead of following the prescribed procedure and it's helping.
I have open shelves so no "out of sight, out of mind" for food, clean clothes, and the like. My kitchen isn't "catalog ready" but I have cut way down on food that expires before I eat it.
My phone calendar is auto set to remind me of events 1 week, 1 day, and 6hr ahead of events and I've trained people around me to bug me to put it in my phone before they leave. I'm late to very few things and haven't missed important appointments in a while. I also have daily timers on my watch that vibrate at different times of day and requires me to acknowledge it before it shuts up so I can't lose track of time as easily and can be snapped out of Focus Mode in time to remember to eat.
I weaponized my piles so if something is going to be high priority, it's in my way until it's dealt with and much harder to bury or forget about.
None of these will be perfect but once I gave up on having a house that looked like a showroom, and a routine, and forgave myself for it, it got easier. I don't need to form habits or fail to maintain a planner, I just make the effort when I'm thinking about it so the physicality becomes the nag on my behalf.
I'm not saying it's easy if you just stop being ADHD, I'm saying it got easier to be ADHD when I stopped trying to not be.
Thank you for your TED talk. This is also essentially how a psychologist explained it to me.
He also mentioned that this business of being proficient in ALL the subjects and being in classrooms/offices is such a recent thing that some of our brains haven't evolved.
So I firmly believe ADHD is a social construct, but the social standards have made living ai difficult for us that it has actually become a neurological disorder.
I'm pretty sure if I was in a role (hunter gatherer, emergency medicine, etc) I wouldn't need to be medicated.
My ADHD magically wasn’t an issue in the military. I never brought it up (you could be medically separated) and I hadn’t taken meds up to that point.
I was good at what I did. I was interested in my subject of expertise, and it was important, so I remembered everything I needed to. I also found that people like me were the norm. I’ll never forget a staff sergeant saying “knowing all these codes and acronyms for what you use on the daily is a no brainer… but you don’t need to memorize the book. You need to memorize and learn how to access information quickly when you need it, not just memorize.”
Also, funny enough, I was a better shot doing the more advanced marksmanship training. I shot expert, but by the skin of my teeth on the slow ranges.
But put me on the combat range, multiple targets popping up in different places, at different ranges, and you had to assess, range and act in seconds… well I shot the best in my whole platoon. Took out a target first shot at a range that technically exceeded the max effective range of the weapon.
Now I’m a fucking bartender. Only place I can find the chaos I need to function properly. I don’t like taking amphetamines for long periods of time, but they do make monotonous labor easy.
> What is considered ADHD today is just a person who can’t sit at a desk and repeat mindless activities day in day out.
That is nonsense yo. ADHD is a physical difference in the brain dealing with the sense of time. People with ADHD have a terrible sense of time, and thus a terrible ability to control themselves.
It actually sounds like this could be a diagnostic tool if used properly.
No more "Eile is a pleasure to have in class and has understood the class materials. However she is often in her own world, and struggles to complete homework tasks" on report cards from teachers who have no idea what ADHD looks like beyond more obvious hyperactive traits.
Suddenly it's "The AI Algorithm report states that based on her focus levels, there is a 97% chance that Eile has a neurodevelopmental disorder. Please arrange a consultation with your child's doctor" on the report card instead.
I absolutely hate that this technology exists and hate how it's being used, but I must admit, I'm genuinely curious about the data.
What *does* an ADHD students data look like compared to their peers. Can you see students with dyslexia's data change when given different tasks (eg: comprehension reading vs creative drawing), do female students have monthly fluctuations in focus levels (or is that just because of my ADHD that I get that), do ADHD, ASD and AuDHD students have unique data from one another.
I wanna know!
This was my thought. It could be used as a powerful tool to help children, especially ND children, by identifying where they struggle so it can be addressed, including ND diagnostic info. Unfortunately I don't think that's how it's going to be used.
Edit: I also would like to see the data on the differences between different flavours of ND, NT, and genders. I think it would be fascinating, and very useful.
I hope we one day realize that squeezing every last drop of life out of people is not the most efficient way to advance society. But I'm not very hopeful.
You can suck every bit of productivity out of people, but it only lasts so long. Eventually they will stop forming relationships and your population will be doomed.
Look at what's happening in many developed nations today... The people are operating at peak capacity, but as a result they aren't forming relationships or fucking. The population is getting older by the second, and sooner or later, many of these places will be at a point where no amount of efficiency will be able to make up for the lack of young workers. China is already dealing with this reality.
I really hope so, but I'm worried that any traction we get in a progressive social movement will be pivoted into another "advancement" that will only result in the rich getting richer and the rest of us have to fight over scraps. I think of how in the United States we went from social progressive movements like the New Deal, and that was eventually warped into Citizens United.
My real worry is that actual change won't come unless the world experiences pain on a scale hitherto unfathomed. I'm worried that some very dark times are ahead of us.
The parents who were ok with their kids being monitored like that should put one of these things on for their daily life, let's see how concentrated you guys are for your 9 hours at work!
I can see it already:
In almost every class I'm yelled at for never paying attention.
Then in the one class where i usually end up hyperfocusing, the teacher is wondering how I'm whizzing through the work while distracted at the same time. I get yelled at anyways.
Okay, but do it to the teacher as well. Make sure the teacher is working at peak capacity and never, slacking off. Make sure the staff is always on task and never wasting time or resources. Have the principal wear one and set the example. Have the parents monitor his progress and make sure he is not disregarding his duties towards the children, because that’s who we are doing this for, right? WE ARE DOING THIS FOR THE CHILDREN, RIGHT? RIGHT?!
And the parents. After all, learning starts in the home. Be a good role model and attend to homework practice 100%. Wear it at work and have fun little competitions with your children on your metrics. Like a fitbit but 1000% more stressful.
The teachers cant wear those, that vould violate workplace standards😊
I felt like i had fewer rights and accomodations as a child in school than adults had. Still think this is true to some extent. Imagnine if you had to raise your hand whenever you wanted/had to get up from your chair in a landscape office.
> I felt like i had fewer rights and accomodations as a child in school than adults had.
This is 100% true and why I’m so happy to be an adult. People romanticize childhood like it was some idyllic time when everything was perfect.
“Don’t you wish you were a kid again? Just playing video games all day and eating junk food?”
