You sit down to "quickly check something" and look up to find two hours have gone. Or you have a dentist appointment at 3pm, and the whole day disappears because you can't settle to anything until it's over.

Many autistic and ADHD adults describe time as slippery. It isn't about not caring. This article explains why it can happen and some ways to make time more visible.

What people mean by time blindness

"Time blindness" is an informal term, used a lot in ADHD and autistic communities. It describes difficulty sensing how much time has passed, how long something will take, or how far away a future event is.

It isn't a diagnosis. But difficulty with time does show up in official descriptions. The NHS lists "finding it hard to organise your time" as one of the signs of ADHD in adults (NHS).

Why it happens

Deep focus pulls you out of time

When something holds your attention, the rest of the world can fade, including the clock. One theory of autistic attention, called monotropism, suggests that many autistic people focus their attention deeply on a small number of things at a time, rather than spreading it thinly. That can make it easier to lose track of everything else, and harder to shift away (Murray, Lesser & Lawson, 2005).

Hyperfocus in ADHD can feel similar from the inside. Either way, the hours you "lose" were often hours of real focus.

Transitions take more than the time on the clock

Leaving the house isn't one step. It's stopping what you're doing, finding keys, shoes, coat and bag, and switching your head into "going out" mode. If moving attention from one thing to another takes extra effort, that switch can take longer than you planned for.

Waiting mode

Some people describe "waiting mode": when there's something later in the day, you can't start anything else in case you lose track and miss it. So you end up hours early, or with a whole day lost to one appointment. This isn't a formal term, but it's a common experience.

Ways to make time more visible

Imagine you need to catch a 9:15 train on Monday morning. Here are some ideas. Use the ones that suit you.

Explaining it to others

If people take your lateness personally, it might help to say: "I care about being on time. My sense of time just doesn't always match the clock, so I use alarms to help." You could ask friends to send a "leaving now" message, or to agree a meeting window rather than an exact minute.

If you're supporting someone, gentle time checks ("we've got 15 minutes before we leave") are often more useful than reminders after the fact.

Working with your brain, not against it

Different time perception isn't a moral failing. With a few outside tools, many people find time gets a little easier to manage. Some days will still go sideways, and that's okay.

References

  1. NHS. ADHD in adults. nhs.uk
  2. Mette, C. (2023). Time perception in adult ADHD: Findings from a decade, a review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), 3098. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043098
  3. Hupfeld, K. E., Abagis, T. R., & Shah, P. (2018). Living "in the zone": hyperfocus in adult ADHD. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders. doi.org/10.1007/s12402-018-0272-y
  4. Murray, D., Lesser, M., & Lawson, W. (2005). Attention, monotropism and the diagnostic criteria for autism. Autism, 9(2), 139–156. doi.org/10.1177/1362361305051398