Likely a combination of isolation (small families, no outside time) combined with tech designed to over stimulate.
To me ADHD is an adaptation to an overflowing amount of stimulation and information.
The brain skips around very quickly until it finds something very valuable and then mines the hell out of it (hyper focus)
i would be very curious to find out the rate of ADHD in the Amish. Theyre an American population but without technology. Seems like a fascinating study.
spicymaki · 36m ago
You are incorrect.
ADHD is not caused by isolation or addictive tech. ADHD is passed down genetically and is caused by a difference dopamine regulation. People with ADHD have low baseline dopamine (A neurotransmitter that plays a role in reward, motivation, mood, etc.), that is why they hyper focus when they are in the zone. The brain is starved for dopamine and when there is spike in dopamine it causes an intense reaction.
ADHD may have been useful preindustrial societies, but today it is maladaptive.
Excessive use of addictive tech can mimic ADHD symptoms, but is not the same. People with ADHD are adversely affected by addictive tech.
The symptoms mimic “bad behavior” so some skeptics think you can just beat it out of them or yell at them to just stop. That might mitigate the problem for very short time (perhaps due to a short dopamine rush), but they fall back into a low dopamine state afterwards.
homeonthemtn · 27m ago
Funny that the rise of ADHD runs parallel to the advent of the Internet, and only evidently striking Americans.
Perhaps what you're describing is one form of it, and if so, we should develop a better naming convention to get rid of the ambiguity. Or go the cop-out approach and say it's a "spectrum" so you're never truly wrong, and never truly accurate.
yladiz · 4m ago
It could also be due to a better understanding of the causes, among other things. As always, correlation does not equal causation.
letwhile · 2h ago
Over 10% of children? That sounds like a flawed testing method or toxic environment, not a disease.
resoluteteeth · 40m ago
Can you explain why it being over 10% of children would make it not a disease?
garylkz · 31m ago
But really, if like more than 50% of children has ADHD, maybe it's not really a "defect" but rather a "trait" of some human.
Unless you're implying that half of the humanity that has ADHD are defective humans.
Just a thought
Pulcinella · 2h ago
In comparison to other places in the world (especially Asia), there is somewhat lower stigma regarding ADHD in the U.S.
I would add the UK to the stigma list as well. The UK government and NHS are pretty rabidly ADHD-denialist and make it incredibly difficult to get a diagnosis.
collinfunk · 2h ago
> I would add the UK to the stigma list as well. The UK government and NHS are pretty rabidly ADHD-denialist and make it incredibly difficult to get a diagnosis.
Don't you also have to wait years on a wait list for an evaluation? I feel like I remember hearing that a few years ago.
xdfgh1112 · 1h ago
NHS waiting list is a few years but they will pay for you to use a private clinic, my waiting list is 5 months.
xdfgh1112 · 1h ago
They literally pay for you to use a private clinic to ensure everyone can be assessed quickly. ADHD is legally protected and recognised. Lumping it in with most of Asia is ridiculous.
akomtu · 2h ago
> ADHD is a complex condition characterized by symptoms like a constant inability to pay attention, impulsiveness, trouble sleeping, and mood swings.
This looks like the very condition that's being promoted by reddits, reels, shorts, tiktoks, facebooks, even by news that aim to enrage as much as they can. Solid attention that's under your control is the #1 enemy of the attention based economy.
To me ADHD is an adaptation to an overflowing amount of stimulation and information.
The brain skips around very quickly until it finds something very valuable and then mines the hell out of it (hyper focus)
i would be very curious to find out the rate of ADHD in the Amish. Theyre an American population but without technology. Seems like a fascinating study.
ADHD is not caused by isolation or addictive tech. ADHD is passed down genetically and is caused by a difference dopamine regulation. People with ADHD have low baseline dopamine (A neurotransmitter that plays a role in reward, motivation, mood, etc.), that is why they hyper focus when they are in the zone. The brain is starved for dopamine and when there is spike in dopamine it causes an intense reaction.
ADHD may have been useful preindustrial societies, but today it is maladaptive.
Excessive use of addictive tech can mimic ADHD symptoms, but is not the same. People with ADHD are adversely affected by addictive tech.
The symptoms mimic “bad behavior” so some skeptics think you can just beat it out of them or yell at them to just stop. That might mitigate the problem for very short time (perhaps due to a short dopamine rush), but they fall back into a low dopamine state afterwards.
Perhaps what you're describing is one form of it, and if so, we should develop a better naming convention to get rid of the ambiguity. Or go the cop-out approach and say it's a "spectrum" so you're never truly wrong, and never truly accurate.
Unless you're implying that half of the humanity that has ADHD are defective humans.
Just a thought
I would add the UK to the stigma list as well. The UK government and NHS are pretty rabidly ADHD-denialist and make it incredibly difficult to get a diagnosis.
Don't you also have to wait years on a wait list for an evaluation? I feel like I remember hearing that a few years ago.
This looks like the very condition that's being promoted by reddits, reels, shorts, tiktoks, facebooks, even by news that aim to enrage as much as they can. Solid attention that's under your control is the #1 enemy of the attention based economy.