Time Blindness Girl

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Part of a series on Viral Videos. [View Related Entries]

About

Time Blindness Girl refers to a viral video of a girl complaining that an interviewer at a prospective job refused to accommodate her "time blindness," meaning struggles with being on time, saying that accommodations for time blindness don't exist. The video was posted in July 2023 and the TikToker, @chaotic_philosopher, became the subject of criticism, with many doubting the existence of time blindness as a condition. The video also inspired parodies where other TikTokers discuss their fictional struggles with time blindness. Time blindness does exist and is a condition related to ADHD where you fail to interpret signs of time passing such as light levels, making it difficult to keep track of time.

Origin

On July 12th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @chaotic_philosopher posted a video where she complains about getting "yelled at" for asking an interviewer at a job interview if they accommodate "time blindness." The TikToker describes time blindness as having trouble being on time and explains how the manager said that accommodations for time blindness don't exist and that if she struggles to be on time, she'll never get a job. The TikToker then goes on to describe the incident as a workers right issue, saying, "I think that a culture where workers are just cut off because they struggle with being on time when there's other solutions that we can look to, I think that just anybody who thinks it's okay to just treat people like that, yeah, that culture needs to be dismantled." The video gained over 5.8 million views in two weeks (shown below).

Time blindness does exist and is a condition in some people with ADHD. Very Well Mind^[2] explains it as "a combination of the brain failing to unconsciously or passively interpret sensory input like pulse rate, light levels and temperature changes as indicators of time passing." Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials^[3] defines time blindness as "a natural consequence of hyperfocus, or becoming so engrossed in an activity that you block out everything else around you."

Spread

The TikToker became the subject of criticism and reactions over the following days. On July 13th, Twitter^[4] user @libsoftiktok reposted the video, writing, "She wants to dismantle the system which says people should be on time," garnering over 28,300 likes in two weeks. That day, TikToker^[5] @meatymollie posted a stitch to the video where she acknowledges that time blindness exists, but suggests she use alarms, garnering over 489,000 views in two weeks (shown below, left). On July 14th, TikToker^[6] @moe.0101 posted a video showcasing how the employer might interpret her complaint about time blindness, garnering over 1.6 million views in two weeks (shown below, right).

On July 15th, TikToker^[7] @chaotic_philosopher posted a video responding to the hate, saying "it's a testament of what the United States has become." She goes on to say "when we can no longer have a civil discussion about a video with very little context it makes you wonder, is there even a future for our nation? What future is there to fight for?"

When people ask me how does it feel being the time blindness girl and have everybody bashing you constantly on Twitter and Instagram, all I can say is it's a testament of what the United States has become. And we hear about algorithms, political radicalization and how the internet is influencing humans and we think, 'oh, okay.' But then it happens to you and you see how big of a problem it is. Because when we can no longer have a civil discussion about a video with very little context it makes you wonder, is there even a future for our nation? What future is there to fight for? Because arousing mass amounts of hate, judging people, making mass assumptions and being stuck in a cognitive loop without even knowing it and then doing exactly what the algorithms want is seen as normal. But you know what? It doesn't have to be.

On July 18th, Ben Shapiro posted a video to YouTube^[12] reacting to the time blindness video, remarking that she needs to use a clock, garnering over 1.5 million views in 10 days (shown below).

Later that day, TikToker^[8] @tiktakmatoney posted a video captioned, "I don't think I've ever seen America be as united as they have been against this 'time blindness' girl," garnering over 5.1 million views in 10 days (shown below, left). On July 19th, TikToker^[9] @trevvvvor posted a parody video explaining how he was fired from Domino's for having time blindness, garnering over 888,000 views in a week (shown below, right).

On the same day, YouTuber^[10] greenisnotnick posted a video about the situation, discussing the backlash to the TikToker, how it was overblown and defending her symptoms as someone who also has ADHD, while also suggesting she needs to learn how to better manage her symptoms, garnering over 548,000 views in a week (shown below). On July 27th, the Toronto Star^[11] reported on the video.