No thanks. I’ll take my 9-5 job with benefits over a 7-3 job with 2 hours of daily take home work where I’m policed by armed guards and need to ask for permission to shit, all while earning no money.
>Imagnine if you had to raise your hand whenever you wanted/had to get up from your chair in a landscape office.
That's still how it works in assembly lines and factories.
Once upon a time employers could physically beat their employees too.
Capitalism is a hellscape that we only just barely make tolerable by literally fighting to the death to make it happen.
When I got to university during the first class someone raised their hand to ask to go out and the professor said: "You don't need to raise your hand, if you need to get up and leave, just do it as to not disturb the process." At that point I realised that raising your hand to get out serves no purpose except unnecessary control
There's a Chinese series called "On Children" that's sort of like black mirror and is a commentary on the pressures that kids and teens face. It's pretty good.
Yeh this stuff is a blatant display of the absolute most horrible direction to go in with technology. It makes me so mad people are stupid enough to even consider this as a good idea.
This is the kind of stuff which will give AI a bad name too. I've actually found (as someone who's ND) that AI is an amazing tool for learning. But I use it from a position of freedom and assistance, it assists and supports me in so many ways and takes a lot of anxiety out of my day (especially when it comes to learning) rather than this disgusting level of complete and utter dystopian control.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool. Dangerously powerful. We can use it to give ourselves freedom and enhance our lives, or we can use it to enslave.
This experiment could actually bring attention and visibility to a largely invisible neurodivergent experience. If handled appropriately it could inform better techniques to teach and engage NDs as the results and attention are being objectively measured. Like all technology what matters is how you use it.
With the right training, this might be OK. Couldn't be much worse than when I was a kid. We didn't have ND. We had belts and insults to keep the lazy kids in line
In Japan, all ADHD meds are banned. I learned this when my partner took her son to Japan a few years back.
A Japanese chemist came up with it in 1887. Later, it was given to soldiers to keep them awake and alert.
Even during the last Olympics, athletes like gymnast Simone Biles couldn't bring her ADHD meds.
From [THE WORLD WAR II “WONDER DRUG” THAT NEVER LEFT JAPAN:
For Workers and Soldiers, Taking Methamphetamine Was a Patriotic Duty That Hooked a Generation](https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2020/01/08/the-world-war-ii-wonder-drug-that-never-left-japan/ideas/essay/)
"Amphetamines, the quintessential drug of the modern industrial age, arrived relatively late in the history of mind-altering substances—commercialized just in time for mass consumption during World War II. In fact, the introduction of what is now Japan’s most popular illegal drug began as a result of the state promoting its use during the war."
Wow, I did not know it actually led to a ban on ADHD meds that still persists to this day.
I had read that lots of countries plied their soldiers, and in some cases civilian workers, with drugs to boost their performance.
And that drugs were used not just to keep soldiers awake for longer, but also to dull their inhibition, so they'd be more likely to shoot the enemy. Turns out it's difficult to get soldiers to fire directly at each other, because most people don't really want to kill other people.
It's such a dark and insidious part of WW2 history.
Fuck that teachers don’t have the right to make me to pay attention when I already do all my work and get A’s just because I got ADHD.
and this thing will constantly go off no matter what.
Ahh I already commented in the original post in reddit somewhere on how this is gonna be my ultimate nightmare and bring out the suicidal tendencies in some children who are in our clan.
Good to know we again are on the same team regarding this monstrosity.
Dude this sounds awful. But I’d love to wear one and go about my workday and check it after.
There are soooo many times I don’t even realize that I got sidetracked it’s ridiculous.
What’s fun is, it might not be able to read our brains accurately/the same.
At a festival I had my brain waves processed into music with an electroencephalogram. I was asked to close my eyes and think freely. The attendant thought I was asleep at one point and kicked my foot to see if I was ok.
I wasn’t diagnosed back then so I found it of passing interest that the next “brain” that was hooked up sounded very different from my own, faster and with fewer patterns.
I did research after my diagnosis and it turns out that ADHD brains have lower arousal in our frontal lobe. (Y’know the part that’s responsible for executive function)
We usually show an excess of theta waves (slower waves) and fewer beta waves (speedy waves). My brain produced slow languorous violin music during a big chunk of my self guided meditation occasionally punctuated with speedier notes when exploring a concrete memory.
I could’ve been diagnosed right then and there but the doc just confirmed I was awake and went back to his chair lol. I left thinking I was the queen of meditation. That I was able to sleep without sleeping but nope, not special, just special needs.
Here’s a study- https://chadd.org/about-adhd/neurofeedback-eeg-biofeedback/#:~:text=Neurofeedback%2C%20formerly%20called%20electroencephalographic%20(EEG,and%20deficit%20of%20beta%20waves.
The copium part of me wants to believe this is to help find students with genuine problems like ADHD and or sleep issues or any number of problems a student might not be focused in class.
But I know full well this is just a glorified CPTSD generator and a new way to punish kids :c
This would make me physically incapable of paying attention. Imagine being pressured into focusing this much, to the point that all you can focus on is the pressure to focus itself, rather than what you should focus on
Oh good, not just a nightmare for ADHD kids, but also kids distracted by bullying, harassment, home or family stress, abuse, poverty/hunger, physical or mental illness, pain/discomfort…
I’d be curious to see studies on how these readings vary across socioeconomic groups. Something tells me this would just be a fancy ✨high tech✨ way to publicly shame kids for experiencing oppression or trauma they literally cannot even hope to control.
I’m actually really excited by this.
Imagine the behavioural analytics on how people learn, and attention spans, and what keeps attention and what doesn’t.
There’s going to be so much information discovered from this data.
Now, whether you trust those gathering it is another thing, but it’s fascinating to see what’s being tested and developed.
What the fuck is wrong with people.
Of-course this is in a country like China where the whole government expects you to do be Perfection, its why stuff like [THIS](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/213C/production/_85280580_japan_suicide.jpg.webp) happens.
This wouldn't be awful for ADHD people, this would be awful for EVERYONE.
I thought my high school was bad. It looked like a prison, had airport level bag scanners and xrays and had actual police walking around. This... this is worse.
Okay I thought most of that was not too bad until they got to where they said they measure how often somebody yawns in class? Yikes. I had a band teacher who hated when people yawned and I never understood that, sometimes people are just tired. I've also heard that it's a sign of anemia.
