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Do you think the majority of those people are lying or do you think it's possible that our pursuit of algorithmic consumption is actually rewiring our neural pa

Do you think the majority of those people are lying or do you think it's possible that our pursuit of algorithmic consumption is actually rewiring our neural pathways into something that looks/behaves more like ADHD? Personally, I'm on the fence. I suspect that I've always had a bit of that, but anecdotally, it does seem to have gotten worse in the past decade, but perhaps it's just a symptom of old age (31 hehehe).

lm28469 9mo ago
Probably a bit of both, it's trendy do have a quirk, and modern life fucks up your attention span. Everyone wants to put a label on everything, remember when facebook had a dropdown of like 60+ genders? I also know people who talk about "being on the spectrum" all the time, at first I thought it was a meme, but they genuinely believe they're autistic because they're #notliketheothers. At the end of the day everything is a spectrum and nobody is normal, I'm not sure it's healthy to want to put a label on everything or medicate to fall back on the baseline.
- undeveloper 9mo ago
  > attention span The meme of 'ADHD as the "fucked up attention span disorder"' has done immeasurable damage to people, neurotypical and ADHD alike. it is the attribute that is the least important to my life, but most centered towards the neurotypical, or the other people it bothers. > modern life fucks up your attention span That said, this statement is true, it's just a fundamental misunderstanding of ADHD as "dog like instinct to go chase a squirrel" or whatever. Google is free, so is Chatgpt if that's too hard. > I'm not sure it's healthy to want to put a label on everything I don't particularly care for microlabeling, but it's usually harmless, nothing suggest the alternative of "just stop talking about your problems" is better. People create language usually because they want to label a shared idea. This is boomer talk (see "remember facebook?" no) > or medicate to fall back on the baseline I'm not sure "If you have ADHD you should simply suffer because medicine is le bad" is a great stance, but you're allowed I suppose
  - lm28469 9mo ago
    > it is the attribute that is the least important to my life still one of the most common symptom, and the one everyone use to self diagnose... > because medicine is le bad idk man, I've seen the ravage of medicine one people close to me. Years of adhd medicine, anti depressants pills, anti obesity treatments... They're still non functional, obese and depressed, but now they're broke and think there truly is no way out of the pit because they "tried everything" (everything besides not playing video games 16 hours a day, eating junk food 24/7 and never going out of their bedroom, but the doctors don't seem to view this as a root cause) Whatever you think, I believe some things are over prescribed to the point of being a net negative to society. I never said adhd doesn't exist or shouldn't be treated btw, you seem to be projecting a lot of things. If it works for you good, personally I prefer to change my environment to fit how my brain/body works, not influence my body/brain by swallowing side effects riddled pills until death to fit in the fucked up world we created and call "normality"
    - habinero 9mo ago
      > I prefer to change my environment to fit how my brain/body works, not influence my body/brain by swallowing side effects riddled pills Just try harder to make insulin, bro. You can outthink that t1 diabetes if you try hard enough. This weird macho resistance to and scorn of anyone using the mental tools we have available is why men kill themselves at a much higher rate. There is no award for who struggled the most in life. Do they always work? No. Do they work for a lot of people? Sure do. Can they be replaced with diet and exercise and different circumstances? Yeah, sometimes. Is that realistic? Not usually. They aren't magic. They don't forcibly make you happy or change your personality or make your problems go away. You still have to do the work. But they're a crane to help lift the crushing weight you're under so you can shimmy out from under it. If you don't want to use them, fine, but not using them doesn't make you a better person.
    - undeveloper 9mo ago
      > still one of the most common symptom, and the one everyone use to self diagnose... I, and pretty much everyone I talked to who was diagnosed with adhd in late teenage years on, actually primarily used executive dysfunction to self diagnose and then persued official treatment. you pulled that straight outta your asshole, shove it back up there > doctors don't seem to view this as a root cause how the hell would doctors know? bring this to any psych and they'd immediately tell you to knock that shit off, but what the hell else are they supposed to do? > I never said adhd doesn't exist or shouldn't be treated btw your opinions seems to boil down to "lmao just try harder", which seems less useful than throwing pills at the problem. you have the mental model of a cat > proooojecting the words of someone who can't articulate their position
Bayko 9mo ago
I have what you would call metric shittons of ADHD. Medically diagnosed. Was kicked outta university for failing grades and all. Pills saved me. If you think you have it, the best thing you can do for yourself is at least get a diagnosis done. In b4 people come in and chime it can be faked. Yes the symptoms can be faked. But why would you if you really want to know what is wrong with you if any? (Hoping you aren't a TikTok content creator lurking here)
- kachapopopow 9mo ago
