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Talking about ADHD is a form of humble bragging as young people that have been diagnosed with ADHD (regardless of whether or not they have it) can use that labe

Talking about ADHD is a form of humble bragging as young people that have been diagnosed with ADHD (regardless of whether or not they have it) can use that label to explain away personal quirks and lower academic performance while having a prescription for performance enhancing medication. ADHD is a popular topic for discussion because the US educational system is very achievement focused and students (and a lot of parents probably) want to have a special edge as well as a convenient excuse.

nottorp 6y ago
Interesting since the real competitive schools are in Asia. Do they talk a lot about ADHD over there, I wonder?
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  What "real competitive schools" are you talking about and why are they the real ones?
  - nottorp 6y ago
    Here's a scientific-ish article. https://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/vol2no1/setsuo.html https://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/vol2no1/setsuo.html Found it by googling, you can get hundreds of pieces to read about the asian (or at least japanese/chinese) school system.
    - CyberDildonics 6y ago
      That looks like broad assumptions about "culture" combined with total abuse of statistics that conflate children of immigrants from non-english speaking countries with 'east asian culture'. I'm not going to read through a bunch of cliches to see if there might be something that actually backs up what you're saying in there. There was no indication from what you linked that 'the real competitive schools' are in asia.
      - nottorp 6y ago
        Do your own research, there are thousands of pieces about Asian schooling around. Or stay in your bubble.
        CyberDildonics 6y ago
        I did my own research and came to the conclusion that what you said is a cliche that is not based in reality. If you make a claim, don't tell someone to "do their own research" instead of backing it up. I'm not going to go on a wild chase to find something that backs up your nonsense when you can't be bothered to source something yourself.
jacoblambda 6y ago
I'll preface that I've been diagnosed with ADHD and I know a decent number of other people with it. Additionally, I'm in my mid 20s so I was a student somewhat recently as well. ADHD isn't about bragging, it isn't a way to excuse personal failing, and it isn't a clever ploy to get access to some edge that puts you at an advantage against the rest of your peers. People without ADHD like to joke about how great Adderall and other ADHD drugs are and how "lucky" we are to have them like they are an advantage. I don't like taking my medication and it's basically a choice for me whether I want to be productive or be a person. I struggle to stay focused/directed on tasks regardless of whether I enjoy them or not if I don't take my medication. However if I do take it I essentially lose all creativity and ability to innovate. I basically become a drone. For me it's a careful juggling of what I need to do in a day and how much I can "get away with" my inability to focus on a task in exchange for being able to multi-task and/or solve problems creatively. I've tried all kinds of time management and focus improvement systems/habits. They work to an extent but as soon as there is some kind of "disturbance" in my environment, the efforts might as well be for naught and it'll be an hour or so detour unless I had taken my medication that day. On top of this context switching is effectively impossible for me with or without medication. If I'm changing what I'm doing it'll be a minimum of at least 4 hours before I'm even slightly productive. I can only work on one project at a time because of this. As a student this nearly killed me time and time again. You can't manage 5-7 classes with entirely different subjects if it takes you half a day to properly switch your focus and be able to focus. Additionally there's the constant burnout and depression like symptoms on top of the focus and context switching issues which only add to the difficulty of being a functional human being. People don't realise that these are symptoms of ADHD but they are. When I end up burnt out due to stress or overwork it becomes effectively permanent. The last time I ended up burnt out in University I took an entire semester off (~9 months) and even after I returned it hadn't recovered. During that period I was constantly exhausted and every task took far longer than expected and I struggled far more than I reasonably should have. Now I have to carefully balance my life because if I end up stressed from work for too long I can barely function and my productivity effectively drops to 0 for months at a time. I could write pages going into the other ADHD derived issues I face but they are rather personal and I've already written enough as is so I'll leave it at that. Trust me when I say that we aren't happy we have ADHD and we aren't using it to brag or get an advantage. I hate my medication but it's the only thing that brings me even remotely close to being on an even footing with my peers.

nottorp 6y ago

Interesting since the real competitive schools are in Asia. Do they talk a lot about ADHD over there, I wonder?

CyberDildonics 6y ago
What "real competitive schools" are you talking about and why are they the real ones?
- nottorp 6y ago
  Here's a scientific-ish article. https://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/vol2no1/setsuo.html https://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/vol2no1/setsuo.html Found it by googling, you can get hundreds of pieces to read about the asian (or at least japanese/chinese) school system.
  - CyberDildonics 6y ago
    That looks like broad assumptions about "culture" combined with total abuse of statistics that conflate children of immigrants from non-english speaking countries with 'east asian culture'. I'm not going to read through a bunch of cliches to see if there might be something that actually backs up what you're saying in there. There was no indication from what you linked that 'the real competitive schools' are in asia.
    - nottorp 6y ago
      Do your own research, there are thousands of pieces about Asian schooling around. Or stay in your bubble.
      - CyberDildonics 6y ago
        I did my own research and came to the conclusion that what you said is a cliche that is not based in reality. If you make a claim, don't tell someone to "do their own research" instead of backing it up. I'm not going to go on a wild chase to find something that backs up your nonsense when you can't be bothered to source something yourself.

jacoblambda 6y ago

I'll preface that I've been diagnosed with ADHD and I know a decent number of other people with it. Additionally, I'm in my mid 20s so I was a student somewhat recently as well. ADHD isn't about bragging, it isn't a way to excuse personal failing, and it isn't a clever ploy to get access to some edge that puts you at an advantage against the rest of your peers. People without ADHD like to joke about how great Adderall and other ADHD drugs are and how "lucky" we are to have them like they are an advantage. I don't like taking my medication and it's basically a choice for me whether I want to be productive or be a person. I struggle to stay focused/directed on tasks regardless of whether I enjoy them or not if I don't take my medication. However if I do take it I essentially lose all creativity and ability to innovate. I basically become a drone. For me it's a careful juggling of what I need to do in a day and how much I can "get away with" my inability to focus on a task in exchange for being able to multi-task and/or solve problems creatively. I've tried all kinds of time management and focus improvement systems/habits. They work to an extent but as soon as there is some kind of "disturbance" in my environment, the efforts might as well be for naught and it'll be an hour or so detour unless I had taken my medication that day. On top of this context switching is effectively impossible for me with or without medication. If I'm changing what I'm doing it'll be a minimum of at least 4 hours before I'm even slightly productive. I can only work on one project at a time because of this. As a student this nearly killed me time and time again. You can't manage 5-7 classes with entirely different subjects if it takes you half a day to properly switch your focus and be able to focus. Additionally there's the constant burnout and depression like symptoms on top of the focus and context switching issues which only add to the difficulty of being a functional human being. People don't realise that these are symptoms of ADHD but they are. When I end up burnt out due to stress or overwork it becomes effectively permanent. The last time I ended up burnt out in University I took an entire semester off (~9 months) and even after I returned it hadn't recovered. During that period I was constantly exhausted and every task took far longer than expected and I struggled far more than I reasonably should have. Now I have to carefully balance my life because if I end up stressed from work for too long I can barely function and my productivity effectively drops to 0 for months at a time. I could write pages going into the other ADHD derived issues I face but they are rather personal and I've already written enough as is so I'll leave it at that. Trust me when I say that we aren't happy we have ADHD and we aren't using it to brag or get an advantage. I hate my medication but it's the only thing that brings me even remotely close to being on an even footing with my peers.