4 ms·

At the risk of sounding repetitive, this can also be a classic case of ADHD. If you also resonate with the post, ask yourself - do you have issues planning and

At the risk of sounding repetitive, this can also be a classic case of ADHD. If you also resonate with the post, ask yourself - do you have issues planning and completing long projects? Time management and procrastination issues? Lacking motivation? (Dis)organization problems? (Bonus: frustrated with yourself/your progress!) If (like me) you say "damn that's a lot of things I have to a significant degree" then you should a. read up on executive (dys)function, and b. Ask your GP/doctor if you may have ADHD* * - often CPTSD, physical brain trauma etc can also cause similar symptoms, as they can also cause physical changes in the brain similar to ADHD (There's a lot more of nuance and stuff that can be discussed, I'll try my best if anyone has any questions)

graeme 4y ago
How would you distinguish between ADHD vs modern distractability? Especially if someone showed no ADHD symptoms before smartphones Everyone has some distractability so curious about threshold
- kqr 4y ago
  When it makes you effectively mentally handicapped (you literally need environmental adjustments in order to function) in at least two areas of life (work, relationships, household), it's clinical.
  - robocat 4y ago
    I would paraphrase the question as: is the ADHD a problem with brain chemistry§, or is it with the contextual environment? A common worldview is to split biological from environmental - an analogue to nature vs nurture. I do agree with your definition of clinical. There are a lot of signals, even such as the article itself and the works it references, pointing towards the problem being our modern internet device environment. This article https://medium.com/@bradwray/ive-had-enough-of-teaching-2bae1a660832 https://medium.com/@bradwray/ive-had-enough-of-teaching-2bae... is written by a teacher who is quitting teaching because most students won’t engage at school due to their devices (so probably clinical by your definition - “work” impacted and I’m guessing household too). § yeah, “brain chemistry” is conceptually unsound, but I couldn’t think of a better physical metaphor.
- user_7832 4y ago
  To add on to the other answer, for folks with ADHD symptoms it was likely there before smartphones too - you/they just didn't realize it (like I didn't myself). A doctor however is far more capable of this judgement. Another simple test - after a week long (say) tech detox, do they (permanently) improve, or are the benefits very little (tending to perhaps even being distracted during that week)?
ellopoppit 4y ago
Could it be that smartphones and TV can cause ADHD? Before such electronic media, books were the main media, and inherently required and trained users to concentrate on one thing at a time for extended periods. TV and smartphones do the exact opposite
- user_7832 4y ago
  Unfortunately I'm not a doctor or researcher to be able to give a definitive answer, but I don't think these things can cause ADHD - though they can likely worsen symptoms, for both people who have it and those who don't. But I suspect such an effect would be reversible, unlike (genetic components of) ADHD.
  - ellopoppit 4y ago
    There is no known gene which causes ADHD. Like all other conditions in the DSM, there is no objective biological diagnostic criteria
    - user_7832 4y ago
      Perhaps specifically saying gene isn't accurate, but adhd is highly heritable (anywhere between 40 to 80% depending on which paper you look at)
      - ellopoppit 4y ago
        Indeed, social behaviors are highly heritable, we don't need a scientific paper to tell us that.
    - kortex 4y ago
      There's no one gene, but aside from very specific things, there's hardly one gene for any condition, but ADHD is highly heritable, and we already know several strong candidates. DRD4-R7, COMT Val158Met, TPH2, a couple others have been identified recently. Also, PET scans and in some cases high-density EEG can pick it up, the thing is, those are quite expensive and don't really even tell you that much, whereas psychological evaluation tells you much more qualitatively.
jannyfer 4y ago
For Diabetes, there’s Type I (genetic) and Type II (caused by frequent exposure to high blood sugar). I wonder if ADHD might have something similar, that we’re just beginning to notice. The brain’s plasticity might be adjusting to higher levels of dopamine from our phones. Anecdotally, I never had ADHD-like symptoms until COVID lockdowns. In the last year, I would spend pretty much all day in front of a screen and never get much meaningful stuff done. Now that I’m out and about more and staying away from phones, I feel less ADHD and I’m back to reading full length books and picking up hobbies.
- user_7832 4y ago
  Apparently stressful situations (university, becoming a parent) can cause folk's lives to fall apart revealing adhd that was being till then coped with okay (like in my case - I moved to a different continent for my degree). Covid too caused a huge shift for a lot of folks who may have been able to cope till then. (Personally I don't think ADHD is binary - autism is now understood as a spectrum, I think ADHD should be too.) Fun fact, I have diabetes too ;) Fun life lol

