As a lifelong ADHD sufferer, I have a big problem with object impermanence. This means that I tend to jump into technology and new things, but that they don’t last very long for me. I can buy something and use it for a couple months, and then it just doesn’t hold any draw for me. Everything from VR headsets right down to headphones. I legit have a bag of headphones that are all perfectly fine, they’re just simply not the ‘it’ things for me anymore.

That was a big consideration when trying to choose a Pi Project. It had to be interesting, useful, and have the ability to hold a longer lifespan. This made the Magic Mirror project the best option because it is something that (most) people use daily (a mirror), but also provide information that I consume daily, namely the news, and weather.

To get started I did some research to figure out the basics. The project required a raspberry pi, a display of some sort (e-ink, traditional LCD, etc…), a piece of one-way mirror, a camera or motion sensor to allow the software to detect motion and turn the display on and off, and a housing for the components. I already owned most of the pieces due to having a large stash of things that no longer interest me, and the raspberry pi kit from the library made it complete.

The main resource I used for this project was the MagicMirror2 website. I attempted to use the alternative OS options that they offered but was unable to get these to work due to their outdated nature as well as various quirks within the raspberry pi itself. My biggest problem when using the Raspberry Pi OS was not being able to get the npm.js module installed. I eventually was able to work around this by using the included feature installer in Pi OS to get npm.js installed as it would not work when installing various versions of node.js.

Once I had it running, and configured the software to automatically turn on and off, as well as show local weather and new from my preferred sources, the mirror got mounted and served two purposes: 1. be a mirror. and 2. be an unobtrusive source of the information I find myself looking for throughout every day. I even configured it to include email subjects.

I love that this allows me access to the information while still being a practical item in a mirror. It also was placed in a place that I pass by throughout my day at home, so it fits into my life without standing out or requiring attention. I only have to look at it when I want to, and since I’m passing by it makes it easy to digest simple solutions within 60 seconds. I would ultimately recommend this project to anyone with ADHD for the ability to help overcome some of the challenges presented by this disorder and to help give purpose to some of the things that tend to just get stashed away when they outlive an attention span.


0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Avatar placeholder

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

css.php