This sounds ridiculous when I type it out but I've realized there is a weirdly small window between having a thought and losing it completely.

I'll be walking somewhere or doing something around the house, think of something I genuinely want to come back to and tell myself l'll write it down in a second.

Then I pull out my phone, unlock it, find the right app and somehow the thought has either disappeared or I've already moved onto something else.

Voice memos help when I remember to use them, but even that still has the phone friction.

Has anyone settled on a genuinely low-effort capture setup?

I'm less interested in building a giant second brain and more interested in the first five seconds. Get the thought out of my head immediately, then let me sort out whether it was brilliant or complete nonsense later.

I'm 17 and getting assessed for ADHD in a couple of weeks. My parents agreed to it, but they think most of my problems come from my phone. I've been told I'm just lazy and on my phone too much.

It annoys me because my mom goes to therapy and is pretty understanding of conditions like this, but she seems willfully ignorant when it comes to me. At my GP she said everything was either normal or because of my phone or eating (I have ARFID), and that she barely notices any attention issues. But at home she's constantly saying I don't do anything and forget everything, and gets mad at me for it.

Part of the problem is I'm really bad at saying this stuff because of anxiety, especially with my parents. When she said she barely notices anything, I didn't say anything back, and I couldn't get myself to bring up the rest since the doctor didn't really ask. For the assessment I plan on having a list of notes to show the doctor when my mom's not in the room.

I get why they think it's the phone. I'm on it a lot and I know it's not great.

But this started way before I had a phone. In elementary school, homework didn't get done or took forever because I was just sitting there daydreaming, even though I actually cared about it. I was always losing or forgetting things, had hygiene issues, and had tutoring in 3rd and 4th grade etc.

It's the same now. I can't make myself start things, even brushing my teeth at night. I daydream all the time, struggle to follow instructions, and everything gets done at the last minute etc.

To me the phone is where my attention goes because it's the easiest thing around, not the reason I can't focus. But whenever I try to explain that, it sounds like an excuse.

Has anyone been through this with their parents? What actually helped them get it?

And if your parent told the doctor something different from what they say at home, how did you handle that at the appointment?