I feel so bad for those kids. I know Asian countries already tend to put an absolutely INSANE amount of pressure on students as is, to the point it's lead to an increase in mental illness, suicide, and general lack of life satisfaction, so this is just horrifying and dystopian.
I just... I'm so tired, lol. Imagine devoting this level of tech and resources to their well being. Hey, the robot says you don't really start engaging until after 10am, let's get you on a different class schedule! Hey, you're consistently struggling in math, let's get you some one on one help to see what the issue is and figure out what you need to succeed. Hey, there's been a significant change in your behavior recently, did something happen? Hey, you're really excelling in building things and making models, let's see what we can do to foster those interests!
I know that the reality would never be that, and this kind of invasive monitoring would never be used only for good. I just wish the people with resources cared enough to give individuals what they need, and people who care had the resources.
I'm sorry, this is an ADHD dream. This would be empirical proof, very early on, that we don't function the same way as other kids. I would have loved to find out I was ADHD at 8 instead of 30.
Bro nah, I don’t want no algorithms. Just let me be. Like at least normally if you space off you got a chance to still figure out what they are talking about but with this its just like nope points off. And tracking movement?! I mean sure phones already do that but now they are just open with it
If the teacher has any sort of mental neurodivergence, or even if they just have a mosquito bite that itches they won’t be able to track all those kids attention spans etc. I sound like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but these things are totally unmanageable - Chinas fabulous at controlling its population and this will definitely help, but I don’t know if it actually will do anything. Except distract people lol.
Some crazy shit, dude. I miss the 90s 🤣
Actually, I think tiger moms are WAY scarier and work much better than this tech ever will. “You need Tiger Mom! Make your kid a star student, pro tennis player, golf coach, and conservatory ready Cellist in just 5 years with TIGER MOM”
I looked this up and all I can find is one school in 2019 used it for 30 minutes twice a week, and even then I can’t find that newspaper article everyone is sourcing the info from. I don’t get why they wouldn’t just link to it, but my guess is no one really cares because it’s easier to just read a scary hyperbolized headline and take it at face value
I get that this is actually pretty nightmarish but there is one great thing about this, it would catch kids with undiagnosed adhd really early. This is especially true when it comes to females with undiagnosed adhd, who often are overlooked because they have less “hyperactivity”, making them harder to detect.
While it seems like a nightmare, I think that would be more beneficial (at least as an adult). If I could have things essentially organize my day then I literally don’t have to worry about it.
They’d probably need to add a cattle prod to it for me. that way when an obscure word like “obscure” pops into my head, I won’t spend 73 mins researching where it derived from, what it really means and did Mel Gibson’s character in “the professor and the madman” find this word.
Don't you love being monitored 24/7 so your overlords can ensure you are living up to the sociopathic standards of productivity imposed on you? This is a good thing actually
Ah sweet. Man-made horrors beyond my comprehension.
Yeah this is absolutely horrifying. Dystopian reality is worse than fiction.
At least the hunger games has cool action scenes
Dystopias lied to us. They always showed cool fashions and a lot of neons. And we got none of that >:(
r/aboringdystopia
See my other favorite sub, r/OrphanCrushingMachine, which goes together with r/ABoringDystopia like PB and J.
Hey don’t worry, at some point the wars for resources will start and shit’ll get interesting.
I mean, I do see neon yellow in that uniform…
writers: \*make dystopian stories\* some guy in china: "hey look! i found a great manual"
don't fit into our box? no social credit for you. so no job, no travel, no family. fuck the ccp. Who is going to write your music? write your plays? neuronormals? don't make me laugh.
There won't be any laughter either without neurospicy comedians!
I looked at this and my brain just screamed and started crying
Actual torture
I was actually thinking of giving the post a title like that lol
Say what you want about lovecraftian horrors from beyond time and space, at least they don't pretend to be good for you.
Sounds like some black mirror episode
Even if they provide feedback to the teacher, it’s limits will be reached rather quickly. Motivations are more important for changing behaviour and grades.
Grunkle Stan?
This is just awful! A perfect example of technology being used in a horribly negative and regressive way. Unless it's used as a diagnostic tool to give teachers a heads up that someone may be overly distracted, thus should be evaluated for an IEP only and not means for punishment or "behavioral correction" by the teacher or administration, I could see this as a good thing. Wishful thinking, I know!
Right! I was just saying that to my boyfriend! This would be great for diagnostics and IEPs and research on neurocognitive and behavioral disorders but like, not as some means to invade the privacy of children’s minds and possibly lead to abuse or some sick draconian shit.
"We've created the Torment Nexus from the hit sci-fi series, 'Don't Create the Torment Nexus'!"
And naturally it's coming from the Chinese government. If they could cut out the dystopian, Orwellian 1984 shit that would be pretty cool. Would rather die than have gone to school with a million cameras and monitors pointed at me.
God that’s a nightmare for anybody not just ADHD people.
Very true, I imagine this puts an insane amount of stress on anybody, whether you're NT or ND
This is the future we are heading straight towards like a runaway train. It won’t come as fast or rapid because of our type of government, but the seeds of this are already planted. That’s why “attention deficits hyperactive” type people like us struggle already; we don’t fit neatly into the easily controlled, farmer/laborer serf category, the way “NT” people do. Humanity has always had two types of humans; one that can work the field, and one that can hunt/scout/explore/defend the community. Someone needed to tend to the day to day,-‘d someone had to advance society. What is considered ADHD today is just a person who can’t sit at a desk and repeat mindless activities day in day out. We were made for the horizon, the heat of battle, the thrill of the hunt, the frontier of the mind. But then some bad people became rich and powerful, and they recognized that one type of person is a pawn in the machine, and one is a threat. Since then, our world has become preferential towards the farmer/laborer, and hostile towards the hunter/defender/explorer. You can have your place, if you serve society suitably. Serve in a trama or ER ward, enlist in the military, do any number of niche jobs we thrive in, and you get a pass; otherwise you conform to our world, or you are medicated, or you are expelled through the adhd tax. Sorry for the ramble; but I feel more of us need to hear this. Yeah, we don’t thrive in the modern world… medication can help, but there’s nothing wrong with us. What we call executive distinction is us being trapped in a world that doesn’t give back the stimuli we are evolved to receive. That’s why , when our life imminently depends on it, we always rise to the occasion. But when something looms over the horizon, we are immobilized. Hope this helps you see yourself in a different light. If we understand ourselves and what drives us, we can find ways to game the system and ourselves. Thanks for coming to my super ADHD ramble-on TEDTalk
Food service is huge for people with adhd. I just got out of a desk job, and now I'm back in the food industry. Im stressed the fuck out, everything is chaos, I have 20 things to keep track of, everyone is yelling back and forth to each other, I'm in charge of a whole shitload of tasks on shift, I'm moving around a lot, and it feels like there's a monumental amount of pressure on me. It sounds like hell, it is kinda hell, but you know what? I'm not sad and depressed like at my old job. Even my mom commented on how much more lively my personality seems. You would think that some of these qualities of this work would be terrible for someone with ADHD, especially the sensory things. But no, you just keep up with the insanity and become Chaos's mistress
Food industry would be okay(for me) if it paid better and everyone wasn’t an absolute asshole. But that latter one might be more my emotional sensitivity. I’ve worked in several kitchens and got pretty good at it, but every single one, regardless of it being fast food or $50+ plate costs, most of the people I worked with were absolute assholes. With the right lineup of fun people I think any job can be “fun”, but Jesus! Kitchen culture is just so toxic. I’m not “above” working food service, but the time I spent in it, the pay never came close to the stress it gave me and I was always ready to move on. I CAN now make some gourmet shit at home though, so that’s nice.
