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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.
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.
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.
Too bad his parents don't put limits on his use and behavior.
Does he have ADHD because of the smartphone, or is he addicted to smartphones because he has ADHD?
There needs to be parenting to go along with it, you can't blame all your childs problems on a toy.
My kid had a cell phone since very young and is top of her class.
$20 android phone + google voice + hangouts dialer = phone with free service anywhere there is WiFi.
No, smarphones should not be handed out like candy to keep kids occupied, try actually being a parent instead of farming off that responsibility to a chunk of silicone. As for the over diagnoses of ADHD, just because a kid in a class room of 30 students has trouble focusing does not mean he has ADHD and needs to be drugged up to the eyeballs. Try looking at changing the environment before drugging the child. Most likely the problem is the teacher, and not the child. I have met millennial's who were proud of the fact that they have never ever read a book from cover to cover. That's fucked up.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
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."
If you're going to comment on /., you might want to learn the difference between silicone and silicon...
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...
Smartphones should be treated like asbestos.
.... in that you don't give them to your children to play with? I agree. You also probably shouldn't eat or breathe cell phones, either.
I don't respond to AC's.
If it only were that easy.
Yeah, maybe YOU were successful, it doesn't mean your methods (whichever they were) can be applied to every child out there. There will always be objective factors which would prevent your methods from being successful.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
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
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.
silicon + silicone = pornhub
Maybe GP was distracted by two chunks of silicone.
I have met millennial's who were proud of the fact that they have never ever read a book from cover to cover. That's fucked up.
I've noticed this with my niece and nephews. They can't watch movies - it's "too boring" to wait 2 hours to see how it comes out. Books "are way too long".
My daughter is somewhat older, so fortunately her formative years occurred before the smartphone era. But even within her circle of friends, it's like they need constant simulation - they'll be sitting together talking, but also on their laptops and cell phones. If we watch a movie together, my daughter will also be on her laptop.
Wow I really sound like the old fart that I am.
#DeleteChrome
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.
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.
Took my daughter's phone away. Her mother had, unfortunately, found an untrained, unlicensed, never took a single course or ever worked in the field in any accredited setting "psycherapist" treating her "ADHD" to assure her that her career failure was obviously the fault of this product of the male patriarchy, and that I *must* be abusive. She'd be a complete empowered and self confident success if I weren't!!!
The kind of logical fallacy is taught by the Center for Self Leadership, a bunch of bozos with no licenses, no training, and no skills using the infamously addictive, non-judgmental Rogerian "let me accept you lovingly" and "you can feel empowered, just let me suckle at your life's tragedies so I can feel emotionally fulfilled and you don't have to actually do anything!" approach to psychotherapy. I swear, they've found a way to spend their days condescending to their victims by actually *driving their patients into failure*, then making them feel "empowered" in the midst of their failure so that they can feel superior but still congratulate themselves on how much they "helped" their patients.
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
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.
I agree.
What is the appropriate type of punishment for parents who intentionally expose their children to asbestos?
I have a strong suspicion that you are, in fact, abusive. And that they'd have some illuminating stories to tell.
Hear hear! Agree with parent. Yeah, for a lot of people cell phones are... not good..
But.. YOUR son.. YOU fix the goddamn problem. You didn't specify, but are we talking about mandatory school or college?
If the former, then why the hell haven't you taken away the phone?
If the latter, are you paying for the school? If yes, then why? If no... then what's the problem?
What about adults? :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I read: 1) there was a divorce, 2) the guy dislikes a certain quack and a certain self help organization (and who doesn't hate quacks and self help), and 3) he took his daughter's phone away, though we don't know whether she was 3 or 13.
Can you elaborate on why you strongly suspect he is abusive?
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
I have met millennial's who were proud of the fact that they have never ever read a book from cover to cover.
That person was an outlier. The median 18-29 year old reads more books than any other demographic. The mean 18-29 year old reads the same or more than all but the over-65s. (source: Pew book reading survey appendix A).
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 IS that easy. You are not his friend. You are his parent. You decide what he can and can not do till he is 18.
And kids NEVER could sit still for the whole day. I bet you he is sitting pretty still when he uses his phone and not running around. Kids need to run around and have time NOT to sit still. By using his phone, that time not sitting still will be done at other moments, like when you HAVE to do something you do not like. Eating sprouts or doing homework come to mind.
Althou I am sure, your kid is special. Your kid is the execpetion, like all the other kids.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
My older son was sick, went through two major surgeries and a few minor ones, had stents inside him for 18 months (he's yet to receive a phone but uses computers). I had a choice: keep him still through coercion or provide him with the best possible form of entertainment. Between watching TV and playing computer games, I chose to offer him the latter.
He's better now and we go out for at least 2-3 hours a day, but he's still pretty hooked on PC gaming. I know it's not great and working on reducing his gaming time.
So yeah, my older son is a bit special, albeit not in a good way.
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
What does it do to them? Anyone cared to test?
Thank you for that properly informed perspective. Although on the web site of said organization, it clearly says that they self-certify, and there are no external requirements for one of their two certified roles. Also, the other poster was pretty specific about his claim of "untrained", and either that is utterly false, or we should accept that without knowing more, it's a toss up whether the guy is providing a proper standard of care.
First, he mocks "Rogerian" therapy. It's also known as "person-centered" therapy. It's essentially the foundation for all serious helping professionals now
Really? I thought more and more evidence was piling up in favor of CBT, and that other one which is also based on mindfulness or Buddhist principles. (And psychedelic therapy seems to be hitting it out of the park in medical trials, but that won't be popular for another 20 years.)
That said, we often have good reason to be skeptical of people that are express such bitterness, but having lived through a few embittering experiences of my own, I have some sympathy.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
That's not the reaction of a supportive husband. That's the reaction of an abuser.
Sounds like you have some philosophical/political disagreements, then you took a giant leap from there. Based on the hubby's telling of it, it reminds me of a person on the internet that told me I was treating him/her differently because of his/her gender. The funny thing was that I didn't know that person's gender.
Plus, therapy shouldn't ever be about blaming people, is it? Helping someone see more enemies seems profoundly unhelpful, from the perspective of wanting emotional contentment. I suspect there's something being lost in translation, but based on what the husband wrote, it's understandable to think the (unlicensed) therapist is doing damage rather than helping.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
If you mean to suggest that the mere position that sexism exists in the world is a âoepolitical disagreementâ
No, it's more the idea that male power structures are almost certainly a cause of her career failings. I'm not quoting you directly--I'm stitching your words together with the words of the OP, so I know this isn't what you said, and my disagreement is misplaced. Does sexism affect every person? Obviously. Is it the cause for all women's career failings? Is it responsible for a significant portion of the career failings of most women (who have troubled careers)? That sounds too much like the apparent 30% pay gap, which is reduced to 3% or less when you control for obvious things like experience, hours, vacations, and overtime.
If the blame is appropriate, why should therapy avoid it? There are real external forces in everyoneâ(TM)s life causing problems, as well as internal forces. Identifying obstacles, regardless of their source, is vital to overcoming those obstacles. Not helping someone see enemies that are actively opposing them would make for some pretty bad therapy.
You're right, but there's a difference between acknowledging blame and the types of blaming that leaves an impression on everyone around you (i.e., either ranting and raving or trying to convince people you're not responsible). There's too much about this story I don't know, but I consider the latter types of blame to be a yellow flag. Perhaps similar to the way it's a yellow flag when someone rants about their spouse's therapist.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.