Sluggish

Could the theory of monotropism help explain ADHD? What about executive dysfunction, or my Bipolar 2 misdiagnosis, or OCD? Can you trick yourself into a flow state? Is rumination just flow, but evil?? All this and more in conversation with writer, science educator, and chair of the Autistic Mutual Aid Society Edinburgh [https://amase.org.uk/], Fergus Murray! 📝📝Transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dO9W3jyQvoIfmfHeyXxUGWfespNSshPDSyGyw3wWlYA/edit?usp=sharing] Links: * Monotropism.org [https://monotropism.org/] * Fergus’ website [https://oolong.co.uk/] * Weird Pride Day [https://weirdpride.day/] * Attention, Monotropism, and the Diagnostic Criteria for Autism [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eP6Z6lSd7DnqpaQmsU57a4bw4N65JeGj/view?usp=sharing], Murray et al 2005 * Monotropism Questionnaire pre-print [https://osf.io/g4kc9] * you can also take the Monotropism Questionnaire for funsies here [https://dlcincluded.github.io/MQ/] * Monotropism and Well-being [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLpLSPQXtV4&t=79s], Fergus’ 2023 talk at the Scottish Autism Research Group Conference * Me complaining [https://www.sluggish.xyz/p/the-politics-of-flow-and-the-experience?utm_source=publication-search] about the capitalist propaganda in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience * Towards autistic flow theory: A non-pathologising conceptual approach [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jtsb.12427], 2024 * Loops of Concern [https://medium.com/@sonnyhallett/loops-of-concern-revisited-6dc81ce09bd0] by Sonny Hallett * ‘Autism is the Arena and OCD is the Lion’: Autistic adults’ experiences of co-occurring obsessive-compulsive disorder and repetitive restricted behaviours and interests [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11497754/] 00:00 Intro / Monotropism vs Polytropism 03:26 The Monotropism Questionnaire 05:43 On Being a ‘Serial Monotropist’ 10:48 ADHD and Monotropism 15:00 Monotropism vs Executive Dysfunction 18:11 On Autistic Flow Theory 24:51 ‘Tunnels not Tasks’ 27:36 Intersubjective Flow (Flowing Together) 28:56 The Light and Dark Side of Flow 32:46 Autism and Chronic Illness 35:23 Monotropism and OCD 39:12 Weird Pride This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe [https://www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

In this episode, I chat with UX designer, leftist technologist, and creator of Irrational Technology, Lou Millar-McHugh, about the sort of questions we really need to be asking about our relationship to social media. We also talk about: why understanding is more important than control, how social media literacy could improve leftist comms strategies, the problem with screen time apps and gamification, ADHD tech beyond productivity, and why Jonathan Haidt sucks so much!! LINKS: * Irrational Technology: Substack [https://irrationaltechnology.substack.com/], TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@irrational.technology], Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/@irrational.technology] * A Leftist Guide To Staying Off Your Phone [https://lou-.notion.site/A-LEFTIST-S-GUIDE-TO-STAYING-OFF-YOUR-PHONE-126103aaf8fa8091859edea6691f514e] (Notion) * Social Media Strategy Template for Social Change Orgs [https://lou-.notion.site/Content-Plan-for-Social-Impact-Organisations-136103aaf8fa80318f66e54a67ba28bf] (Notion) * Pre-print showing screen time apps don’t work: Skeggs and Orben, Social Media Interventions to Improve Wellbeing [https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/u9wqc_v1] https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/u9wqc_v1 * Beyond the Essay: New Ways of Critical Reflection [https://networkcultures.org/goinghybrid/2023/08/20/online-critical-reflection-a-fable-from-the-past/], a project exploring how to create digital spaces that lead readers toward critical reflection * my discussion thread on ADHD technology [https://www.sluggish.xyz/p/what-is-an-adhd-technology] (add your 2 cents!) * the video essay [https://youtu.be/Vau7UojSXT0?si=6ryo34omDAa4FFdN] I made on Digital Madness * some of Lou’s excellent book recommendations [https://www.tiktok.com/@irrational.technology/video/7462779295983750432?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7306541120445564462] for further reading!!!! * transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1euJwSZwdzEwznnMVc26cr6lSQjJ21FXGGzOVqzszQAI/edit?usp=sharing] 00:00 Intro 01:22 Lou's Background and Educational Project 02:25 The Concept of Irrational Technology 04:14 Persuasive Design 06:03 Critique of Addiction Metaphors and The Anxious Generation 10:48 A Leftist Critique of Technology 12:54 User Autonomy and Social Media 15:11 How to Develop Effective Leftist Media Strategies 22:33 A Leftist Guide to Staying Off Your Phone 27:19 How Personalization in UX Design Creates an Illusion of Control 28:34 Why Screen Time Apps Don’t Work 29:44 The Problem with Gamification 32:37 ADHD Technology and the Benefits of Simplicity 37:22 Lou’s Content Creation Process 40:59 The Platforms Lou Will Be Using in 2025 47:37 Where to Find Lou’s Work This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe [https://www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