  I really hope this doesn't get lost in the sea of comments and don't feel pressured to answer any of them but: what would you recommend if one is against the idea of medication in general for neurological issues that aren't deterental to ones life? do you feel the difference between being medicated and (strong?) coffee? have you felt the effects weaken over time? if you did drink coffee, have you noticed a difference between the medication effects weakening on the same scale as caffeine? is making life easier with medication worth the cost over just dealing with it by naturally by adapting to it over time (if even possible in your case)? this is a personal pet-project of observing how different people deal with ADHD.
  - xlii 9mo ago
    > what would you recommend if one is against the idea of medication in general for neurological issues that aren't deterental to ones life? Given that ADHD people tend to commit suicide 2x-4x times more often than general population [0] keep in mind that it's not detrimental until it suddenly is. Also it gets worse with age, so it's better to get under doctor's control sooner than later. [0]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5371172/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5371172/
  - undeveloper 9mo ago
    I take ritalin as needed, 20-30mg a day. A black coffee will usually make me just a little sleepier, if anything at all. a couple more will do the same. Ritalin can make me sleepy if I'm already deeply tired, but after ~30min will actually allow me to partially focus on off days, and be able to get more work done on normal days. I may not need it every day. > is making life easier with medication worth the cost over just dealing with it by naturally by adapting to it over time (if even possible in your case)? I am now 20, admittedly "early" in my career. Through high school and the first 2 years of university I have banged my head against ADHD and tried to just "power through it" or adapt. Medication isn't a magic bullet, but it is clear to me at least now that I am at least able to rely on it as a crutch in order to improve myself and my lifestyle to deal with what is at least for me, truly a disability. Maybe one day I won't need it, but in the mean time I see no reason why attempt #3289 will work for real this time to turn around my life.
Aurornis 9mo ago
> Do you think the majority of those people are lying I don’t think they’re lying, but it is very clear that ADHD has entered the common vernacular and is now used as a generic term like OCD. People will say “I’m OCD about…” as a way of saying they like to be organized or that they care about some detail. Now it’s common to say “My ADHD made me…” to refer to getting distracted or following an impulse. > or do you think it's possible that our pursuit of algorithmic consumption is actually rewiring our neural pathways into something that looks/behaves more like ADHD? Focus is, and always has been, something that can be developed through practice. Ability to focus starts to decrease when you don’t practice it much. The talk about “rewiring the brain” and blaming algorithms is getting too abstract, in my opinion. You’re just developing bad habits and not investing time and energy into maintaining the good habits. If you choose to delete those apps from your phone or even just use your phone’s time limit features today, you could start reducing time spent on the bad habits. If you find something to replace it with like reading a book (ideally physical book to avoid distractions) or even just going outside for a 10 minute walk with your phone at home, I guarantee you’ll find that what you see as an adult-onset “ADHD” will start to diminish and you will begin returning to the focus you remember a decade ago. Or you could continue scrolling phones and distractions, which will probably continue the decline. This is a good place to note that a lot of people think getting a prescription will fix the problem, but a very common anecdote in these situations is that the stimulant without a concomitant habit change just made them hyperfocus on their distractions or even go deeper into more obsessive focus on distractions. Building the better habits is a prerequisite and you can’t shortcut out of it.
- undeveloper 9mo ago
  > Now it’s common to say “My ADHD made me…” to refer to getting distracted or following an impulse. this is an older thing than "I'm OCD when ..."
- user_7832 9mo ago
  I generally and broadly agree with your comment. > Focus is, and always has been, something that can be developed through practice. Ability to focus starts to decrease when you don’t practice it much. > The talk about “rewiring the brain” and blaming algorithms is getting too abstract, in my opinion. You’re just developing bad habits and not investing time and energy into maintaining the good habits. > If you choose to delete those apps from your phone ... I would like to add that focus is one of the many aspects of adhd, and for many people, isn't even the biggest thing. For many people, it's about the continuous noise in their mind. Brown noise or music can partly help with parts of that. For many, it's about emotional responses. It's the difference between hearing your boss criticise you and getting heart palpitations while mentally thinking "Shit, I'm going to get fired again", vs "Ahh next time I'll take care of this specific aspect". (Googling "RSD ADHD" will give more info.) It's the difference between wanting to go to the loo because you haven't peed in 6 hours but you can't pull yourself off your chair, and... pulling yourself off your chair. Focus is definitely one aspect. But between the task positive network, norepinephrine and the non-focus aspects of dopamine (including - more strength! Less slouching, believe it or not!), there are a lot of differences. Medications can help with many of these, albeit at the "risk" of tolerance. (I agree this is a lot of detail and nuance for a random comment online, but I just felt it had to be said. Btw - all those examples... might've been from personal experience - without vs with meds.)

