Many of those with ADHD struggle with something called “time blindness.” It is an executive dysfunction where a person struggles to comprehend the passage of time. We have written about time blindness in the past and encourage you to review those articles for more information.
Recently, Trevor Noah, the former host of The Daily Show and an individual who has been very public about his own ADHD, explained the concept of time blindness in a very unique way on his podcast.
You can listen to the entire podcast here:
However, this part especially stuck out:
“For the ADHD Brain, there are only two modes. There is now, and there is not now”
… So, someone says to me at 5pm, ‘Dinner’s at 8’ and all I’ve heard is that ‘dinner is not now’…”
It is a great explanation for how someone can know, cognitively, that time exists, but only process whether the thing they’re worrying about is “now” or “not now.”