What does neuroqueering look like? What shape is time? How is executive functioning like compulsory heterosexuality?? All this and more in today’s episode featuring my dear friend Marta Rose, a queer AuDHD writer and artist who founded Divergent Design Studios, an online peer support space for neurodivergent creatives, and KR Moorhead, an AuDHD, gender non-compliant educator, author, and creative writing mentor. This fall, they’re running a 12-week course with Meg Max of Writers in Bloom called Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice, and I was curious to hear more about what neuroqueering means in their own lives. Find KR at krmoorhead.com [https://www.krmoorhead.com/] and Marta at The Spiral Lab [https://thespirallab.substack.com/]! NOTES: * Episode transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f4_B6CJB_ozEe58ioA51ozwao-TbAJUdJmgZDH3UYCc/edit?usp=sharing] * Sign up for Neuroqueering Your Creative Practice [https://www.krmoorhead.com/event-details/neuroqueering-your-creative-practice] * Join Divergent Design Studios [https://www.divergentdesignstudios.com/] * Read Neuroqueer: An Introduction [https://neuroqueer.com/neuroqueer-an-introduction/], Neuroqueer Heresies [https://neuroqueer.com/neuroqueer-heresies/], and Authoring Autism [https://www.dukeupress.edu/authoring-autism] * Download Marta’s Spiral Time ebook [https://www.martarose.com/freeresources] * Marta and I mention the concept of “curatorial journalism” in discussing how she sees herself as a connection-maker — we got this from the writer Seth Abramson. See: his writing on metamodernism [https://medium.com/@Seth_Abramson/on-metamodernism-926fdc55bd6a]and metajournalism [https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/twelve-things-you-need-to-know-about] * Adrienne Rich’s 1980 essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence [https://posgrado.unam.mx/musica/lecturas/Maus/viernes/AdrienneRichCompulsoryHeterosexuality.pdf] * The book I bring up at the end about neurodivergent writing styles is Autistic Disturbances [https://press.umich.edu/Books/A/Autistic-Disturbances2] by Julia Miele Rodas * KR’s best radical memoir rec is Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars [https://www.akpress.org/fierce-femmes-and-notorious-liars.html] by Kai Cheng Thom This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe [https://www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

I recently discovered two papers by a group of researchers who are working on establishing a field of Critical ADHD Studies, and a couple of them were down to chat with me about it! Hanna Bertilsdotter-Rosqvist is a sociologist and a professor in Social Work at Södertörn University and co-editor of the book Neurodiversity Studies, and Lill Hultman is a postdoctoral researcher at Marie Cederschiöld University and senior lecturer in social work at Södertörn University. We discuss their experiences practicing ADHD collective storytelling, the challenges of being ADHD in academia, what intensity means in their lives, and what they’re most excited to explore in ADHD research by and for ADHDers. Episode transcript [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rz34K3ab3QNxuBBEjvN2saALRoHKhwkdbnGuuN6lAvw/edit?usp=sharing] Naming Ourselves, Becoming Neurodivergent Scholars [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2023.2271155] Intensity and Variable Attention: Counter-Narrating ADHD [https://academic.oup.com/bjsw/article/53/8/3647/7181434?login=false] My sassy little Medium essay [https://jessemeadows.medium.com/we-need-critical-adhd-studies-now-52d4267edd54] More on the double empathy problem [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13623613221129123], plus the study I mention [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361320919286] about it This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe [https://www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

I had always assumed flow and hyperfocus were just different names for the same thing, but flow was framed as a superpower (Harness your flow state to achieve optimal performance!), and hyperfocus was framed as a deficit (Why can’t these autistic people stop talking about dinosaurs and get jobs??). But in the last five years, studies have begun trying to pull these concepts apart... This is an essay voice-over - you can read it @ sluggish.xyz This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe [https://www.sluggish.xyz/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]