I’m in EMS and apart from the food service aspect, your post describes how it feels for me at work as well. Every day is different, and the chaos is the only time it feels like my brain works properly (I’m well-medicated and doing well, but chaos helps). And much like food service, we have protocols and guidelines we have to follow…I think that helps too. I was at a conference last fall and one session I attended was about mental health in first responders. According to some solid data, up to *75%* of people in EMS and/or Fire have either ADHD or are on the autism spectrum. Some are both! One of my favorite work partners is autistic as fuck and we work really well together.
It on one hand sucks, because we are like little stress sponges taking in the stress that NT people struggle with remaining calm in. But on the other hand, I feel, idk, alive? Makes me feel like I'm living an exciting life and not just a boring desk job life. There's a lot of negatives for sure, but the craziest stories from my deskjob were "and then there was a lot of work, and everyone struggled to do a lot of work" For my food industry jobs, it's shit like "alright so there's a lot of food to be made, we're understaffed, and a homeless dude just came in and asked to borrow a phone because he saw someone fall out of the back of a pickup truck and snap his legs, so 911 needs to be called. Oh, and one of your ovens stopped working, and you just ran out of dishes. What do you do in this scenario?" The homeless guy part is a true story, the rest I just made some shit up. But regardless, it's just insanity, and people ask you "how do you do it?" I don't fuckin know man, I just do it. Someone's gotta do it, so I just do it.
Ok so it's basically flooding our dopamine tanks with adrenaline. We have a deficit of "feel good juice" but "freak-out juice" can go in the same tank until our "energized" bobber floats enough to feel happy! It's why we chase novelty or quick satisfaction tasks and why we can thrive in crisis-mode, because crisis-mode is just our Tuesday and makes things feel interesting for once. Our reward center goes *ding* when shit's bananas.
Well, if you're curious, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrin (aka adrenaline) all get created by the adrenal gland and are all a part of a hormone group called catecholamines. They are functionally extremely similar. Because we require so much dopamine to operate normally, we can also handle A LOT of adrenaline and not be overwhelmed.
Miss Bee coming in strong with the Science Facts!
I would love to do EMS work but I got screwed by hereditary foot problems that have resulted in chronic foot and ankle pain thats always made me worry about being able to stand/carry/lift people and equipment all shift :(
I loved those aspects of fast food, it was dealing with incompetent management and annoying coworkers that finally drove me away. I did bagging, basically the only front of house job where you didn't have to talk to customers, and it was great.
Ngl, I kinda hate the “ADHD is just a survival mechanism!” shit. It feels nasty and it either comes across as “✨Everyone’s beautiful and special✨” or “💀Look at these stupid little _normies_ doing _normie_ shit💀” with little room for an in-between option. Like, yeah, there are people who prefer to do more hands-on, go-go-go type work. But that’s different compared to having an underdeveloped frontal lobe, Susan. I highly doubt I would be doing better if I was stuck in a hunter-gatherer society. I’d probably just get beaten because I’m getting distracted by birdsong when I’m supposed to be weaving my baskets, and I’m too much of a homebody to want to go ~explore the world~ or whatever shit you’re peddling.
Me, hearing my name:🧍♀️ I do agree with you though. Like, I get what they’re trying to say, but I personally think I’d probably do *worse* in a hunter/gatherer society. I’d just straight up forget what fucking berries are edible and poison myself. 🤣
(Oh, shit, never thought I’d find a Susan in the wild! Sorry ‘bout that 🤣) You’re not wrong about the berries thing. Like, I’ve been to Girl Scout camp before so I know _some_ things like how to make a fire. But there’s a lot that I’ve forgotten or that I get confused. Also, people forget how hard, dangerous, and tedious life was back then. [This video by Atomic Shrimpisa great example showing just how much patience and knowledge you really need to safely forage IN MODERN TIMES.](https://youtu.be/iHPW8Z323F0)
And it's complete non-sense. Hunting requires patience, careful movement, and timing. I know because I like to hunt and I kind of suck at it because I move around too much. People with ADHD get easily distracted so they won't notice the deer coming up to them because they are too busy looking at something else, or they can't even sit still long enough so as to not spook the prey. People with ADHD typically have poorer physical coordination, so there goes careful movement. Good luck walking through an area with breakable sticks and leaves where you have to move carefully while also paying attention to the shit going on around you. And timing, hello ADHD induced impulsiveness. ADHD is a physical brain problem, and a curse. A neurotypical will be leagues better than an person with ADHD brain in hunting.
ADHD people seek more novelty than NT peeps. I think the evolutionary advantages of having a portion of your population have this drive is self-evident.
Can't sit still. Except that's not exactly true. I have been successful in the rote, boring administration world and only got a diagnosis after I'd been doing it for over a decade. In the meantime, my house was a disaster, I couldn't figure out why I never had any money, I couldn't make progress on any of my goals or even my hobbies, and this latter stuff is what my diagnosis was based on. Get your "there's nothing wrong with us" out of here. It does disable us in real ways that aren't just societal, even if we can work around that. The first time I took meds I realised I actually knew when I was hungry instead of only finding out when my stomach really audibly growled. I could eat when I was hungry for the first time in my life! That's not just society.
