I see a lot of people blaming tiktok and “brain rot” content for the increasing ADHD diagnoses, but I think its a matter of better detection, similar to how OCD and autism diagnosis have increased too.
Also as someone with ADHD, it feels like shit that it could be “my fault” or that I have brainrot.
It’s probably better detection.
As for internet brain rot, I suspect that’s due to the idolization of swiftly delivered entertainment over everything else.
People don’t read anymore because it takes time and effort to get into the book. It takes commitment and thought. People would rather have entertainment fed to us in thousands of smaller doses. Get those micro dopamine hits with each swipe of your phone.
I suspect it’s also a form of escapism. The world is turning to shit and TikTok brain rot works much in the same way as abusing drugs.
actual diagnoses are likely due to better detection, self diagnoses are likely due to the Internet.
Ironically, the algorithm pushing adhd content to my boyfriend is what made him actually realize that that’s what he probably has. He just thought everyone felt the way he always has, but were better at handling their life than he was. (There might be a serious low self-esteem problem mixed in there too.)
Humans are the product of their environment, and the younger you are, the more affected you will be.
If I put you in the rain forest with animals and plants and shamans, you would absolutely start to calm down and start to listen to people and become much calmer with time. Since the entire energy of the place is calm.
But if you sit in front of phones and computers on social media, where you have this constant energy of consuming content you forget a day later, your brain will start to be unable to think and focus after a while. It will feel stressful to listen to someone who talks even, because it’s not fast enough.
I don’t believe that ADHD can be developed but at the same time TikTok is literally engineered to prey on the symptoms of it.
Sort of like how we didn’t start noticing that some kids had attention disorders until we shoved them in a seat in a classroom for 9 hours a day, we didn’t start noticing that a lot more kids had the same issues when we gave them a bright, shiny, feature-rich and constantly updating video app for them to use.
The average age for women to be diagnosed with ADHD used to be 44 years old. It is declining due to better diagnosis tools.
A criteria for ADHD is hyperactivity. But 25% of children exhibit hyperactivity regardless of whether or not they have ADHD. This led to a lot of misdiagnosis.
ADHD untreated can result in it being harder to treat. The brain falls behind in it’s development of the frontal lobe. Early treatment in the form of psychoeducation and sometimes medication, reduces ADHD problems later in life. In some cases to the point of no longer needing the addition of medication.
While it isn’t possible to develop ADHD, the enviroment can greatly impact the brain’s development throughout childhood and adolesence. Influencing the severity of ADHD.
it may not be an actual chemical imbalance, but fuck me if 40 different doomscrolling apps won’t fuck up your focus and concentration. probably needs a new name, but it’s very clear we can’t pay attention to shit anymore, bombarded with 10 second videos, memes, etc every minute, always on our phones. even if you’re not ADHD diagnosed, you see and feel the effects due to this nature.
I had ADHD a full 20 years before tiktok was invented
I was fourteen when I first got unlimited internet access.
ADHD is something you’re born with.
People are looking for it more than they used to. NOBODY was looking for it when I was young. I was probably in high school when I first heard of ADD. (They hadn’t added the H yet) and the general understanding was that ADD = a spastic kid that can’t sit still and makes too much noise, and that medication just sedated them to the point of complacency.
I was quiet, and liked to read, so when my third and forth grade teachers said that they were concerned about my ability to pay attention, my mom got offended that they would imply there was something wrong with her smart boy.
I wonder how my life might be different if she had listened to them instead of letting me figure it out on my own 30 years later.
This was me as well. Literally hiding other books inside school books in 4th grade because the class reading went way to slow. Didn’t realize myself until I was 26. Would have been great to learn earlier and maybe avoid the college burnout
This is almost the story of my boyfriend’s childhood.
“My son don’t need any drugs!”
Now he’s over 40 and finally putting all the pieces together. But not before going tens of thousands of dollars into debt, which is forcing him to keep a job he hates so that he can pay rent. Have I mentioned the daily panic attacks and constant stress on his body?
But he still hasn’t seen anyone to get a proper diagnosis because “I am barely making it right now, but seeing someone is something I can’t handle right now. Seeing someone might make it worse, and I’ll just go further into debt.”
So here we are. Quickly dying, and not fixing it.
“The quiet girl who is clearly not stupid and reads A LOT but has trouble organising herself will be fine, she’ll be able to sort herself out, especially with the help of her parents who are both teachers - no cause for concern here, there are kids who very obviously need more help.”
- my teachers, probably, in the late 80s and 90s.
I don’t exactly blame them, there really were kids who needed all their attention so I fell through the cracks.
If you test more, you detect more.
I don’t think you can become ADHD. You’re either born with it or not.
You can’t cause ADHD, you can’t prevent ADHD; it’s genetic. It’s not a result of patterns of thought, or video games, or television. You don’t have to ‘train’ your child’s attention span, nor can you destroy it.
People with adhd are naturally drawn to high-stimulation activities, so people associate the two - but that’s like saying that smoke burns the toast.
Do you have a source on it being purely 100% genetic? Because my understanding is that environment is a huge predisposing factor.
both? i was diagnosed super young, and by the time i got to college some people around me spent so much time on their phones or dodged so much homework it made me feel i was on a more even playing field lol
Yes
or “tiktok”?
I have ADHD. I have never used tiktok.
Case proven? :)
I avoid it out of self preservation
Same. It just screams “feed me ALL your time!”
Have you tried screen maxing?
What’s that?
Have you been formally diagnosed by a psychiatrist or other qualified healthcare professional?
Undoubtedly ADHD (especially ADD variant) went underreported for a very long time as until only relatively recently we’d have blamed its symptoms on other things. The increase in people being diagnosed is real.
But it needs to be done by a qualified professional because some ADHD symptoms overlap with other neurodiversity or other conditions. So a portion of self diagnosed people will, in fact, not have ADHD but something else.
Have you been formally diagnosed by a psychiatrist or other qualified healthcare professional?
Would you ask that to someone who told you they have cancer?
If people claimed to have cancer without a diagnosis by a medical professional as often as people claim to have neurodivergence then I would ask them if their cancer diagnosis was from a medical doctor.
If they were worried that TikTok gave it to them then yes.
Just like video games don’t make someone a school shooter, tiktok does not make people have ADHD. Both can exacerbate existing problems and people need to be aware of this and look at WHY kids in particular seem to spend a lot of time gaming / scrolling brainless videos. But the causes are more complex and inconvenient so society jumps on easy answers.
