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Frequent Smart Phone, Internet Use Linked To Symptoms Of ADHD in Teens (npr.org)
Most teens today own a smartphone and go online every day, and about a quarter of them use the internet "almost constantly," according to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center. Now a study published this week in JAMA suggests that such frequent use of digital media by adolescents might increase their odds of developing symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. From a report: "It's one of the first studies to look at modern digital media and ADHD risk," says psychologist Adam Leventhal, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California and an author of the study. When considered with previous research showing that greater social media use is associated with depression in teens, the new study suggests that "excessive digital media use doesn't seem to be great for [their] mental health," he adds. Previous research has shown that watching television or playing video games on a console put teenagers at a slightly higher risk of developing ADHD behaviors. But less is known about the impact of computers, tablets and smartphones.
TL;DR
And somehow everyone missed this at the turn of the 21st Century, or, no we didnt.
My son is a phone addict. And he is struggling at school because he can't sit down and study for a few hours. Smartphones should be treated like asbestos.
"Doing what i can, with what i have." ~ Burt Gummer
Being able to multitask, which is now required for success in many cases, is also an ADHD behavior. Maybe we shouldn't judge people in the present based on how pre-technology people existed.
Seriously. "Correlation IS causation, now give us more funding!" seems to be the mantra these days. Studies that focus purely on correlation should not be reported by mainstream media.
Many/most teens canâ(TM)t afford a 700$ phone so the solution to this seems obvious.
adderall for everyone would be bad but Bromantane is like adderall with regards to attention but it makes you less agressive and it does not trigger psychotic episode on extended abuse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromantane
next pre existing condition to bad if your mc job needs to you check the schedule 2-3 times a day. But at least if you make it full time then you can get group health insurance that does not have any pre existing conditions
Pay attention to the fake news kids! You seem distracted by websites like this: ae911truth.org
The numbers don't lie, people with ADHD are not more successful in life. People with ADHD are far more susceptible to drug and alcohol addiction. They are more likely to become unemployed as well as homeless. You'll find nearly everyone in the "nomad" movement suffer from ADHD as well.
It's a bonafide disease and people who go untreated usually become a burden to society. Maybe mild forms of ADHD were beneficial to hunter-gathers, but that's not the sort of society we've been running for the last 5000 years.
Adapt or perish.
P.S. = see subject & this applies to children, teens, and adults. don't do this and you're hurting your children.
or just a beneficial adaptation to the massively parallel disconnected-information inputs we have today?
I mean, if you have a lot of flowers to explore right in front of you, shouldn't you act like a bumblebee?
I know that attention switching leads to reduced ability to focus and go deep, but day-to-day survival and optimization these days don't require those skills from most people. The more important skill is knowing from your phone and text-friends what's up right now and just next, and how not to miss it.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
From the study: "further research is needed to assess whether this association is causal."
Also, I didn't know there was a definition for "excessive digital media use."
I use my smart phone all the time and I don't have A- Oh look, squirrel!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
The frequent use of the internet and mobile phones could be a symptom of people who have ADHD rather than causing ADHD...
Is anyone surprised at this? It's no revelation really, but I do take issue with the "OMG! Video Gamez R destroying our youth!".
Childhood media consumption trains you to decouple your emotions from reality. Fairytales do that too to a certain degree, but they require mental participation, are coherent and are parables for the general human condition and foundational imaginations of the soul. Fables have a moral and legends reflect local folklore. Modern media however is a rollercoaster ride for the brain, with perpetual fast context switches, often within a minute or even less, moving all experience away from the body. Point in case: After 20+ years web I notice changes in my thinking patters. I also notice how constant access to information at my fingertips disintegrates some parts of my thought trail that make up my healthy personality.
I was a movie and P&P RPG junkie in my teens, classic nerd material. But I also traded my C64 in for a racing bike as it got to boring. I also went freeclimbing a lot with my buddies. We didn't have smartphones and perpetual infinite media. We had VHS and the odd modem and some obscure BBS. That todays setting with 24/7 mobile broadband in a palmsized supercomputer with highres display turns most youngsters into ultranerds - even the cute girls which are hooked to instagram and snapchat - is of no big surprise to me. I can't really imagine it is for anybody.
Bottom line:
We have a massive problem on our hands and I am convinced it is very much as Tim O*reilly estimated a few months back, that we are about to reach "peak digital" and that (mental) health issues related to perpetual computer and smartphone usage will become an epidemic.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Online and in-app advertising is pretty much targeted psychological warfare these days. Could this be the problem rather than the use of the devices for the user's intended purposes?
Hmm... Then could you please explain these studies?
NIH studies
- Association between mobile phone use and inattention in 7102 Chinese adolescents: a population-based cross-sectional study (2014)
- Mobile Phone Use, Blood Lead Levels, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Symptoms in Children: A Longitudinal Study (2013)
Blogs
Study: Smartphone Alerts Increase Inattention – and Hyperactivity (2016)
Just because you change the word "digital media" from "mobile phone" AKA smartphone, that doesn't make you one of the first to study the matter... So TFA is just an advertising for some researchers who want to have some fames.