lm28469 9mo ago

Probably a bit of both, it's trendy do have a quirk, and modern life fucks up your attention span. Everyone wants to put a label on everything, remember when facebook had a dropdown of like 60+ genders? I also know people who talk about "being on the spectrum" all the time, at first I thought it was a meme, but they genuinely believe they're autistic because they're #notliketheothers. At the end of the day everything is a spectrum and nobody is normal, I'm not sure it's healthy to want to put a label on everything or medicate to fall back on the baseline.

undeveloper 9mo ago
> attention span The meme of 'ADHD as the "fucked up attention span disorder"' has done immeasurable damage to people, neurotypical and ADHD alike. it is the attribute that is the least important to my life, but most centered towards the neurotypical, or the other people it bothers. > modern life fucks up your attention span That said, this statement is true, it's just a fundamental misunderstanding of ADHD as "dog like instinct to go chase a squirrel" or whatever. Google is free, so is Chatgpt if that's too hard. > I'm not sure it's healthy to want to put a label on everything I don't particularly care for microlabeling, but it's usually harmless, nothing suggest the alternative of "just stop talking about your problems" is better. People create language usually because they want to label a shared idea. This is boomer talk (see "remember facebook?" no) > or medicate to fall back on the baseline I'm not sure "If you have ADHD you should simply suffer because medicine is le bad" is a great stance, but you're allowed I suppose
- lm28469 9mo ago
  > it is the attribute that is the least important to my life still one of the most common symptom, and the one everyone use to self diagnose... > because medicine is le bad idk man, I've seen the ravage of medicine one people close to me. Years of adhd medicine, anti depressants pills, anti obesity treatments... They're still non functional, obese and depressed, but now they're broke and think there truly is no way out of the pit because they "tried everything" (everything besides not playing video games 16 hours a day, eating junk food 24/7 and never going out of their bedroom, but the doctors don't seem to view this as a root cause) Whatever you think, I believe some things are over prescribed to the point of being a net negative to society. I never said adhd doesn't exist or shouldn't be treated btw, you seem to be projecting a lot of things. If it works for you good, personally I prefer to change my environment to fit how my brain/body works, not influence my body/brain by swallowing side effects riddled pills until death to fit in the fucked up world we created and call "normality"
  - habinero 9mo ago
    > I prefer to change my environment to fit how my brain/body works, not influence my body/brain by swallowing side effects riddled pills Just try harder to make insulin, bro. You can outthink that t1 diabetes if you try hard enough. This weird macho resistance to and scorn of anyone using the mental tools we have available is why men kill themselves at a much higher rate. There is no award for who struggled the most in life. Do they always work? No. Do they work for a lot of people? Sure do. Can they be replaced with diet and exercise and different circumstances? Yeah, sometimes. Is that realistic? Not usually. They aren't magic. They don't forcibly make you happy or change your personality or make your problems go away. You still have to do the work. But they're a crane to help lift the crushing weight you're under so you can shimmy out from under it. If you don't want to use them, fine, but not using them doesn't make you a better person.
  - undeveloper 9mo ago
    > still one of the most common symptom, and the one everyone use to self diagnose... I, and pretty much everyone I talked to who was diagnosed with adhd in late teenage years on, actually primarily used executive dysfunction to self diagnose and then persued official treatment. you pulled that straight outta your asshole, shove it back up there > doctors don't seem to view this as a root cause how the hell would doctors know? bring this to any psych and they'd immediately tell you to knock that shit off, but what the hell else are they supposed to do? > I never said adhd doesn't exist or shouldn't be treated btw your opinions seems to boil down to "lmao just try harder", which seems less useful than throwing pills at the problem. you have the mental model of a cat > proooojecting the words of someone who can't articulate their position

