Dolphining is what happens when a neurodivergent person takes a deep internal dive mid-conversation and resurfaces somewhere else entirely. From the outside, the connection is invisible. From the inside, it’s perfectly logical — you just got there faster than anyone else could follow. It’s not rudeness. It’s not randomness. It’s a monotropic mind doing what it does: tunneling deep, then breaching.
ADHD Dolphining. This happens when an ADHD person is relating to the conversation in a seemingly unrelated way because they have taken a deep dive inside and come up for air with the afterthought, leaving the rest of us confused. Most ADHD people can follow these thought processes in each other as you see in the video, but NT friends and sometimes even other neurospicy friends have trouble keeping up.
Leia Morshedi – Coach | Video | Facebook
You ever hang out with an ADHD person and you guys are talking about something normal, maybe you’re observing something around you, talking about this business or that, and then for a few minutes, everything’s completely silent, and then the ADHDer pulls out something that feels like it’s just completely random, and they’re like, “huh, I wonder if there are more African elephants than Indian elephants left in the world”, and it’s like where, where did this come from?
This is called dolphining (or porpoising).
^autistic #adhd #audhd #actuallyadhd #professorsol #unmasking #neurosp… | adhd dolphining | TikTok
I’m sure there’s a fancy scientific name for it, but I prefer to call it Dolphin Mind.
I guarantee most everyone on #TeamADHD knows this feeling.
Here’s what it looks like to NTs.
Me: What a lovely pond.
NT: Yeah, it’s nice.
Me: I’ve always wanted nunchucks.
NT: !?In reality, here’s what our Dolphin Minds do.
Me Out Loud: What a lovely pond.
Me in my Head: Oh hey, there’s a
turtle!
MimH: I LOVE Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles.
MimH: But who’s the best?
MimH: Michelangelo for sure.
NT: Yeah, it’s nice.
MOL: I’ve always wanted nunchuks.Our brains don’t wait for a response from the other person. It’s not rudeness or impatience. We can’t control it. It’s just how our brains work. So, NTs only see what breaches the surface, which is just a fraction of what’s happening.
If NTs could glimpse beneath the surface, I’m certain the onslaught of thoughts would overwhelm them. Most NTs I know seem to get overwhelmed just talking to me. They couldn’t handle the sheer volume of thinking that goes on beneath the surface.
ADHD minds are built for speed, which leads to confusion by observers. And typically we can explain how we got from Point A to Point Z, but the other person doesn’t really care. They only care about the surface thoughts because that’s all they can see.
What’s most troubling for me is that I frequently forget that nobody else can see what’s going on beneath the surface. The conversation in my head is so vivid and so real that it’s confusing FOR ME when I realize the other person doesn’t know what I’m talking about.
Your Dolphin Mind is amazing and just because NTs don’t know how to appreciate it doesn’t mean it’s not amazing and appreciated. I love your Dolphin Mind.
@3TrackMind79 on Twitter via “Twitter Thread Explains The ‘Dolphin Mind’ Of People With ADHD – Memebase – Funny Memes”
If dolphining resonates, these pages explain why. Attention tunnels. Thoughts surface. The system below maps what’s happening.
Related Pages
Dolphining is what monotropic attention looks like in conversation. The dive is the tunnel. The breach is the thought arriving mid-sentence, mid-silence, mid-somewhere-else. The patterns and pages below help map what’s happening underneath the surface.
How It Works
In Conversation
Explore the System
Further Reading
Continue Exploring
Now that you have the language, you can explore the larger Stimpunks ecosystem.
Related Patterns
Patterns explain how neurodivergent experiences connect to attention, energy, environment, and participation.
Design and Environments
Stimpunks translates patterns into practical design for classrooms, workplaces, meetings, and communities.
- Pattern Recipes
- Designing Neurodivergent Environments
- The Stimpunks Design Method
- The Neurodivergent Architecture Handbook
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Maps of the Ecosystem
If you want the bigger picture, these pages show how Stimpunks fits together.
