What is Reddit's opinion of StayOnTask?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Adding another suggestion, StayOnTask is an Android app which randomly toggles an alarm between a set interval. You are then to mark whether you were on or off task, increasing or decreasing the time until the next alarm. Can be annoying at first but is surprisingly effective...

I know this one!! StayOnTask for android is in Google Play.

I used it during school and found it super helpful until I developed an immunity (aka, so overwhelmed that I mismanaged alarms and automatically ignored/snoozed all of them).

One of my apps I'm trying to make into my best friend is called StayOnTask (Google Play). It's great on days I remember to turn it on before I sit down and spend 3 hours (or however long until it dies) playing on phone.

It basically pings you anywhere between 3-30 minutes asking if you're working, you say yes or no, and it either goes "Good for you!" or "Get back to work!" Great for me (when I remember to turn it on) since a lot of my zoning out and time loss comes from becoming a phone zombie.

One way to remember to set alarms is to do it all the time, every day - not just when you need it the most. It becomes a habit.

I have both regular (every 2 hours) and irregular (much more often) alarms going off just in case I've lost focus or started hyperfocusing, and need a reminder to switch or get back on task.

I recommend the app StayOnTask for irregular reminders if you're using Android devices.

This is great when I work from home, but I must admit I often switch this whole system off when I'm with other people - I'm afraid they will start wondering why I'm checking my phone so often.

I remembered StayOnTask, an android app, for another thread and now I can't stop recommending it! Similar to the talking clock, it helps pull you back in if you get lost in thought. It randomly sets off an alarm to ask if you're on task. I don't know if there's an iphone version.

Any pomodoro app.

In the end, despite all the management apps available, I always fall back on the simplicity of making lists and schedules on paper or in simple text documents :)

As someone who has not made it through a similar experience, but who (I like to think) learned from being ground to a nub...

1. Routine: Graduate school can ask for your time around the clock -- if you don't set boundaries on when you work and play, you're going to start resenting working. That is not going to make it easier to get yourself to work effectively.

2. Consulting with peers / instructors. Either find someone you trust who can consult with you on how to approach assignments, or find someone you can trust to help you find someone to consult with. For instance, if I could go back in time and help my younger self, I'd approach my advisor and say, "A lot of these assignments demand more organization and long-term planning than young me has had experience with; could you help us identify someone in the lab or in the program who is experienced, genuinely helpful (i.e., unlikely to resent the imposition or blow off the responsibility), who I could ask for help on these assignments?" I also learn from examples -- if that is true for you as well, you might ask peers or past students (depending on your access) for examples to work off of.

3. Awareness of time. There are a lot of ways you can do this, and you'll probably want to switch it up so it doesn't lose effect. There are ways you can get your computer to say the time aloud to you at whatever interval you like (though it can get a little laggy if your computer is running a lot of stuff -- if you have a PC and are interested I can try to post more), you can use TimeTimers which show time visually, you can use apps like StayOnTask (which will ring a bell randomly within a specified window, and you tell it if you were on task or not -- so you have to be able to hit a button when it goes off), or Clockwork Tomato, which is a pomodoro timer, but customizable enough that you can set it to go off every 15 minutes, with a different bell for the top of the hour, the bottom of the hour, and then a third bell for 15/45 after. Basically, check in with time, and each time you do, ask yourself "am I going on a tangent? can I leave this as is and rough out the next thing?"

The most important of those three, in my opinion, is consulting. I hate the idea of it, so if that's your reaction, you're not alone. But in retrospect, it would have been so helpful. For me, it would just be "How do you do this? How did you approach this? Do you have an example of this I can look at? I'm stuck at this, how do I proceed?" All the successful graduate students I know developed early habits of consulting with more advanced students. I did not, and it was a huge mistake.

Preemptive TL;DR

1. Don't discount medications without first considering them.
2. Study yourself to understand what is going wrong, and why. (For instance, you make small mistakes. Why? Did you forget to check the instructions? Use a timer or app (e.g., StayonTask for Android phones) to remind you to check them often. Were they given verbally and you forgot them? Have the teacher write them down, or write them yourself and have them confirm them, so you don't have to remember them.)
3. Get the help of any and all supportive adults that you can find. There will be some that will not help you, and that may shame or misunderstand you. However, I strongly encourage you to reach out anyways, because there are probably more of them willing to help than you might realize, even if some will be assholes. Don't just stick to those that reached out to you. Approach those that you have a good feeling about, too. (People to consider: Teachers, school psychologists, parents/caregivers, extended family, friends of the family, sports coaches.)
4. Some of your support network may provide just encouragement and emotional support (e.g., an Aunt who lives two states away). For others who want to help, but don't know how, provide them with Dr. Barkley's resources. Dr. Barkley describes very clear solutions in some of his lectures and fact sheets -- many of these are free (look for links in the bottom-most section). He also has written some good books on ADHD management.