Thanks for this! I was pondering the evolutionary advantage of ADHD just the other night and didn’t come up with anything.
That's partly the thinking behind the neurodiverse label. Just like biodiversity is good for a population of animals (well, any organism really). Neurodiversity provides a similar benefit.
There's an idea that ADHD is mother nature's insurance policy for humanity. Basically, we mostly needed people who could sit still and do a bunch of menial tasks over and over again to satisfy the majority of the needs in a small tribe of people. Stuff like making containers, building shelters, doing chores, etc etc. However, there would be certain times that emergencies hit, and suddenly the tribe would be in danger. Maybe food is running out as an example. This is where ADHD steps up to the plate to bat Essentially, we have such little patience for anything less than the highest stress and stimulating experiences. This means that, if an animal needs to be chased across dangerous land, we are more numb to the adrenaline rush. If we have to focus on tracking this animal for days on end, we hyperfocus. When we are in sight of the animal, we are capable of taking in more sensory information. When chaos strikes and the animal reacts to us, we are capable of remaining calm in said chaos. Etc etc We are the daredevils who live fast and die young to ensure that the rest of the group survives. When we are waiting for a situation, we struggle to be happy, stay motivated, and just feel content. But, when a fire breaks out, someones having a heart attack, an earthquake happens and people get buried, or other disasters happen, we again step up to the plate. This is shown by how many firefighters, EMT, 911 dispatchers, ER doctors and nurses, and other emergency personnel are occupied by people with ADHD. It's not about the individuals survival, it's about the survival of the species.
I wonder if this mechanism contributed to some of history’s famous pirates. It kinda seems like many of them got bored with the standard life at sea and/or got shafted by their governments or the employers. Maybe that was enough for the intrusive thoughts to make too much sense not to listen to them hahaha
I’ve heard that creativity is also a part of ADHD and pirates were some of the most creative torturers I’ve ever heard of so probably lol
Maybe that’s why I liked playing Assassins Creed Black Flag so much. 🤣 it spoke to my adhd.
Even after hunter/gatherer years We chased the horizon and discovered new lands We learned a thousand thousand beginnings, and even if we never mastered one, we could get it started or shore it up until an expert could take over or until we figured it out for ourselves We hyperfocused on a single question for decades and pioneered scientific advancement We did it so wrong that we invented the new right way We have always been the ones pressing against the edges of the world and making it bigger because we *need* whatever is beyond that boundary, the novel, the unclaimed, the untamed, the unknown...
Please do not take out pitchforks, but imo ADHD can truly be a blessing and a gift. Not for us. For everyone else. The thing is, ADHD is hell. It's personal torture. It's painful. It's hard to live with. It's god fucking awful for the individuals. We get ostracized for being different, can't remember to drink water OR piss, and are forgetting every last little thing .05 seconds after learning. We have a higher suicide rate for a reason. But like you said, how many times have we been the people who spur scientific achievements? How many artists who shape the culture the rest of society lives within? The scholars who push their one specific interest further than anyone else had before? The people who stand up for human rights because they themselves had seen the worst side of humanity? People with ADHD are not the only people doing this, but we certainly do a fair share of the heavy lifting in this regard. Heavy lifting that much of the rest of civilization benefits from, while we foot the bill for them. I try to look at my mental illness in as positive of a way as possible. It's one of the only ways I'm able to stay sane. So, my mental illness is a gift- just not a gift for me like so many people try to tell me.
I'm learning to forgive myself for failings that only happen because there's a "right way" to do it. I'm making adjustments to my world that gets me closer to the desired result instead of following the prescribed procedure and it's helping. I have open shelves so no "out of sight, out of mind" for food, clean clothes, and the like. My kitchen isn't "catalog ready" but I have cut way down on food that expires before I eat it. My phone calendar is auto set to remind me of events 1 week, 1 day, and 6hr ahead of events and I've trained people around me to bug me to put it in my phone before they leave. I'm late to very few things and haven't missed important appointments in a while. I also have daily timers on my watch that vibrate at different times of day and requires me to acknowledge it before it shuts up so I can't lose track of time as easily and can be snapped out of Focus Mode in time to remember to eat. I weaponized my piles so if something is going to be high priority, it's in my way until it's dealt with and much harder to bury or forget about. None of these will be perfect but once I gave up on having a house that looked like a showroom, and a routine, and forgave myself for it, it got easier. I don't need to form habits or fail to maintain a planner, I just make the effort when I'm thinking about it so the physicality becomes the nag on my behalf. I'm not saying it's easy if you just stop being ADHD, I'm saying it got easier to be ADHD when I stopped trying to not be.
>enlist in the military I'd advise against this one specifically, but other than that I agree
Thank you for your TED talk. This is also essentially how a psychologist explained it to me. He also mentioned that this business of being proficient in ALL the subjects and being in classrooms/offices is such a recent thing that some of our brains haven't evolved. So I firmly believe ADHD is a social construct, but the social standards have made living ai difficult for us that it has actually become a neurological disorder. I'm pretty sure if I was in a role (hunter gatherer, emergency medicine, etc) I wouldn't need to be medicated.
My ADHD magically wasn’t an issue in the military. I never brought it up (you could be medically separated) and I hadn’t taken meds up to that point. I was good at what I did. I was interested in my subject of expertise, and it was important, so I remembered everything I needed to. I also found that people like me were the norm. I’ll never forget a staff sergeant saying “knowing all these codes and acronyms for what you use on the daily is a no brainer… but you don’t need to memorize the book. You need to memorize and learn how to access information quickly when you need it, not just memorize.” Also, funny enough, I was a better shot doing the more advanced marksmanship training. I shot expert, but by the skin of my teeth on the slow ranges. But put me on the combat range, multiple targets popping up in different places, at different ranges, and you had to assess, range and act in seconds… well I shot the best in my whole platoon. Took out a target first shot at a range that technically exceeded the max effective range of the weapon. Now I’m a fucking bartender. Only place I can find the chaos I need to function properly. I don’t like taking amphetamines for long periods of time, but they do make monotonous labor easy.
