Life Hack

[untonuggan]

Problem: hypervigilance has ramped WAY up this past year. When my phone makes noise or the doorbell rings, I go through the roof and it takes way too long to scrape me off the ceiling. (Or to use perhaps a more apt metaphor, coax me back out from underneath the metaphorical sofa where I'm hiding with the cats.)

Life Hack: I changed all the alerts on my phone to bird noises. I picked non-native bird species, because lbr the corvids in my yard alone can be Quite Loud. But if my alert noise is a loon, my brain does not immediately go DUCK AND COVER.

Hopefully at some point I can live in a place where I have control over the doorbell, and we can either "accidentally" break it or replace the noise with something that does not also set off my startle response.

I offer this most excellent life hack to you, dear friends, because I know I can't be the only Autistic person with PTSD who would like to spend less time feeling like a cat with a floofed out tail.

Also, if my brain eventually decides that the phone noises I picked equal danger, there's actually a WHOLE HOST of nature sounds I can use instead of ring tones. BRILLIANT.

Comments

[jelazakazone]

Yay for awesome life hacks! I just never have the sound on my phone. It only vibrates, which means I do miss alerts sometimes, but better that than the annoyance of being startled and distracted. <3

[ironed_orchid]

I changed my morning alarm to this song which starts with birds, crickets, and humming, and it was the best decision ever.

[lilacsigil]

if my alert noise is a loon, my brain does not immediately go DUCK AND COVER

Good, good, your brain knows that "loon and relax" is a totally different thing!

[alatefeline]

Heh. I know just the feel you mention.

I deliberately don't set pleasant non-bell sounds for ring tones, because I start associating the pleasant sounds with startlement and danger! A low pitched chime or bell is my compromise. But I should work on the Phone Thing again soon, sigh. It takes a lot of work to keep that one pruned back to the point where I can function readily with a phone when I actually ought to.

[lilysea]

That's really smart, thank you! ^_^

[nilchance]

Those are some good, good life hacks. I've been having a rough bout of hypervigilance myself, and so I find them really helpful. Thanks!

[dragonyphoenix]

That's an excellent idea!

[alasse_irena]

I am not an autistic person with PTSD, but I am a person who panics every time their phone goes off, and I appreciate this lifehack very much.

[jazzyjj]

Here's one for VoiceOver users on the autism spectrum: there is a setting called Audio Ducking, which lowers the volume of other sounds so that VoiceOver's speech can be easily heard. This is available on iOS and Mac OS, but I don't know about Android or any other mobile devices. I am not autistic, nor do I have panic attacks or anything like that. But I've tried out this setting on both my Apple devices, and it works great. I only got my iPhone last year, but am super impressed with it. The main reason I got it is the talking caller ID, but I've set up different ring tones for people in my contacts as well.