Show notes
Why can you spend hours doomscrolling, but still feel completely unable to reply to a text or pay a bill?In Episode 62 of AuDHD for Grownups: F Them Fish, hosts Callie Elward-Barrett and Jayne Gurton unpack digital overwhelm through an adult ADHD and autism lens. They dive deep into the swing between compulsive tech use and total tech avoidance, the crushing shame of ghosting people you love, dopamine traps, sensory regulation, and why willpower is a terrible strategy for neurodivergent digital wellbeing.The Quick Takeaway: Your inability to manage your phone isn't a moral failure or a lack of discipline. It is a capacity, sensory, and executive functioning bottleneck.Overwhelmed by adulting? Get practical tools and executive functioning support at Callie’s website: executivefunctioning.com.au. Timestamps00:35 Welcome to F Them Fish and navigating a neurodivergent adult world03:05 90s parenting style, random physical injuries, and yoga attempts09:49 Women Unlimited, public speaking jitters, and a classic AuDHD cheese side quest17:17 Jayne’s Confession: The shame when digital burnout turns into missed texts, bills, and birthdays21:00 Why you aren't actually failing at tech, you’re just measuring by neurotypical metrics25:30 Debunking the Goldfish: Why the viral 8-second attention span claim is total fiction (and how attention actually works)30:50 All-or-Nothing Doomscrolling: Is your phone use an addiction, or are you desperately seeking dopamine and sensory regulation?36:28 Why neurodivergent brains and young people are uniquely vulnerable to social media traps41:46 Neurodivergent Kids & Screen Time: Balancing parental anxiety with active sensory regulation needs43:13 A breakdown of the American Academy of Pediatrics framework for managing screens51:01 How repeated exposure to algorithm feeds silently shapes your mood and beliefs56:46 A raw look at parenting, social media, and Australia’s under-16 platform restrictions1:01:00 How gaming loops exploit executive dysfunction1:03:02 How Callie uses AppBlock and tactical boundaries to trick her brain out of tech loops1:08:25 Practical strategies and mapping what you actually want from tech1:09:48 How to rebuild your relationship with tech safely after autism/ADHD burnout1:11:52 Outro & Epilogue: An unfortunate linguistic discovery Resources Tech Boundary: AppBlock App (Callie’s tool recommendation - completely unsponsored)Screen Framework: AAP’s 5 Cs of Media Use GuideGlobal Tech Report: WHO Report: Teens, Screens and Mental HealthPolicy Context: eSafety Commissioner: Australia’s Social Media Age RestrictionsSupport & ConnectIf you love our messy, honest conversations about adult neurodivergence, please take 5 seconds to Follow or Subscribe on this app and leave us a 5-star review! It directly helps other AuDHD adults find our community.Find us on YouTube and Instagram at AuDHD for Grownups: F Them FishCallie's Website: https://executivefunctioning.com.au/LinkedIn: Callie: www.linkedin.com/in/callie-elward-barrett-263068142 Jayne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayne-gurton-Disclaimer: This is a lived-experience conversation, not medical, psychological, psychiatric, or professional parenting advice.Acknowledgment: This podcast was created on the lands of the Ngunnawal, Wadawurrung, and Dja Dja Wurrung Peoples. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