Bayko 9mo ago

I have what you would call metric shittons of ADHD. Medically diagnosed. Was kicked outta university for failing grades and all. Pills saved me. If you think you have it, the best thing you can do for yourself is at least get a diagnosis done. In b4 people come in and chime it can be faked. Yes the symptoms can be faked. But why would you if you really want to know what is wrong with you if any? (Hoping you aren't a TikTok content creator lurking here)

kachapopopow 9mo ago
I really hope this doesn't get lost in the sea of comments and don't feel pressured to answer any of them but: what would you recommend if one is against the idea of medication in general for neurological issues that aren't deterental to ones life? do you feel the difference between being medicated and (strong?) coffee? have you felt the effects weaken over time? if you did drink coffee, have you noticed a difference between the medication effects weakening on the same scale as caffeine? is making life easier with medication worth the cost over just dealing with it by naturally by adapting to it over time (if even possible in your case)? this is a personal pet-project of observing how different people deal with ADHD.
- xlii 9mo ago
  > what would you recommend if one is against the idea of medication in general for neurological issues that aren't deterental to ones life? Given that ADHD people tend to commit suicide 2x-4x times more often than general population [0] keep in mind that it's not detrimental until it suddenly is. Also it gets worse with age, so it's better to get under doctor's control sooner than later. [0]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5371172/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5371172/
- undeveloper 9mo ago
  I take ritalin as needed, 20-30mg a day. A black coffee will usually make me just a little sleepier, if anything at all. a couple more will do the same. Ritalin can make me sleepy if I'm already deeply tired, but after ~30min will actually allow me to partially focus on off days, and be able to get more work done on normal days. I may not need it every day. > is making life easier with medication worth the cost over just dealing with it by naturally by adapting to it over time (if even possible in your case)? I am now 20, admittedly "early" in my career. Through high school and the first 2 years of university I have banged my head against ADHD and tried to just "power through it" or adapt. Medication isn't a magic bullet, but it is clear to me at least now that I am at least able to rely on it as a crutch in order to improve myself and my lifestyle to deal with what is at least for me, truly a disability. Maybe one day I won't need it, but in the mean time I see no reason why attempt #3289 will work for real this time to turn around my life.

Aurornis 9mo ago

> Do you think the majority of those people are lying I don’t think they’re lying, but it is very clear that ADHD has entered the common vernacular and is now used as a generic term like OCD. People will say “I’m OCD about…” as a way of saying they like to be organized or that they care about some detail. Now it’s common to say “My ADHD made me…” to refer to getting distracted or following an impulse. > or do you think it's possible that our pursuit of algorithmic consumption is actually rewiring our neural pathways into something that looks/behaves more like ADHD? Focus is, and always has been, something that can be developed through practice. Ability to focus starts to decrease when you don’t practice it much. The talk about “rewiring the brain” and blaming algorithms is getting too abstract, in my opinion. You’re just developing bad habits and not investing time and energy into maintaining the good habits. If you choose to delete those apps from your phone or even just use your phone’s time limit features today, you could start reducing time spent on the bad habits. If you find something to replace it with like reading a book (ideally physical book to avoid distractions) or even just going outside for a 10 minute walk with your phone at home, I guarantee you’ll find that what you see as an adult-onset “ADHD” will start to diminish and you will begin returning to the focus you remember a decade ago. Or you could continue scrolling phones and distractions, which will probably continue the decline. This is a good place to note that a lot of people think getting a prescription will fix the problem, but a very common anecdote in these situations is that the stimulant without a concomitant habit change just made them hyperfocus on their distractions or even go deeper into more obsessive focus on distractions. Building the better habits is a prerequisite and you can’t shortcut out of it.

undeveloper 9mo ago
> Now it’s common to say “My ADHD made me…” to refer to getting distracted or following an impulse. this is an older thing than "I'm OCD when ..."
user_7832 9mo ago
I generally and broadly agree with your comment. > Focus is, and always has been, something that can be developed through practice. Ability to focus starts to decrease when you don’t practice it much. > The talk about “rewiring the brain” and blaming algorithms is getting too abstract, in my opinion. You’re just developing bad habits and not investing time and energy into maintaining the good habits. > If you choose to delete those apps from your phone ... I would like to add that focus is one of the many aspects of adhd, and for many people, isn't even the biggest thing. For many people, it's about the continuous noise in their mind. Brown noise or music can partly help with parts of that. For many, it's about emotional responses. It's the difference between hearing your boss criticise you and getting heart palpitations while mentally thinking "Shit, I'm going to get fired again", vs "Ahh next time I'll take care of this specific aspect". (Googling "RSD ADHD" will give more info.) It's the difference between wanting to go to the loo because you haven't peed in 6 hours but you can't pull yourself off your chair, and... pulling yourself off your chair. Focus is definitely one aspect. But between the task positive network, norepinephrine and the non-focus aspects of dopamine (including - more strength! Less slouching, believe it or not!), there are a lot of differences. Medications can help with many of these, albeit at the "risk" of tolerance. (I agree this is a lot of detail and nuance for a random comment online, but I just felt it had to be said. Btw - all those examples... might've been from personal experience - without vs with meds.)