My son has been into Pokemon since he was 6 or 7 years old. He’s 21 now and he’s having a ball with Pokemon Go, the augmented reality game that has taken over the digital world in the past few weeks.
If you haven’t played the game, the basic premise is that it uses GPS to track your location, aligns the virtual world of the game with your real world surroundings, and then sends you to real places nearby in order to hunt and capture Pokemon. The goal is to travel around your local area and catch as many of these monsters as you can.
When my son showed me how it works, and I started it playing some, it occurred to me that the game’s objective and structure is a perfect representation of what living with ADD is like.
Similar to the game where the player moves from location to location quickly in order to catch more Pokemon, my ADD brain is always jumping from task to task like rapid fire. My mind is constantly racing around in a million different directions, much like players are being pulled all over the place to catch different creatures in spread out locations.
Pokemon Go also captures the ADD feeling of always having to be constantly doing something. After catching one Pokemon, you’re not satisfied. You’re always looking to go to the next exciting place, to catch even more Pokemon and make it to the next level. This insatiable feeling is something people like myself with attention deficit disorder, feel every day. In my personal and professional life I am constantly looking for new opportunities or problems to solve. Once I complete a task, I’m immediately thinking about what I will do next. I am always looking to go somewhere new and do something exciting.
I encourage those without ADD to give Pokemon Go a try, it may provide some insight into what daily life with ADD is like. To those who do have ADD - if you can relate to this, or have played the game and had a similar experience, I would love to hear your thoughts! Come over to my Facebook page and let’s discuss.