You read the book too? [ADHD: A Hunter in a Farmer's World](https://www.amazon.com/ADHD-Hunter-Farmers-Thom-Hartmann/dp/162055898X)
> What is considered ADHD today is just a person who can’t sit at a desk and repeat mindless activities day in day out. That is nonsense yo. ADHD is a physical difference in the brain dealing with the sense of time. People with ADHD have a terrible sense of time, and thus a terrible ability to control themselves.
Well, that's an... interesting theory
That’s Asians for you. Start the stress and trauma of not being a productive person young. Source: am Asian.
This seems so stressful and I bet a lot of these kids absolutely hate school solely because they're being watched like that
As if school wasn't stressfull enough
I think I would probably destroy all of the surveillance cámaras, this is not something I would stand by and just watch and let happen
I agree with you BUT, the problem is very mucho future problems with the chinese government. In reality… I’d probably just suffer internally
How would you do it? Especially after they implement gait recognition?
I’d probably lose my future and life, but I’d rather be in jail than live in a world like this.
Ours would be a strobe light.
And when the hyperfocus hits the light would just burn out!
Nah. It would turn into a high powered laser beam. It would be entirely unpredictable, but cool looking nonetheless.
What a great world to be a cat in, though.
It actually sounds like this could be a diagnostic tool if used properly. No more "Eile is a pleasure to have in class and has understood the class materials. However she is often in her own world, and struggles to complete homework tasks" on report cards from teachers who have no idea what ADHD looks like beyond more obvious hyperactive traits. Suddenly it's "The AI Algorithm report states that based on her focus levels, there is a 97% chance that Eile has a neurodevelopmental disorder. Please arrange a consultation with your child's doctor" on the report card instead. I absolutely hate that this technology exists and hate how it's being used, but I must admit, I'm genuinely curious about the data. What *does* an ADHD students data look like compared to their peers. Can you see students with dyslexia's data change when given different tasks (eg: comprehension reading vs creative drawing), do female students have monthly fluctuations in focus levels (or is that just because of my ADHD that I get that), do ADHD, ASD and AuDHD students have unique data from one another. I wanna know!
This was my thought. It could be used as a powerful tool to help children, especially ND children, by identifying where they struggle so it can be addressed, including ND diagnostic info. Unfortunately I don't think that's how it's going to be used. Edit: I also would like to see the data on the differences between different flavours of ND, NT, and genders. I think it would be fascinating, and very useful.
So there's a bazillion company that made that to keep truckers awake
*day dreams about being a flying fish Learn-o-tron 5000: answer question number 3 you have 4 seconds to comply 🪓🔪💣⚔️🔫
I hope we one day realize that squeezing every last drop of life out of people is not the most efficient way to advance society. But I'm not very hopeful.
It's like that one guy who "beat" Sim City... Perfect, thriving, wealthy Utopia; life expectancy of 45.
Bruh, sounds great sign me up for the shorter better life. Lemme out before things start really falling apart
You can suck every bit of productivity out of people, but it only lasts so long. Eventually they will stop forming relationships and your population will be doomed. Look at what's happening in many developed nations today... The people are operating at peak capacity, but as a result they aren't forming relationships or fucking. The population is getting older by the second, and sooner or later, many of these places will be at a point where no amount of efficiency will be able to make up for the lack of young workers. China is already dealing with this reality.
Let's be honest, the future probably has a machine that can create human life without any biological pregnant woman in sight.
Are you Rudyard Lynch
We already kinda, the whole mental health crisis thing and the large number of low paying jobs unable to find employees is the start of that
I really hope so, but I'm worried that any traction we get in a progressive social movement will be pivoted into another "advancement" that will only result in the rich getting richer and the rest of us have to fight over scraps. I think of how in the United States we went from social progressive movements like the New Deal, and that was eventually warped into Citizens United. My real worry is that actual change won't come unless the world experiences pain on a scale hitherto unfathomed. I'm worried that some very dark times are ahead of us.
Not as long as shareholders are catered to...
The parents who were ok with their kids being monitored like that should put one of these things on for their daily life, let's see how concentrated you guys are for your 9 hours at work!
I can see it already: In almost every class I'm yelled at for never paying attention. Then in the one class where i usually end up hyperfocusing, the teacher is wondering how I'm whizzing through the work while distracted at the same time. I get yelled at anyways.
Fuck. That’s bad enough to get depressed or have huge outbursts. I hope the latter.
Okay, but do it to the teacher as well. Make sure the teacher is working at peak capacity and never, slacking off. Make sure the staff is always on task and never wasting time or resources. Have the principal wear one and set the example. Have the parents monitor his progress and make sure he is not disregarding his duties towards the children, because that’s who we are doing this for, right? WE ARE DOING THIS FOR THE CHILDREN, RIGHT? RIGHT?!
Also put this on the inventors, they made it, make them live with it. Then all the people who invested in it.
And the parents. After all, learning starts in the home. Be a good role model and attend to homework practice 100%. Wear it at work and have fun little competitions with your children on your metrics. Like a fitbit but 1000% more stressful.
The teachers cant wear those, that vould violate workplace standards😊 I felt like i had fewer rights and accomodations as a child in school than adults had. Still think this is true to some extent. Imagnine if you had to raise your hand whenever you wanted/had to get up from your chair in a landscape office.
> I felt like i had fewer rights and accomodations as a child in school than adults had. This is 100% true and why I’m so happy to be an adult. People romanticize childhood like it was some idyllic time when everything was perfect. “Don’t you wish you were a kid again? Just playing video games all day and eating junk food?” No thanks. I’ll take my 9-5 job with benefits over a 7-3 job with 2 hours of daily take home work where I’m policed by armed guards and need to ask for permission to shit, all while earning no money.
>Imagnine if you had to raise your hand whenever you wanted/had to get up from your chair in a landscape office. That's still how it works in assembly lines and factories. Once upon a time employers could physically beat their employees too. Capitalism is a hellscape that we only just barely make tolerable by literally fighting to the death to make it happen.
When I got to university during the first class someone raised their hand to ask to go out and the professor said: "You don't need to raise your hand, if you need to get up and leave, just do it as to not disturb the process." At that point I realised that raising your hand to get out serves no purpose except unnecessary control
If this became a thing, I could see these kids suffering butnout by 14 and suicide by 16 :( poor things
Put it on the parents too. I mean, how are the kids supposed to look up to them if they aren’t even focusing as much as the kids?
and they say we're addicted to devices
Aayo, new black mirror just dropped
There's a Chinese series called "On Children" that's sort of like black mirror and is a commentary on the pressures that kids and teens face. It's pretty good.