graeme 4y ago

How would you distinguish between ADHD vs modern distractability? Especially if someone showed no ADHD symptoms before smartphones Everyone has some distractability so curious about threshold

kqr 4y ago
When it makes you effectively mentally handicapped (you literally need environmental adjustments in order to function) in at least two areas of life (work, relationships, household), it's clinical.
- robocat 4y ago
  I would paraphrase the question as: is the ADHD a problem with brain chemistry§, or is it with the contextual environment? A common worldview is to split biological from environmental - an analogue to nature vs nurture. I do agree with your definition of clinical. There are a lot of signals, even such as the article itself and the works it references, pointing towards the problem being our modern internet device environment. This article https://medium.com/@bradwray/ive-had-enough-of-teaching-2bae1a660832 https://medium.com/@bradwray/ive-had-enough-of-teaching-2bae... is written by a teacher who is quitting teaching because most students won’t engage at school due to their devices (so probably clinical by your definition - “work” impacted and I’m guessing household too). § yeah, “brain chemistry” is conceptually unsound, but I couldn’t think of a better physical metaphor.
user_7832 4y ago
To add on to the other answer, for folks with ADHD symptoms it was likely there before smartphones too - you/they just didn't realize it (like I didn't myself). A doctor however is far more capable of this judgement. Another simple test - after a week long (say) tech detox, do they (permanently) improve, or are the benefits very little (tending to perhaps even being distracted during that week)?

ellopoppit 4y ago

Could it be that smartphones and TV can cause ADHD? Before such electronic media, books were the main media, and inherently required and trained users to concentrate on one thing at a time for extended periods. TV and smartphones do the exact opposite

user_7832 4y ago
Unfortunately I'm not a doctor or researcher to be able to give a definitive answer, but I don't think these things can cause ADHD - though they can likely worsen symptoms, for both people who have it and those who don't. But I suspect such an effect would be reversible, unlike (genetic components of) ADHD.
- ellopoppit 4y ago
  There is no known gene which causes ADHD. Like all other conditions in the DSM, there is no objective biological diagnostic criteria
  - user_7832 4y ago
    Perhaps specifically saying gene isn't accurate, but adhd is highly heritable (anywhere between 40 to 80% depending on which paper you look at)
    - ellopoppit 4y ago
      Indeed, social behaviors are highly heritable, we don't need a scientific paper to tell us that.
  - kortex 4y ago
    There's no one gene, but aside from very specific things, there's hardly one gene for any condition, but ADHD is highly heritable, and we already know several strong candidates. DRD4-R7, COMT Val158Met, TPH2, a couple others have been identified recently. Also, PET scans and in some cases high-density EEG can pick it up, the thing is, those are quite expensive and don't really even tell you that much, whereas psychological evaluation tells you much more qualitatively.

jannyfer 4y ago

For Diabetes, there’s Type I (genetic) and Type II (caused by frequent exposure to high blood sugar). I wonder if ADHD might have something similar, that we’re just beginning to notice. The brain’s plasticity might be adjusting to higher levels of dopamine from our phones. Anecdotally, I never had ADHD-like symptoms until COVID lockdowns. In the last year, I would spend pretty much all day in front of a screen and never get much meaningful stuff done. Now that I’m out and about more and staying away from phones, I feel less ADHD and I’m back to reading full length books and picking up hobbies.

user_7832 4y ago
Apparently stressful situations (university, becoming a parent) can cause folk's lives to fall apart revealing adhd that was being till then coped with okay (like in my case - I moved to a different continent for my degree). Covid too caused a huge shift for a lot of folks who may have been able to cope till then. (Personally I don't think ADHD is binary - autism is now understood as a spectrum, I think ADHD should be too.) Fun fact, I have diabetes too ;) Fun life lol