More on medications

Only you can decide if medication is the right choice for you, but I would at least suggest giving it a try. Especially if you relate to any of Dr. Barkey's lectures on ADHD. I respect his work a lot, and he strongly recommends medication for most individuals with ADHD, as it helps normalize your brain functioning.

You might think of it being like wearing a brace if your left knee can't stay in its socket. The brace helps you walk better. You could deal with it by just hopping on your right leg, sure. But no amount of trying hard will change the fact that without some kind of brace, you're not going to be able to use your left leg. Of course, if you can find a job where you don't have to walk or use your left leg much (or at all), you can be perfectly fine, and avoid the chafing, soreness, and cost of wearing a brace! Or, say you can't wear a brace because of some kind of disorder (like you bruise easy when pressure is on your skin or something). You can still set up other things to help you function, such as getting crutches, or installing rails wherever you need to go so you can lean on them/swing forward on them with your arms.

That is the view of medication I've gotten from him. Medications are supposed to help you use your brain the way that neurotypical people often do, in order to accomplish the tasks that we're expected to do in society. Some people find lifestyles or jobs that allow them to function well without medication, and others can't take medication for one reason or another. Still others don't want to because some of the side effects (though there are many different medications, and some have fewer/different side effects... though it is possible they won't work as well, either). All of that is absolutely fine. It usually requires setting up other alternative support structures (and can be difficult), but it is worth it and necessary for some individuals. And then others of us need the meds (the metaphorical brace), because we need or want to metaphorically walk a lot, and the chafing and discomfort of the brace is worth it and something we are able to tolerate.

That said, the meds aren't going to do all of the work; they get your brain on board, but they don't create skills. The person with a knee brace who wants to be a dancer still has to learn the movements. However, they needed the brace to be able to do the movements in the first place.

More on the other stuff

I would also suggest you check out some of Dr. Barkley's work. He has an insane amount of information that he freely provides online. I just found out that in addition to several hours of ADHD lectures, he also has fact sheets! You might try checking out his factsheet on school accommodations. It is written for teachers/parents, but it might give you ideas for yourself.

Basically, I recommend studying yourself and your diagnoses as your first response. That, and/or soliciting help from a supportive adult to either implement some of these suggests (e.g., reinforcement schedules), or to help pay for someone to work with you on identifying whatever problems you're facing, and implementing solutions. You might consider going to the school counselor or school psychologist on staff and letting them know about your diagnoses (if they don't already), and asking for their help with educating your teachers about what you need from them in order to better succeed in the classroom. For instance, Dr. Barkley suggests that if they give you long-winded instructions, it's not going to do much good. They should write them out so you can refer back to them, and make them short and clear.

For yourself, you might take notes on what the instructions are, have the teacher confirm that you've understood them correctly, and then put that in front of you as you work on the project. Then, set a timer to buzz every 10 minutes or 20 minutes, and check in with the instructions -- are you still following them? Did you miss anything on your early steps? Where are you in the process? This is just one idea, though.

Stay on Task?

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=valavg.stayontask

Review of the app: https://www.additudemag.com/task-app-review-can-stayontask-help-add-adults/

I use the following apps :

1. StayonTask : Notifies you to stay on task you are doing. Super-useful.

2. Toastr Pro : Nifty little app but hugely useful. A toast with a custom message whenever you unlock the screen.

3. Do Now: Focused Timeboxing : A Pomodoro-based app. Clean UI.

4. Shush! : Set the time to reset silent mode in your phone. Highly recommended.

5.Rewire : Habits Tracker. Clean and minimalistic. Set notification for each habits to stay on track.

6.AcDisplay : Minimalistic lock screen with notifications. Very useful for people with ADHD who miss critical notifications.

7.Regularly : I love this app. Set reminders for tasks which you do on random days.

8.ZUI Days : This one is quite odd in the list for ADHD. But I love the way it counts the number of days, hours and seconds spent in your life.

I find these apps extremely useful as ADHD.

sem-randomized timer StayOnTask don't know an equivalent for iOS or desktop yet

 

Pomodoro Technique

written instruction

video

article stating usefulness

apps:

desktop

Chrome

browser

browser