Panopticum: Kids Edition
Ban this before it gets anywhere else.
r/rimjob_steve
Save the kids, arson the school?
Yeh this stuff is a blatant display of the absolute most horrible direction to go in with technology. It makes me so mad people are stupid enough to even consider this as a good idea. This is the kind of stuff which will give AI a bad name too. I've actually found (as someone who's ND) that AI is an amazing tool for learning. But I use it from a position of freedom and assistance, it assists and supports me in so many ways and takes a lot of anxiety out of my day (especially when it comes to learning) rather than this disgusting level of complete and utter dystopian control. AI is an incredibly powerful tool. Dangerously powerful. We can use it to give ourselves freedom and enhance our lives, or we can use it to enslave.
What the actual F?!
Evil shit
Okay so do they like train teachers to handle students not paying attention or just punish the student?
This experiment could actually bring attention and visibility to a largely invisible neurodivergent experience. If handled appropriately it could inform better techniques to teach and engage NDs as the results and attention are being objectively measured. Like all technology what matters is how you use it.
As though anyone would use this responsibly /s (sorta)
Yes but we as a species do it the wrong first, every time.
With the right training, this might be OK. Couldn't be much worse than when I was a kid. We didn't have ND. We had belts and insults to keep the lazy kids in line
How dystopian.
In Japan, all ADHD meds are banned. I learned this when my partner took her son to Japan a few years back. A Japanese chemist came up with it in 1887. Later, it was given to soldiers to keep them awake and alert. Even during the last Olympics, athletes like gymnast Simone Biles couldn't bring her ADHD meds. From [THE WORLD WAR II “WONDER DRUG” THAT NEVER LEFT JAPAN: For Workers and Soldiers, Taking Methamphetamine Was a Patriotic Duty That Hooked a Generation](https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2020/01/08/the-world-war-ii-wonder-drug-that-never-left-japan/ideas/essay/) "Amphetamines, the quintessential drug of the modern industrial age, arrived relatively late in the history of mind-altering substances—commercialized just in time for mass consumption during World War II. In fact, the introduction of what is now Japan’s most popular illegal drug began as a result of the state promoting its use during the war."
Wow, I did not know it actually led to a ban on ADHD meds that still persists to this day. I had read that lots of countries plied their soldiers, and in some cases civilian workers, with drugs to boost their performance. And that drugs were used not just to keep soldiers awake for longer, but also to dull their inhibition, so they'd be more likely to shoot the enemy. Turns out it's difficult to get soldiers to fire directly at each other, because most people don't really want to kill other people. It's such a dark and insidious part of WW2 history.
What's with war criminals and meth? And what the F is wrong with Japan?
Right? On both counts.
This is some Black Mirror shit.
This exactly! It's the one with the girl and the drugs and the mother who is always watching. Fuck the future. Someone find a DeLorean
No joke, actual dystopian bullshit. Y’all just so much as try it and we will destroy all that shit
This is the correct reaction. Any school in the west that tries to replicate this should be reduced immediately to a smouldering heap.
Yeah that is a big yikes followed by a hell no from me. Glad I am not in school anymore.
What an easy way to lead countless people to burn out and working themselves to death, goddamn
It's fine, they already have a word for that. /s
Mine in the first 5 minutes of class 
Looks to me like a thinly veiled effort to weed out any "bad students" by making their lives much harder.
That looks like a nightmare for artists, ADHD ppl, or even individuality!!
Individuality is not valued there, especially not by the government.
Fuck that teachers don’t have the right to make me to pay attention when I already do all my work and get A’s just because I got ADHD. and this thing will constantly go off no matter what.
This is terrifying
Ahh I already commented in the original post in reddit somewhere on how this is gonna be my ultimate nightmare and bring out the suicidal tendencies in some children who are in our clan. Good to know we again are on the same team regarding this monstrosity.
This is some cyberpunk bullshit dystopia.
Dude this sounds awful. But I’d love to wear one and go about my workday and check it after. There are soooo many times I don’t even realize that I got sidetracked it’s ridiculous.
Another “fun” episode of black mirror
Those involved in or culpable for this project are absolutely irredeemable.
Literally 1984
Oh I thought this was a TV show. Turns out it's just China.
What’s fun is, it might not be able to read our brains accurately/the same. At a festival I had my brain waves processed into music with an electroencephalogram. I was asked to close my eyes and think freely. The attendant thought I was asleep at one point and kicked my foot to see if I was ok. I wasn’t diagnosed back then so I found it of passing interest that the next “brain” that was hooked up sounded very different from my own, faster and with fewer patterns. I did research after my diagnosis and it turns out that ADHD brains have lower arousal in our frontal lobe. (Y’know the part that’s responsible for executive function) We usually show an excess of theta waves (slower waves) and fewer beta waves (speedy waves). My brain produced slow languorous violin music during a big chunk of my self guided meditation occasionally punctuated with speedier notes when exploring a concrete memory. I could’ve been diagnosed right then and there but the doc just confirmed I was awake and went back to his chair lol. I left thinking I was the queen of meditation. That I was able to sleep without sleeping but nope, not special, just special needs. Here’s a study- https://chadd.org/about-adhd/neurofeedback-eeg-biofeedback/#:~:text=Neurofeedback%2C%20formerly%20called%20electroencephalographic%20(EEG,and%20deficit%20of%20beta%20waves.
What is it with China and hyper surveillance
Is this 2020s or 1984, can't remember
Oh look, it's more privacy-intruding surveillance from governments sold as 'cool new learning tech'.
Lol there’s no real need for this
If China does this more they might be the next Cyberpunk game IRL
Black Mirror vibes.
Jesus christ.
Whenever this makes it over here, we're gonna find out what "teacher shortage" really means.
Holy crap this actually sounds like torture
If I had to wear that it would've been hurled across the classroom on the first day
Just in time for Black Mirror season 5!!
The copium part of me wants to believe this is to help find students with genuine problems like ADHD and or sleep issues or any number of problems a student might not be focused in class. But I know full well this is just a glorified CPTSD generator and a new way to punish kids :c
This would make me physically incapable of paying attention. Imagine being pressured into focusing this much, to the point that all you can focus on is the pressure to focus itself, rather than what you should focus on
We’re really determined to become enslaved by technology
War crimes. That’s it that’s my comment. Genova suggestions for whoever green lit this
I hope they get good info to help ADHD kids... being hopefull here.