So the problem is not really social media usage, but internet and smartphones?
(I think a very smart tactic to shift attention of the public from the real problem!!!
Realize, if the public think, internet/smartphones are the real problem, then nobody can do anything about it really!)
I suspected this was the cause of most cases of ADHD for years, as you use these devices your brain is taught to never focus too long on one thing. As smart phones and computing devices grew in use so did cases of this learned behavior. In this case I do believe it is environment over heredity. Sadly it is something that appears hard to unlearn, but drugs are not the answer.
It's because you're activating your reward center for extended periods of time and become used to it. When you're not doing anything that directly stimulates it, of course you'd seek to do things that will stimulate and better if it's at the frequency that you are used to.
For ~$20 its about 2-3 generations behind, for ~$50 its about 1-2 generations behind. Some of them may have smaller screens to save on cost, but it also fits smaller hands better. The screens aren't as durable either, but better to learn how to take care of a phone on a cheap burner than an iPhone that costs 50 times as much. Alternatively, you can upgrade your phone and give them your old one. Learning on a limited device teaches them how to conserve resources better in a similar way to gen-X coders learning to program on cheap Packard Bell's made more capable programmers. Don't fall into the trap of giving kids everything they want.
Translation: The kids were ignoring teachers and parents and other adults.
Solution: Stop expecting kids not to act like kids.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The same kids that cant seem to pay attention to a boring lecture are perfectly capable to playing the latest AA shooting game for hours on end without blinking (with almost no noticeable drop in accuracy) These younger people can intuit a brand new UI in a matter of seconds. They see patterns with a glance that takes us older nerds at least a small amount of concentration.
The way we learn has been evolving at a hyper-accelerated pace since the personal computer hit critical mass.
It's not the kids. It's not the games, or the screens, or the phones, or the media. It's the teaching methods.
The methods that are working are training the younger generation the twitch ability and quick thinking skills of a fighter pilot, all before they reach teenage-hood.
How is this not glaringly obvious to everybody looking at the "problem"?
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
"Phantasies" of being a "millionaire" (not) https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... + admitting IMPERSONATING me https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... or STALKING me online by UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous posts?
* Can ANYONE tell me THAT??
APK
P.S.=> Unbelievable - RoTfLmAo - I've got to say it, as it's FAST becoming "tradition" for me: It's NOT EASY being "World-Class" (since winners have to concentrate on winning vs. LOSERS concentrating on being LYING little JEALOUS "Jowies" (lol) who try HARASS/STALK/IMPERSONATE me (like THAT will get them doing things folks like & use + good things that come w/ being of service to others))... apk
The study, while well-intentioned, is largely BS. I have ADHD. If this study were to be believed, you'd have to also believe that there is no one with ADHD over the age of 30. I was born in 1961; during my childhood the only electronic device in the house was a black-and-white tv that got three channels and used vacuum tubes, and outside of saturday morning cartoons and the evening news, we watched very little.
The proximate cause of ADHD is, in fact, the inability of neurons in certain regions of the brain to produce enough dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter. It is a *biochemical* abnormality and it is, by definition, present before the age of 7. It doesn't just show up at 12 or 13. It's not caused by bad parenting, or eating too much sugar, or the over-use of electronic devices.
The authors of the study, while well intentioned I'm sure, simply don't understand what ADHD is. It's not simple inattentiveness, or just being easily distracted. While the symptoms they describe (and ascribe to over-use of electronics) may mimic those of ADHD, it simply is *not* the same thing at all.
Cheers, Tim -- Tim Janke Part mad scientist, part lion tamer: sr. software engineer, global team leader, project mana
What about adults? :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
re: their own note, I think it would be pretty dang difficult to establish causal relationship precisely because smart phone use is so ubiquitous amongst teens that you couldn't find a control group
it reminds me of the whole violent video game/violent kids thing, that the studies that "support" it don't account for the fact that playing violent video games is so. damn. common. amongst teens now that any given one is far far more likely to have played violent video games than not. Some reasonably suggested that alone should be evidence against the notion that the relationship is causal because if 90% of kids are playing them, how come the kids that actually go mass shooter are such a tiny percentage?
Just because the symptoms look like ADHD, doesn't mean it is. I'd be interested in knowing how long the effects last? Speaking personally, I struggle to watch a 2 hour film at home as my fingers start creeping towards the phone. I could give the phone up anytime though, honest!!
It "might." Might makes right? Nope.
What does it do to them? Anyone cared to test?
This stufff isn't news. It's been known for ages and covered by the likes of Dr Russell Barkley on his work on ADHD.
It's the automatic, instant feedback that smart phones, Video games etc give ADHD kids, that stimulates them and keeps them looking for more.
I am ADHD and I have a very limited concept of "later" and pretty much live in the "now"
It's why I keep my phone away from me when I am trying to get work done, turn off all notifications and keep apps that will distract me, on an emulator at home.