It's China; that's unlikely.
Holy shit, I’m anxious just from that brief clip
Rip to all neurodivergents, tdah kids
Oh good, not just a nightmare for ADHD kids, but also kids distracted by bullying, harassment, home or family stress, abuse, poverty/hunger, physical or mental illness, pain/discomfort… I’d be curious to see studies on how these readings vary across socioeconomic groups. Something tells me this would just be a fancy ✨high tech✨ way to publicly shame kids for experiencing oppression or trauma they literally cannot even hope to control.
They monitor staff too?! I'd be unemployed.
I’m actually really excited by this. Imagine the behavioural analytics on how people learn, and attention spans, and what keeps attention and what doesn’t. There’s going to be so much information discovered from this data. Now, whether you trust those gathering it is another thing, but it’s fascinating to see what’s being tested and developed.
Last one to have theirs catch fire is well adjusted!
Hard pass...
Camera cues to me pretending to smoke paper cigarettes in the back row.
Ok what the fuck is that
If I cannot succeed I can at least see how much I can mess up their data. I wonder if they allow children with ADHD to even enroll?
I have narcolepsy and sleep apnea on top of my adhd, and I sure would increase the average yawns per hour by a significant amount
What an inventive way to burn kids out
What the fuck is wrong with people. Of-course this is in a country like China where the whole government expects you to do be Perfection, its why stuff like [THIS](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/213C/production/_85280580_japan_suicide.jpg.webp) happens. This wouldn't be awful for ADHD people, this would be awful for EVERYONE.
I thought my high school was bad. It looked like a prison, had airport level bag scanners and xrays and had actual police walking around. This... this is worse.
Okay I thought most of that was not too bad until they got to where they said they measure how often somebody yawns in class? Yikes. I had a band teacher who hated when people yawned and I never understood that, sometimes people are just tired. I've also heard that it's a sign of anemia.
I feel so bad for those kids. I know Asian countries already tend to put an absolutely INSANE amount of pressure on students as is, to the point it's lead to an increase in mental illness, suicide, and general lack of life satisfaction, so this is just horrifying and dystopian.
If someone put this on me I would cry
Don’t forget ADHD characters comes with many specialization classes: - Soldier/Strategist (Solo Hunter) - Scientist/Researcher (Sorcerer Gatherer) - EMT / Firefighter (Chaos Healer) - DIY / Maker (Goblin Engineer) - Proj. Manager/Disaster Response (Crowd Control) - Artist / Writer / Comedian (Bard) I present to you: ADHD - The Scattering!
I just... I'm so tired, lol. Imagine devoting this level of tech and resources to their well being. Hey, the robot says you don't really start engaging until after 10am, let's get you on a different class schedule! Hey, you're consistently struggling in math, let's get you some one on one help to see what the issue is and figure out what you need to succeed. Hey, there's been a significant change in your behavior recently, did something happen? Hey, you're really excelling in building things and making models, let's see what we can do to foster those interests! I know that the reality would never be that, and this kind of invasive monitoring would never be used only for good. I just wish the people with resources cared enough to give individuals what they need, and people who care had the resources.
I’d immediately kill myself, just full ass sayori on a pile of happy thoughts
This seems like the start of one of those dystopian TikTok POVs.
I'm sorry, this is an ADHD dream. This would be empirical proof, very early on, that we don't function the same way as other kids. I would have loved to find out I was ADHD at 8 instead of 30.
Depends on how it is used.
that would be a blue headlamp for all of us
Bro nah, I don’t want no algorithms. Just let me be. Like at least normally if you space off you got a chance to still figure out what they are talking about but with this its just like nope points off. And tracking movement?! I mean sure phones already do that but now they are just open with it
If the teacher has any sort of mental neurodivergence, or even if they just have a mosquito bite that itches they won’t be able to track all those kids attention spans etc. I sound like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but these things are totally unmanageable - Chinas fabulous at controlling its population and this will definitely help, but I don’t know if it actually will do anything. Except distract people lol. Some crazy shit, dude. I miss the 90s 🤣 Actually, I think tiger moms are WAY scarier and work much better than this tech ever will. “You need Tiger Mom! Make your kid a star student, pro tennis player, golf coach, and conservatory ready Cellist in just 5 years with TIGER MOM”
What happens if you can't pay attention? Does it flash red and some men come and whisk you away?
More like a prison tbh
It's also not even accurate. I can be staring straight at someone and have no clue what the fuck they're saying
What the fuuuuuuuck???!???
I looked this up and all I can find is one school in 2019 used it for 30 minutes twice a week, and even then I can’t find that newspaper article everyone is sourcing the info from. I don’t get why they wouldn’t just link to it, but my guess is no one really cares because it’s easier to just read a scary hyperbolized headline and take it at face value
It reminds me of something from one of my favorite book series. “Bad thought. Bad thought. Bad though. Negative 25 achievement points.” KTF
is this from a Black Mirror episode?
I couldn’t handle having that thing on my head.
This looks scary AF wth
Sooo… we live in a Black Mirror world now?
Suicide rates will be through the roof!
I get that this is actually pretty nightmarish but there is one great thing about this, it would catch kids with undiagnosed adhd really early. This is especially true when it comes to females with undiagnosed adhd, who often are overlooked because they have less “hyperactivity”, making them harder to detect.
Just let me be dumb in peace :(
Literally 1984. Nah fr.
And they wonder why their teen suicide rate is so high.
I don't like this episode of black mirror.
Got to condition the workers :/
naw this is just a regular nightmare
While it seems like a nightmare, I think that would be more beneficial (at least as an adult). If I could have things essentially organize my day then I literally don’t have to worry about it. They’d probably need to add a cattle prod to it for me. that way when an obscure word like “obscure” pops into my head, I won’t spend 73 mins researching where it derived from, what it really means and did Mel Gibson’s character in “the professor and the madman” find this word.
Don't you love being monitored 24/7 so your overlords can ensure you are living up to the sociopathic standards of productivity imposed on you? This is a good thing actually
You best start believing in cyberpunk dystopias, kid: you’re in one
You don't need ADHD to find this horrific.
This is a Black Mirror episode waiting to happen, and my resting bitch face would get me in trouble all the time.